Kilimanjaro Experience

Well, today is the day. I'm flying to Africa to climb a mountain. It just seems so surreal to even utter those words. I feel ready. I stopped working out and hiking last week to prevent any last-minute strains or pains. Mentally, I'm excited. I'm just a little worried about the 48-hour journey over (and maybe the bathroom situation on the mountain 😅) , but the climb isn't fazing me at all. I've probably mentioned before, but I'm climbing with approximately 20 Golin colleagues from around the world. We will all arrive in Tanzania this weekend and get ready for the climb. I decided to do a safari on Sunday to get me out of the Arusha area and see some of the wildlife of Africa - that piece I'm REALLY excited about. I'll have lots of pictures to share, I'm sure!  My plan is to keep a diary each day of my trip, and publish it once I'm back (with a ton of pictures). I've been told there is some cellular connectivity on the mounta...

With just days to go until we fly out - we reached our fundraising goal to save the pangolin! This wouldn't have been possible without the generous donations we received from family, friends and colleagues. I'm especially thankful to all of you who helped me exceed my personal fundraising goal ($1000) and contributed towards our overall $20,000 goal. These funds go directly to the Wildlife Conservation Network to help save the endangered pangolin. This poor species is being slaughtered for its keratin scales - for fashion or "medical" purposes. The quickly depleting pangolin population is putting the larger ecosystem in Africa and Asia out of balance. My climb to the peak of the world's largest freestanding mountain is a symbolic way to save the pangolin - but your donations actually make a difference. We're about a week out from the climb. I fly out on Thursday evening, arrive in Tanzania on Saturday evening (after 8-hour layovers in Qatar and Kenya). To...

With three months down (since selection/training) and two weeks to go - it's a little bit of an understatement to say I'm about to burst from excitement and anxiety. How are you feeling?  First, excitement. When I land in Africa, it'll be my fourth continent in less than a year (North America, Asia, Europe, Africa - in that order). I've signed up to do a safari with other Golin colleagues the day before we start hiking. I figured it will help distract me from the unbridled nerves I'll be feeling before we start climbing. This is probably the most grueling and dangerous activity I've ever done - not to mention it lasts for a full 7 days. I don't want to hype this up to seem like a brazen daredevil, but there is some risk and challenge to what I'm about to undertake. I signed two liability waivers this week - which is probably why my mind has been flooded with more thoughts about Kilimanjaro lately. Are you nervous?  Yes, so let's get back to...

T-22 days! Yes, 22 days! 2-2! XXII! Vingt-deux! Veintidos! I'm not quite sure how we're already in July. I leave in three weeks! It seems surreal. Of course, with less than a month to go, I got an email on Monday that one of my three fights to Kilimanjaro (segment from Qatar to Kenya) was cancelled, so now I have two very loooooong layovers. I believe my trip will now be closer to 40-42 hours from Dallas until I finally arrive in Tanzania. I'll be exhausted at first, but luckily will have another 36 hours to acclimatize (read: sleep) before we start climbing. It's been a few weeks since I last blogged - which is for two main reasons. First, I just got back from 10 days of vacation in Italy and Greece; second, because this climb is quickly creeping up on me and honestly is catching me off guard. Nevertheless, I've still been focusing on training and fundraising in the past few weeks. Aside from personal donations from friends and family, I've been working...