Author’s note: This post is part of a series on my recent trip and climb of Mount Kilimanjaro, to read all posts click here.
I began my long journey to Africa on a special day – July 8th, 2015 – my 15-year wedding anniversary. No wise wife purposely chooses to plan a two-week trip sans kids and husband on their wedding anniversary. But I had no choice. It would take me almost 24 hours to get to Tanzania and I needed to arrive in time to get over jet lag and prepare for the big climb of Mount Kilimanjaro.
Tearfully I said goodbye to my children and husband, feeling that bittersweet emotion mixed between excitement and guilt that I always feel when leaving my family to fly half way around the world. No matter how many times I’ve done it, it never is easy and I’m always a nervous, anxiety-ridden wreck before I leave on a big trip. Perhaps it is the micro-manager in me that always feels a sense of deep anxiety with leaving my organized, scheduled family life behind. Yet my bags were packed albeit five minutes before the taxi showed up outside my door, the meals were prepared and awaiting frozen inside the depths of the freezer and the endless pages of typed out notes with schedules, idiosyncrasies and miscellaneous tidbits on the daily care of the kids were left out in two copies for each one of my babysitters. I took deep breath, let out a sigh of relief and boarded the plane. A glass of wine was in order followed by another one as I settled into my seat.
There is something grand about traveling overseas, across continents and oceans. A deep, grateful wisp of anticipation, excitement and adventure always sets deep within my veins. Fortunately I have traveled all of my life and instead of diminishing, my love of wanderlust never seems to fade. Instead, it grows stronger like a huge oak tree firmly rooted into the ground and expanding upon each bit of sunlight and drop of rain.
Sunset over Africa
Every time I get in the air, I turn on the flight tracker and watch in amazement the places we pass, soaring through the sky to the next adventure. This time it would be Tanzania, not a new continent for me but a new place. The first stop was in Amsterdam where I would had a couple of hours layover before boarding my next nine-hour flight directly to Kilimanjaro International Airport, located about an hour’s drive from Moshi where I’d be staying for the next couple of days.
I slept a tiny bit, ate and ate, drank wine and watched three movies until we landed into the dark African skies of Tanzania. I would have strongly preferred landing during daylight as I like to get a feel of the layout of the land. But it would have to wait until the next day. Much of Africa is unlit at night so the hour’s drive was uneventful. I couldn’t see a thing let alone catch a glimpse of the mountain looming unforeseen in the distance that I was going to spend the next seven days trying to climb.
We stayed at a tourist hotel called the Springlands located just outside Moshi, a small city that along with Arusha, is the jumping off point for a Kilimanjaro climb or an African safari. It is a nice, clean and welcoming hotel packed with fellow trekkers and safari-goers that offers rooms with three or four twin beds each, decent buffet-style dining and a wonderful, smiling staff. After two days at Springlands, it felt like home.
View of the open air dinning area at the Springlands Hotel. Little did I know, the top of Mount Kilimanjaro was lurking behind those clouds.
Same view as before from the hotel balcony yet this time the clouds moved to unveil the top of Mount Kilimanjaro. This was taken on the second day, on the balcony of the second floor of the hotel. It is startling how incredibly high Kilimanjaro is. Quite intimidating!
I shared a room with two of my fellow “Solar Sisters”, Neha and Caroline who work in DC and Rhode Island respectively and are an integral part of the Solar Sister Team. Our group of Solar Sister Summit Climbers would be nine in total, along with our American guide Chaney and a team of 30 local staff of porters, cooks and guides who we would meet in a few days at the start of our climb.
The first full day was spent recovering from the long flight and gearing up for the hike. We would have a meeting the following day to go over the essentials of the climb including what gear to pack, what are the symptoms of AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness) and what we were to expect over the next seven days.
As the sun was setting on the first night, a group of us walked out of our hotel doors and captured our first glimpse of the mighty mountain were going to climb. When I first saw it, I yelped in shock. It was so incredibly massive! I had climbed in the Andes, the Alps and Himalayas of Nepal yet never on a stand-alone volcano. The sheer mass and size of Mount Kilimanjaro stunned me.
Me in front of the mighty beast
My first reaction was one of fear. I was going to climb that? I must admit I was a bit surprised to see just how incredibly big Kilimanjaro is. From all the way down where I stood in the harvested fields of maize, my heart thundered. It was going to be a long hike that was for sure. Although it was incredibly intimidating, I knew I could do it. I had wanted to do it for over 15 years and I was finally there and going to try my best to reach the top.
I went to sleep both exhilarated and filled with nerves. Did I train enough? How hard would it be? Would I get altitude sickness? Would that old hip injury I’d been tending cause me pain? Finally I closed my eyes, forgetting about all the “what if’s” and imagined what it would feel like to be on top. Sublime.
Can’t wait to hear all about the climb!
Thanks! I will slowly be unraveling the entire journey!
Ha ha! That could be taken two different ways! (Hope you don’t come unraveled.) 🙂
Thanks! It was an interesting trip to say the least!
Good luck! What an adventure.
Thanks!!!
Wonderful photos and very compelling narrative! I feel like I was there with you. Can’t wait to see the next installment
Oh thanks Lisa!!!!
So exciting! It must have been amazing to finally be standing before it.
Alison
Yea it felt rather surreal Alison. It is just so incredibly big. The pictures really don’t do it justice.
wow..good for you I look forward to the next installment!
Thank you so much!!! 😀
I don’t think I will ever be doing that, as much as I would like to be at the top. I will just have to be Di tent with your lovely photos.
Thanks Debra! The knees are still recovering but it was worth it. I know you love mountains too!
Spell check!! I will just have to be content with your lovely photos.
Wonderful!
Thanks!!!
Lovely to see a photo of you…
Lol! I usually don’t like the pics of myself but sometimes I’ve just got to take them! 😀
It gets worse! I look back on old photos of me, and think “Well, girl, you weren’t THAT bad looking!” I never had a blueprint for how I might age, as my parents died far too young, but now I glimpse myself in shop windows and it’s a shock! I’m only 25 on the inside! Sometimes I’m only 3 inside….Hey Ho!
Ha Ha lol! Yep, age is all about mentality! I love to keep my mind young and that is why traveling and being really active help! 🙂
And if it should be that we end up in Homes for The Bewildered, we’ll have albums and writings and photos, to give us joyous trips down Memory Lane!
🙂
That mountain does look very intimidating. Great photos, Nicole. 🙂
Thanks Sylvia! Hope you are enjoying your summer! Hard to believe it is already almost August!
This is a great beginning to your story! I can imagine how intimidating that mountain might have been, even with all your experience.
A blog I have been reading written by a person who was in Nepal during the earthquake is http://wrightouttanowhere.com/2015/07/18/after-the-quake-part-3/
I’m sure you have read and seen plenty about the quake because of your interest in the area, but you might enjoy the photos.
Thank you so much Marilyn for your comment and also introducing me to this new blog! There are so many fabulous blogs out there yet I have little time to discover them! I just signed up for emailed posts and said hello. Sounds like a great blog! Thank you!
Good luck for your climb! Enjoy the feeling once you got up there! Btw, great photos!
Thanks! I actually already did it and am backtracking on my blog since I didn’t have wifi there or time to write about it. Stay tuned!!!
I’m working my way backwards through your posts, as usual, Nicole but I know you made it! What a fantastic adventure and achievement. Poor hubbie to be married to such a wandering soul, but lucky as well. 🙂
Ha Ha that is true Jo! He did know what he was getting into though when he met me! I don’t think you ever get rid of wanderlust!
Going away and returning can give you far more honeymoons than the usual, just one! All power and health to you!
Thanks! 🙂
Whoa! You are a brave and adventurous woman. I feel like I’ve just started a novel that I don’t want to put down until I reach the end. Way to go, Nicole! I never thought of using flight tracker. I’m going to download it now! 🙂
I love this comment Debbie! I am glad that I got you engaged in my story! It was quite a trip that is for sure. Good thing is I get to relive it all through writing it all out on my blog!
How exciting! It must have been an amazing feeling when you got your first glimpse 🙂
It was really amazing. It was so huge and just towering over me. If you like to hike, you and your husband should definitely do Kilimanjaro. It is quite the experience.