Planning and Preparation

According to an unverified source, in the words of Dwight D. Eisenhower:

"Plans are nothing; planning is everything"

When when Simon and I sat down to plan this trip, we said to each other: "What do we want this trip to be about?".  There was a lot of discussion, until in a moment of clarity we both realised there was only one answer.  Like all holidays, It HAD to be about the three 'F's.  Fun, Fashion, and...

...A F#!king Big Mountain

Fun

This should basically take care of itself I think, especially in the second half of the holiday.  Broadly the itinerary is:

1. Climb Kilimanjaro
2. Recover in Zanzibar
3. Safari on the Masai Mara in Kenya
4. Gorilla tracking in Uganda

Fashion

A trip that takes you from the scorching plains of Africa (+30 degrees) to the freezing sub twenty degree temperatures at the summit of Kilimanjaro presents nothing but opportunity for expressing oneself through fashion.  I'll be looking stylish the whole way up the mountain in these fetching ensembles:

My sun wear - 

Yes, that is a pith-helmet.  Special thanks to Tim Whittaker.  Approximate value of sun-wear is 5% of fashion budget (excluding pith helmet).  Approximate proportion of trip in which sun wear will be utilised 91%.

My winter wear:

I am wearing what is apparently the world's most AMAZING Outdoor Research soft-shell warm when cold cool when hot winter gear (yep, the salesman saw me coming a mile off).  Trousers, thermals, gloves, buff, beanie, jacket, head to toe warmth.  Approximate value of winter-wear is 95% of fashion budget. Approximate proportion of trip in which winter wear will be utilised: 9%.

Isn't it just, fashion.

The F!#king Big Mountain

I am no stranger to hikes, thanks to Alice Bastable who dragged me kicking and screaming across the Inca Trail in July last year.  But as time marched on, I have romanticised the hike and forgotten about how much I hated the wet, the cold, the uncomfortable bed, and the lack of modern plumbing.  When I told Alice I was booking this she more or less fell off her chair, got promptly back on it, and fell off it again.

However, I am a million times more prepared for a hike than last time.  When I went to South America I was completely unfit, and tipping the scales at about 108kg!  A new years resolution and a lot of running later, I am now probably more fit than I have ever been in my life, and a svelte 83kg.  Well done me.

Simon and I (and Louise Doherty, who came along just for fun) even found time for a preparatory mountain climb (a comparison between Mount Coot Tha & Kili is shown in the graph below):

Key Concerns

There really is only one, Simon urinating during the climb.  The K2 salesman tried really hard to convince me to buy a second water bottle to urinate in at night.  He must have said the word 'pee' about a hundred times in a sentence.  I get it, it's cold, but I think the pee bottle is not for me.

Simon was completely convinced, and has apparently been "practising" using a pee bottle.  Unless he is intending on pissing into the bottle from across the other side of the tent and is practising his aim, I'm really not sure that practise was necessary. My survey revealed that I should be more than capable of stepping outside briefly at night to relieve any calls of nature.

Trip goals

Other than the obvious (being reach the summit of Kilimanjaro), my other goals in Africa include observing, and participating in, the Masai Warrior 'Jumping Up & Down with a Stick' Dance.

And having this guy put on an apron and mix me a mojito:

Seriously, the price of getting myself to that gorilla, he better have been practising using the muddler.

Everything is set?

I thought so, but I was still feeling uneasy, like I didn't quite have everything I needed for the journey.  Then it came to me:

Yep, now we're set.

So I fly out at 2pm TODAY (20 October), a mere 4 hours and 50 minutes away, and I will be back in Aus on 11 November.

Wish me luck, wish Simon luck, and wish the Gorilla luck in learning to tie the bow on his apron.