Who Says You Can't Go Home?

“No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.” ~Lin Yutang

The plane ride home was the longest ride of my life. My journey home consisted of two separate flights. The first flight left Arusha at 9 PM. Kind of. It was supposed to leave at 9 PM and because of delays with luggage we actually left at 10:30 PM or so. 

After an hour we landed in Dar es Salaam to load more passengers onto the plane before departing Tanzania. They quickly cleaned the plane out and began boarding more passengers. There were of course more delays and we didn’t get into the air until 1 AM.

They immediately served us dinner which was much appreciated. All of the extra time from delays had left me starving. I must say Royal Dutch KLM airlines serves really good food on their flights.

Though I was satisfied by the meal, I also realized I was starting to get sick. I guess all of the climate changes from trekking down the mountain so quickly, the minimal sleep, the physical exertion, the stress of repacking and flight delays, and the dry plane air had finally gotten the best of me. My throat was killing me.

On top of that I was experiencing the worst cramps of my whole life. I had insanely painful knots of cramps in my legs and abdomen. After such a high intensity level of physical exertion for a week straight, sitting still on a plane for an extended period of time was really not working for me.

One major point of advice I would give to people hiking Kilimanjaro is to not fly out the same day or day after getting off the mountain. Give yourself at least two days to recover physically and relax your body before subjecting yourself to hours-long plane rides.

Fortunately for me, I won the plane seat lottery by sitting next to an older lady who was a nurse on a medical mission trip. She stocked me up with Vitamin C packets to mix into my drinks, throat lozenges, and Tylenol. I befriended the flight attendants as well so that I would have continual drinks to sooth my throat. In total I would estimate I drink at least a gallon and a half of water and a gallon of orange juice on my flights home. 

The flight from Tanzania arrived in Amsterdam the next morning very early around 8 AM. I had a two hour layover in the airport so I took advantage of the opportunity to stretch my legs and walked around. I also connected to the internet to e-mail my mom and let her know my flight schedule. Skype and e-mail are such a godsend when traveling. I used it to call and update home all throughout my trip to Tanzania and while I was in route.

Eagerly, I got onto the plane as soon as they began boarding because by this point I was so excited to get home. Fortunately on this leg of the flight I was seated in a bulkhead row and was able to stretch out my legs. First rule of picking flights: always try for a bulkhead row or exit row.

On this final flight I was far too anxious and excited to get home to sleep. I watched Dear John and Alice in Wonderland, chatted with the woman next to me, and ate the in flight meal to pass the time.

By the time we landed I was so happy to be on the ground and almost home. By this point I had been traveling for twenty-five hours and I was exhausted and still feeling sick. I gathered my luggage from baggage claim and waited in line at customs. After being cleared, I took the train in the Atlanta airport to meet my family.

Words can’t begin to describe how excited I was when I found my mom and dad. After giving them a big hug and having my mom cry she was so happy I was home safe, we drove home. 

After a month away, I was finally back. My mom made a big dinner to celebrate and invited over my grandparents. It was so nice to see everyone and share with them my adventure.

Shortly after seeing everyone and telling them about my trip, I crashed. The bed was beyond comfy after a week of sleeping on the ground. I slept through the night and until at least 2 PM the next day. It felt so good to be home.

Hiking Kilimanjaro Day 2

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. ~Mark Twain

 

Wake up call this morning came pretty early. Around six o’clock the porters from the various camps began working to prepare breakfast and take down the camps. The sound of their voices woke me and after an hour of tossing and turning I got up.

Last night I slept pretty soundly considering I took my malaria medication and it usually makes me nauseous. This is my fourth week taking the Mefloquin so maybe my body has adjusted to it. 

The other thing that kept me from deep sleep was sleeping on an incline. I guess that’s the disadvantage to camping on a mountainside though.

Breakfast never tasted so good because I was starving from so much physical activity the day before. We ate eggs, toast, fruit jam, sausage, porridge, and bananas for breakfast. Quickly after eating we packed up our bags and we on the more by nine o’clock.

Today’s hike was 2,625 feet and it was all uphill on large rocks. It was definitely different than hiking through the rainforest. About 650 feet into the hike at an elevation of 10,500 feet we were above cloud level. Incredible does not even begin to describe the view of the mountain and sky. From that elevation we could see Mount Meru, the second tallest mountain in Tanzania. 

Along the hike we stopped at various points where the view was particularly beautiful to take in the scenery. The awesome scenery is definitely a testament to why the Machame route is one of the best, even if it the “Whiskey Route.” 

We arrived at Shira Cave at 2 PM after our porters. The porters are pretty amazing considering they leave camp after us in the morning so they can pack camp up and they arrive at the next camp before us to have it set up. Some of the porters literally run up the mountain which is unreal to me because I go at such a slow pace.

Arnold our guide has taught our group the Tanzanian phrase “pole pole” which means “slowly slowly.” He says because of the altitude and the rigorous activity the key to getting to the summit without getting ill is reminding ourselves to go “pole pole.”

For lunch at camp we ate grilled tomato and cheese sandwiches, leeks soup, chicken and oranges. Again I ate as much as possible because the amount of physical activity is making me super hungry. Dinner consisted of pancakes, cucumber soup, peanuts, rice, and beef with coconut sauce. I steered clear of the cauliflower and green beans because even though I was hungry, I draw the line at eating things that I am not at all a fan of. 

With temperatures in the mid 40’s, the strong winds make it feel like it’s in the 30’s out. Now that we’re above cloud level the stars are incredible. Arnold told us that on summit night the stars will seem so close we can reach out and grab them. I’m pretty excited to experience the stars that way because at home there is so much ambient light I don’t get to see them like that often.

As I lay there of course I couldn’t help but think of how I missed my family. As of tomorrow I won’t have seen them for three weeks. I know my family, especially my mom, is worrying about me this week as I can’t be in touch with them to tell them I’m doing well.

Although I’m missing my family, friends, and my yellow lab Bella a lot, I know this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. If you were me wouldn’t you try to enjoy and experience fully each moment? I'm so excited to be checking this off my bucket list soon!

On the trail

On the trail looking down the hill

Mount Meru in the distance

Aaron on the trail

Arnold and me

Aaron, me, & Rakhi pausing to take pictures on the hike

Giving Aaron a sympathy hug for being a Clemson fan. GO GAMECOCKS!

Me with the summit in the distance

Above the clouds

Rakhi at the nicest bathroom on all of Kilimanjaro

Our camp for night 2

Just after sunset

Parental Permission...the Biggest Hurdle

The trouble with having a stubbornness contest with your kids is that they have your stubbornness gene.  ~Robert Brault

How would your parents feel about you hiking Mount Kilimanjaro? My mom and dad were reluctant, to say the least. Winning over my mom and dad was one of the first things on my Kilimanjaro To-Do. Gaining my dad's blessing, specifically, would be the toughest. The thing about my parents is that their travel experience is limited mainly to the United States. While my dad has been practically everywhere in the States, his first trip to Europe was to visit me in Barcelona when I studied abroad there in the summer of 2009. My mom had at least spent some time in Sweden while getting her master’s degree so she was more understanding of my overwhelming desire to go all over the world. Seeing as my dad had a hard enough time accepting the fact that out of all the places I could choose to study abroad I decided to go to Africa, one of the seemingly most dangerous continents, I knew convincing him to agree to Kilimanjaro was going to be a challenge.

Fortunately, while I am a nice and mostly agreeable girl, when it comes to traveling I can be pretty stubborn. And when I say stubborn, I mean it in the sense of once I get an idea in my head of some particular place to go or some particular adventure to have, I am basically as unstoppable as a freight train traveling at a high speed. Thanks, Dad for this quality. So after a fair amount of talking to my parents and convincing them of why I absolutely had to hike Kilimanjaro beyond a shadow of a doubt in my mind, they reluctantly agreed. Well mostly my mom agreed. My dad still had his fair share of qualms but while I usually am not a proponent of the phrase “It’s better to beg for forgiveness than to ask for permission,” it definitely came to mind. Now I could officially check off get my parents approval from my To Do List. Check!

Mom, Dad, & Me in front of the mosaic dragon in Parc Güell

Mom & Dad in front of La Sagrada Familia Church (I lived a block away from it!)

Mom & Dad at the Mediterranean for the first time