1 sleep ahead...

So what do you do one night before your big departure? :-)

Trying to get some sleep but it's very difficult as there are so many things going on through your head. Do I have everything? Is it going to be enough? Is the rucksack too heavy? Will I wake up on time? Do I have enough Imodium tablets? Will I need them? Is it going to rain? Did I finish what I needed at work? And so on, and so on.

This last few days flew by so fast. And today! While still managed to do plenty of work, I also talked to my Mum, emailed Dad & my dear cousin Iva, printed out our boarding passes (yay!!!), I mixed and packed dried fruits & nuts for our energy needs, finished packing the Camelbak, coloured my hair (purely because if I didn't, I would come back grey from Africa!!!), charged all my mobile phones (I am taking four of them so I don't need to worry about charging battery and taking adapter), talked to my Czech friend living in Coventry, got many best wishes from various people, got very excited talking about Africa, got really scared talking about Africa, got a postcard from friend Will from Wales (very cute, thank you, Will!!!), got a call from my chiropractor checking on my hip and wishing all the best, felt stupidly silly about leaving my small but cosy room and about missing my bed... The mixture of feelings currently happening in my body is beyond describing.

Somebody asked me today what I was going to do when I get to the top of Kili. I wasn't sure. It occurred to me that maybe sit down and cry of joy would be a good idea but then crying in such a cold temperature is probably not the best idea :-) and the guide probably won't let me sit down either. So let's see what happens!

So now, just a few hours before getting up again (at 3 am), I am sitting here and sipping my last glass of wine and thinking about all the people who've been there and made it and thinking about the people who've been there and couldn't make it and thinking about the people whom we hopefully help by raising money for our charity. We've currently raised £1719 and I would like to thank everybody who contributed for their very generous help!

Ok, time to go to bed. Big adventure ahead but before then there is Dutch cheese and beer awaiting us tomorrow too :-) Bring on Amsterdam!!!

2 days to go :)

Another day gone, another day closer to the departure!

I've piled on some calories (as recommended by a friend from work) in the shape of cakes I shared with work colleagues today. I unpacked my rucksack and my Camelbak, then re-packed while ticking off every item on my list to make sure nothing was omitted. I am sure I've sweated out some of my cold through this procedure, what an exhausting (but exciting) task to do! But it's all in, hopefully within the weight limits. Two more nights!

One of my colleagues at work showed me a picture of his friend who made it to the top of Kili last week! The picture was great, it was sunny out there, the sky was blue and clear and the guy was smiling and looked very happy! I promised in a week and a bit I would have on of those pictures too! :-) (It's amazing what people will endure to go to a top of a hill to take a picture with a wooden sign...)

There are a few things left to do tomorrow but for now I am in bed, enjoying a glass of red wine and letting my body to fight off the cold and relax before the action packed holidays! :-)

3 days to go!

Three days to the departure and I got a cold. Paul said it was a nature's way of protecting all the people around me from having to experience my over-excitement at going on holiday! :-) I just hope it disappears by Thursday night!

Everything seems to be sorted now, we will be able to swap our pre-2003 dollar notes at the Birmingham airport on Friday, Paul is finally getting his Malarone tablets - we need to take our first one on Thursday already!! -, I've visited all possible doctors I could (the dentist today) so everything is coming together :-) Apart from my runny nose and sore throat. At least it distracted me from my hip problem (does it by any chance look like I am falling apart :-D?) which is getting better, I hope.

Soooo... going to get some quality sleep time and sip Lemsip with honey and whiskey and hopefully sweat the cold out as next Tuesday I will be sweating from totally different reasons!

Good night :)

Packing!

Sunday 12th September 2010 @ 11:35am

It's Sunday but more importantly it's a Sunday before our immediate departure next Friday which means... it's a packing Sunday! This week we have sorted out our travel money and I have just found out that some of our dollar bills are old and wouldn't be accepted in Tanzania. Just when we thought everything was sorted, another little issue comes up. But back to packing.

I wonder why there is a little tension in my stomach when I only think about the packing... I know I've tried to fit the stuff into the rucksack before and it went more or less well but since then more stuff was bought and I've also realised another thing. It's not just packing of clothing and medicines and toiletries into a rucksack - it's packing of all the time we spent preparing for this trip and all the experience we have gained. The hours we walked and talked and discussed, the time we spent researching and of course the money we spent. We're now packing all the bits and bobs that got us here from spring last year when we started to plan this holiday adventure.

So here we go. I don't know where to start so I remove all boxed items like bandages (tubegrips), batteries, medicines and similar from their paper boxes and put them into a sealed plastic bags. While doing this I am developing (in my head) strategy as how to fit everything in and still be within 20kgs. I am fully in control of the situation :-) but what I need first is... a tea!

12:20pm

Two teas later. All little bits are now safely in plastic bags so I am ready for any rain that could sneak upon us. Having said that I have just re-checked that my rucksack has a big rain cover (as advertised) so all the stuff inside it should be safe anyway. Time for the big items. It's not just taking the clothing out of the drawers and stuff them into the rucksack. It's important to decide what should be in the hand luggage, what will I wear and what needs to be in the rucksack. For that purpose I have a colourful spreadsheet showing all items I am taking and which location I have appointed to them (rucksack or Camelbak). Sounds like stocktaking! :-D

Does it look like I am still in control?

13:30

Most of the clothing is in, some space is left, didn't have time to worry about the weight yet. Need a break. Tea and a bagel.

I checked the KLM website to find out that the allowance is up to 23kg. For hand luggage we are allowed 12kgs, however my Camelbak doesn't fit the maximum hand luggage restrictions so this is going to be interesting. It's only a few cms (1.6 to be precise), hopefully they won't notice. Although it's great that KLM allows generous luggage allowance we shouldn't forget that our porters are only allowed to carry 15kgs and the same we can take with us to Zanzibar. The more I take the more I will have to carry myself then. Who said packing for holidays was fun??

14:17

Ugh. Almost done. Space-wise ok. Weight-wise not sure. Going to put all the stuff I marked for hand luggage to the Camelbak.

14:35

Camelbak was easy, plenty of space left and currently only has 5 kgs. I shouldn't forget that with the full bladder it's going to be 8kgs though!!! Still am starting to be more positive about all this luggage thing. Also starting to appreciate porters' job! I have tried to put the rucksack on my back and lift it and boy what a struggle it was not to fall backwards! So that's packing for now, I need to call home and probably leave this until Tuesday/Wednesday evening. There is still some washing to do, I still need some strong(er) painkillers for my potential hip problem, oh and I need to prepare and pre-pack mixture of nuts & dried fruits!

One more picture showing a voodoo doll of a Traveller which I got from my dear cousin Iva for good luck on our travels!!!