Ok, Now We're Really Off to Kili...

I was completely wrecked after our day of travel from Livingstone to Kilimanjaro. Our 9 hour Johannesburg layover was actually quite successful. We were able to refresh our very depleted stock of US dollars (thanks to zambia, which raised their visa cost from $35 USD to $135 unbeknownst to us and left us scrambling for every last emergency USD we brought with us so we could cross the border and get to our hotel on 7/15). We had a very successful shopping trip where we stocked up on warm clothes for Kili - everything we hear from folks who have just come down off the mountain (and theres a lot of them) is that it is FREEZING. We also had a delicious meal at Soulsa in Melville (same place Chris took me to on my first night in Joburg, almost a month ago). We even got time to relax at the airport for several hours, as our Kenyan Air flight was delayed by an hour due to "operational difficulties."

Thats when things turned ugly. I had a middle seat next to the obnoxious American from hell who decided that because there wasnt a lot of space in the overhead compartments, she should shove both her enormous backpack AND her enormous shopping bag into the seat with her. Being in the middle as I was, that meant that they were basically in the seat with me. Fun times. Thankfully, I was so tired at this point, that I slept like a baby for the duration of the "red eye" (loosely used term, given it was only a four hour flight). Arriving an hour late in Nairobi, we rushed to our next and last flight. We successfully boarded, which consisted of walking out on to the tarmac with a bunch of other people and walking towards the plane we thought might be hours (choosing from a number of options of different planes, all from WWII era, some already taxi-ing down the runway, some taxi-ing directly at us).

Unfortunately, our bags did NOT successfully board with us. We're starting our climb of Kili tomorrow but spent the majority of today not only without our bags but also without a clear sense of when/if we might see them again. Thankfully, Brent was the hero of the day and hunted them down for all of us. By 5pm, we had our bags and were actually able to each go through our gear with our guide (who seems awesome!) to ensure that we have what it takes to successfully summit AND stay warm. That was incredibly confidence inspiring and let us all go off to our rooms to take our last showers feeling much more at ease than we had in the last couple of days leading up to our big adventure.

We went out to dinner, and I went with the boys' selection of Khan's BBQ. Now to be fair, it would have been excellent choice any other night. But the street food ambiance and the fact that by day this place is a auto repair center (they actually advertise themselves as "Chicken on the Bonnet" which is British for a car hood) made me feel like this might not be the best call for our "last supper" so to speak. If I went the entire last 3 weeks with not one hint of Montezuma's Revenge, I was just thinking that this wasnt the night to tempt fate. So I picked my way through a few pieces of chicken and some naan (again, all excellent) and we'll see where the ol' GI track is in the morning. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

So that gets us to right now. 10pm. July 19th. Tomorrow morning at 8:30am we're on the road to Kili and should be hiking by noon at the latest. I've got a good feeling about this...