Passport in Hand

Phew, my passport is back in my possession!  Yesterday I went back to the Tanzanian Embassy to pick up my passport with my Visa for the trip. To be honest, I was a little nervous leaving it there.  It wasn't the most organized place and to just hand over your passport to a perfect stranger in return for a little pink slip 6 days before you are supposed to leave the country, it was a little nerve racking!  But I should have never doubted them, it all went very smoothly.   Don't make fun of the photo, sometimes they don't accept photos where you are smiling, and I haven't really mastered that whole "smiling with your eyes" thing that Tyra goes on about even though I've watched just about every season of America's Next Top Model! It really is ridiculous, they make you pull your hair back and not smile...can we say Mug Shot!

Long Time, No See

I just couldn't stay away, iPhone, oh how I've missed you!  I will admit, I am usually pretty late in jumping on the technological bandwagon.  But with the iPhone, I was actually all over that, I had the 1st generation iPhone when it first came out a few years ago.  It served me well until the day that I moved to London and has sense taken over as my main ipod, since my original ipod was only 4GB.  When I moved to London I went back to the blackberry, for reasons that I can't really remember now.  I did love my Blackberry, especially her keyboard and most recently I have become obsessed with BBM.  For a while there I only had a couple of BBM friends, but recently I have had an explosion of BBM friends so you can guarantee that my BB was glued to my hands for the last few months!  I think BBM will be the hardest to let go of, why hasn't Apple come out with the equivalent for iPhone yet, I mean seriously!!! But as much as I loved my Blackberry I also missed my iPhone, so when my contract was up for a free upgrade, I just couldn't deny myself any longer!  It actually works out perfect, because I almost asked for a new ipod for Christmas because the battery on mine wasn't holding up too well anymore.  So I killed two birds with one stone!  I am all synched up and ready to go!  The first time around there weren't all of these Apps like there are now.  I am very intrigued by these little guys, but a little lost. So please, all my iPhone buddies out there, let me know your favorite Apps!!

Just like a Pill

I'm officially a geriatric...I need a pill box!  Don't get too excited, I only need it for my trip to Africa, life in my mid-twenties will resume when I return.  Now I'm no Scientologist, but I don't really use medicine.  It's not that I don't believe in it, it's just that I don't really require much, or I'm too lazy to take it.  One or the other. I've never really taken any medication on a daily basis. I mean I went to the allergist a couple of years ago and had the full barrage of tests, scratch test on the back and all. He kindly wrote me a prescription to combat the extreme allergy that I have to grass and I just found the prescription in the back of a drawer in the bathroom at my parents house over Christmas.  I had never even filled it! I rarely even take advil as I am blessed that I am not really affected by headaches or hangovers.  Tonight I got back from Boots (drug store) about 80 pounds poorer.  For the next two weeks I will be taking the following medication on a daily basis: Doxycylin for Malaria, Diamox for Altitude sickness, Glucosamine for Joint Health, Ginko Biloba for hekp with the altitude, Claritin for allergies, and I also have a battery of medicines for ailments that may creep up on me while I am there. They include Aleve and Arnica for muscle soreness, immodium (for you know what) and rehydration tablets.  I have an entire gallon sized zip lock bag full of medicine!

Like Riding a Horse

I have fallen off, but I am back on the horse.  It was not, but should have been, one of my 2010 new years resolutions to blog more! I really lost my steam there at the end of last year. I think I was just too busy having fun and enjoying myself, which is a good thing!  I have racked up quite a few blogworthy things over the past couple of months that I was on hiatus,  including : Girls Christmas Market trip to Vienna/Bratislava, Cole's visit to London for Thanksgiving, my trip home to Texas for Christmas, NYE in New York, me deciding to move yet AGAIN and my new flat in Camden, and most recently mydecision to make the return back to the iPhone (it arrives tomorrow!).  I will do my best to cover these in future posts over the next couple of months, but lets be honest, if you are really interested in any of these things then it is probably best that you give me a call and we can chat about any or all of the above topics!

This post however, is dedicated to my pending trip (5 more days!) to Tanzania!  The focus of the post will center around how I did absolutely ZERO to prepare for climbing the tallest peak in Africa standing at a mere 19,000 ft!  It will also touch on how I thought I would have very little to buy as I pretty much bought out the REI last year when I went to Africa.  Oh how wrong I was.  In addition to everything that I purchased last year (please see here http://cheeriosandmilk.blogspot.com/2008/10/granola-its-not-just-for-breakfast.html) I am now also the owner of hiking boots, trekking poles, a very fancy Opsrey daypack, a puffy jacket, about 6 pairs of hiking socks, sporty sunglasses (i'd look like a fool hiking up the mountain in my fendi's!), about 3 layers of gloves, one of those nifty wool hats that covers your ears and has dangly strings that look like braids, a pair of Keen's, a steel water bottle and personal water filtration system, a heavy duty head lamp for our middle of the night summit attempt, one pricey set of heavy duty base layers (aka fancy long johns), several tops made of breathable, wicking material, and a years supply of moleskin for all the blisters that I am sure to acquire! I am also now protected from hepatitis A for the next 20 years after getting my booster and I am a certifiably protected from Yellow Fever...and I have the certificate to prove it (that must be carried with my passport at all times).  Speaking of my passport, I don't have physical custody of it at the moment, which is slightly terrifying to me!  I dropped it off at the Tanzanian Embassy this morning along with my Visa application.  I paid extra for the express application so that it would be ready by Wednesday rather than Friday. 

Now comes the scary part. Packing! The company who we are doing our trip through, Exodus, sent me this kitbag in the mail that I am meant to pack everything for the mountain portion of the trip in.  We have to pack in these bags and they are not allowed to exceed 12 kg, that is roughly 26 pounds!!!!  I think my purse weighs more than that! How the heck and I supposed to fit everything that I just listed in a duffel bag and make it weigh less than 26 lbs?

Oh yeah, didn't I say something about training for the mountain.  Yeah, well, I didn't. At all. So that is pretty much all there is to say about that. There is one day where we will be hiking for 15 hours. I am pretending like this isn't happening, that is how I am getting through this with a smile. I'll be back on February 1st. Wish me luck :)