Today I fly to Kilimanjaro

Today’s the day.

My flight to Nairobi and then to Kilimanjaro Airport is tonight at midnight.

I have been feeling more and more miserable because of whatever it is I have. It might be the anti-malarials doing this to me. It might be I have something else. I’m having a few tests run on my blood and should get the results just before I leave the house to go to the airport.

My packing is pretty much complete. I put my snacks in my suitcases. I have bags of dried fruits, some dates, Kit Kats, cashews, something called muffin bars (I’m assuming they are something like granola bars…they were the only thing I could find here in Cairo), herbal teas in case I get a cold, a cough, or diarrhea, and some Tang. I bought three large bottles of orange juice. When I went up Mt. St. Catherine last week one thing I was really missing was something to replace potassium losses. So I’m hoping this orange juice will do the job.

I’ve wrapped EVERYTHING in ziplock bags. I’m worried my orange juice will explode in the suitcase. I’m also conscious of the fact that it will be wet and rainy throughout most of the hike up the mountain. So I need to do everything I can to keep my clothes dry.

The daypack I will be using on the hike up (which will hopefully only contain small snacks, my camera, and whatever extra layers I’ll need for the day) is fully loaded now and I will be using it as a carry-on in the plane. It has the bare necessities I’d need to climb the mountain in case my luggage gets lost. I have one layer of every type of clothing I might need in there. I’ve also tied my sleeping bag to it. And I will be traveling in my hiking boots. That way if I do lose my luggage I could possibly still make the hike.

I’m recharging my mobile and camera batteries now. And I’m updating what is probably my last blog before I’m back from the trip on August 22 inshallah!

If you want to follow the progress of my hike, please follow me on Twitter http://twitter.com/NadiaE. I will do my very best to update my Twitter status while on the mountain. If you don’t hear from me on Twitter then there probably wasn’t much network coverage on the mountain or I had problems accessing the Internet for one reason or another. In that case, you’ll have to wait till I’m back when I’ll be sure to update my blog with my day-to-day activities and pictures.

Please keep me in your prayers!