100 Days

In exactly 100 days I will be on a plane to Tanzania! This is my first international flight, and my first loooong flight. My trip is a group of 16 and 17 year olds (probably 10-15 of us) and our expedition leader from NOLS. I want to take a moment to capture all of the work we’ve been doing to prepare.

• Fundraising - MASSIVE effort from a lot of people

• Gear Preparation - This area is wild card.

• Medical Preparation - Vaccines and physical strength training fall into this category.

My gear situation is probably the aspect of the trip that is most dynamic at this point. Initially, we thought I had most of the gear I’d need already. However, Tanzania demands a different type of gear - for example, NO COTTON! Most of the clothing layers need to be synthetic or smart wool - so that meant buying almost all new hiking attire. The boots I had were not quite supportive enough for my ankles in the bush - so new boots were a must. My mom’s pack was in great shape, but it’s 25 years old…so for safety we ended up with a NEW Osprey 75L pack. My sleeping bag is expeditioon level, so we didn’t have to replace that. New water bottles, a folding blade, lighters, sun glasses, expedition hat (large sunhat to protect my neck as well as my face), biodegradable soaps, sunscreen, chap stick sun screen, blister prevention, a tiny towel, some bandanas and a bluff…there is a LOT of gear and we will weigh it all!

I have gotten my Typhoid and Cholera vaccines and picked up the maleria prevention and travelers diarrhea prevention as well— still not sure if we will do the Rabies vaccine because it is hard to find and pricey (around $400/shot 2 shot minimum).

The days have gone by quickly as we’ve been moving toward the trip - and now that it’s spring I know it will be here before I know it.

Thank you for coming on this adventure with me.