Off to Nairobi
Friday, October 15, 2010 at 12:32AM 
The True Size of Africa from Boing Boing via Stephen's Lighthouse
Distrust any enterprise that requires new clothes.
Henry David Thoreau
My flight to Nairobi via Amsterdam leaves at 5:20 this afternoon. I am very excited to be presenting at the AISA conference next week. As the LWW says, I have to keep going farther and farther away before people haven't heard all my old jokes. I just hope I can keep my buddy Ian Jukes out of mischief while there. I've been trying to convince him to replace his bum foot with a wheel so he could do the Starlight Express version of his keynotes. Not that they aren't entertaining enough already.
After the conference, I am heading to Arusha, Tanzania to join five other souls with Destination Tanzania attempting to walk up Mt. Kilimanjaro. Even if I don't make it to the top, it's already been good for me since the hike has been an incentive to lose some weight - down 18 of the 20 pounds I decided to lose before the hike. Good for both the knees and energy levels - but I do miss my wine and ice cream and salty snacks. Along with two guides, two assistant guides, and one cook, each hiker in the group of six will have five porters. I figure that will be two to carry the supplies and three to carry me.
I'm pretty much an old hand at packing for conferences, but packing for an eight-day, multi-climate hike is new. This is tricky since the climb will start in the tropics and end at the sub-zero summit (I hope). So hikers are like onions and ogres - they'll have layers. And snacks, sleeping bag and Kindle. That should be enough.
I've good memories of East Africa having attended a NESA conference there in, I think, 1987. It was the first time I ever did a break-out at a national/international conference. The topic was either book talks for secondary students or integrating business software (AppleWorks) into the curriculum. After the conference I took a five day safari to the Masai Mara, including a hot air balloon ride. Very, very cool.
It will be an interesting break, especially the eight or so days of no Internet connectivity. Belive me, I am looking forward to it.
Behave yourselves while I am gone...
The Gaping Void, of course.
Reader Comments (1)
@ Doug
Enjoy the trip. Safe Travels!