Acanela customer Danielle Benn sits down with us and shares her favorite travel memories, what she loves about Acanela Expeditions, her experiences climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, and more! Listen to hear her Acanela Expeditions review!

In this episode, we discuss:

• What Danielle’s most memorable travel experience has been (1:16)

• Danielle’s experience traveling with Acanela (2:20)

• Danielle’s advice for anyone traveling to Mount Kilimanjaro (6:26)

• Danielle’s next adventure (10:40)

Morgan: Hi, guys, welcome back. It's Morgan. Today, I'm sitting down with Danielle. We're going to talk about her fun trip to Kilimanjaro. So, thanks so much for joining us. I'd love to just dive in and start getting this podcast going. Danielle, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Danielle: Hi. Yeah, sure. My name is Danielle. I am from Boston, Massachusetts. I am a senior recruiter.

Morgan: That is so awesome. No, that's an awesome job.

Danielle: Well, you get to talk to people all day long. You are always on the phone, always chatting with people. So if you like being with people, it's definitely a good job.

Morgan: Yeah, that sounds like an awesome job. It seems like you're a very personable person, so sounds like a good job.

Danielle: I tend to be, yeah.

Danielle’s Most Memorable Travel Experience

Morgan: I can tell. Well, with your job, have you been able to travel?

Danielle: Actually, yes. I worked for a pretty large company, so I get to travel mostly around the US. But for my last company, I actually traveled to Portugal. And then this company I'm at now, I traveled to California a lot, Texas, just mostly around the nation.

Morgan: Well, out of those trips, which one's been your most memorable travel experience?

Danielle: Oh, definitely Portugal. Portugal, I never imagined like, "Oh, I want to go to Portugal." Do you know what I mean?

Morgan: Yeah.

Danielle: But when I went there, I was literally amazed. It is a very romantic city. I was there by myself. It's a very romantic city. The buildings are beautiful. There's wine and pour everywhere, and really good pastries. It's just super magical. A lot of people don't know, but J.K. Rowling, she got a lot of inspiration for writing the first Harry Potter book in Portugal, in the town that I was in, Porto. It's super cool.

Morgan: That is so cool. I had no idea about that. That's really interesting.

Danielle’s Adventures With Acanela Expeditions

Morgan: Well, I'm glad that you've been able to travel so much with your job and see so many things. What inspired you? Tell us about your trip to Kilimanjaro.

Danielle: Yeah, so I was turning 25. I looked at my parents and I was like, "I've never taken a vacation for myself ever," since I started working when I was right out of college. They were like, "Well, you should book a trip." I was like, "You know what? You're right." And so, I found the Acanela and it was like a comfortable way for me to book this trip and know that I would feel safe going somewhere alone as a young woman. I knew that I didn't want to just vacation where I would hang out on the beach.

Morgan: Yeah, I get that.

Danielle: So I was like, "Let's go to Kilimanjaro."

Morgan: Wow. Well, I'm glad you were able to take that trip. That's what I love about Acanela is you can just literally like it's so simply planned. It's no stress. It takes the stress away from it.

Danielle: Oh, yeah. I literally didn't have to do anything. I feel like I'm pretty sure I just put in my payment info and I was good to go. There's almost like a concierge service, I guess you can say, where they're just setting you up with everything. Even someone else in the trip that I was on upgraded their hotel. And so, I was asked like, "Do you want to upgrade too?" I was like, "Heck yeah, sure." So, it was super easy.

Morgan: Well, it sounds like it went super well. What would you say was your favorite thing about Kilimanjaro, about the whole trip?

Danielle: Oh, gosh. That's so hard to pick because it is a really memorable trip. I actually didn't see Kilimanjaro until I already climbed in it. I was like, "Lucky me." Because otherwise, I would have been freaked out. The day you summit, you get back to camp and you look up. You're like, "Oh, my gosh. I just climbed to the top of that thing." It's just like an overwhelming feeling of like, "Holy bad word."

Morgan: Like it's just amazing.

Danielle: Yeah. Honestly, I can't even find the words for it because it really is indescribable. It takes your breath away, honestly. I wasn't sure what to expect from a wildlife perspective or even just from the different ecosystems, but you go through four different ecosystems and you get to see the wildlife in during each one. I saw monkeys, a whole bunch of different animals, and even just little flowers that you see when you're walking through, but you just don't even realize they're going to be. I think when I booked the trip, I was so focused on just like, "I'm going to climb a mountain and that's cool." But, it's the little details in between that make the trip extra special. Do you know what I mean?

Morgan: That's amazing. That's why I think traveling is so cool because you get to see things you would never have seen if you didn't take the time to go, take the time out of your life and make that a priority.

Danielle: Yeah. I think it's that right, but it's also traveling is very empowering, I think, just because you can take this little trip and it sounds so silly. Like you're going on vacation, good for you. You take this trip for yourself and it really is empowering from a self-care standpoint, from everything. I don't know. I found it very empowering.

Morgan: No, it totally is. I completely agree with you. It refreshes you for real-life when you come back too. It just helps you appreciate things more.

Danielle’s Advice to Future Travelers Hiking Mount Kilimanjaro

Danielle: Oh, 100%. I really appreciated restrooms with running water when I came back.

Morgan: Yeah. No, I know. Whenever I travel, I think the same thing. I'm like, "Wow." It just opens your eyes. And so, I guess you did mention that you're grateful for the bathroom, so do you have any advice for someone going to Kilimanjaro?

Danielle: Oh, yeah. I definitely have advice. A thing you have to remember is pretty much everything, you carry on with you. You have to carry off, so I just recommend wipe for your hands. Honestly, I never imagined how cold it was going to be, but it is cold.

Morgan: Oh, man.

Danielle: When we were at base camp the night we were summiting, I had on two layers of socks, two layers of face layers, like wool base layers, shirts and pants, and then a pair of sweatpants over, and then another pair of pants, three fleeces on and a jacket. You just want to pack warm stuff and just prepare yourself for how cold it's going to be. Also, those little gummy power bites or whatever,-

Morgan: Powerade ones?

Danielle:... pack those too because I had trouble eating at these camp because of the elevation. But, those were really my savior because I could eat two of those and get a boost of energy. And then, we would stop again and get some water.

Morgan: That's awesome.

Danielle: So, I found those to be really helpful.

Morgan: Thank you. Do you have any more tips? These are awesome.

Danielle: I'd say probably boots too, you want to make sure your boots are waterproof because you don't think about it, but the ground volcanic ash gets a little wet as the day goes by, so your feet get a little wet. Or, if it rains, you want to make sure your boots are waterproof.

Morgan: See, that is a handy tip.

Danielle: Those are my little pro tips, I guess. Just rely on your guides, right? They are so knowledgeable of the mountain and just the Africa in general. So cool to just be able to chat with them all the time about what they see and the different animals that go through there and all the different paths you can take. They literally know the mountain so well. It's really cool to get to talk to them about it.

Morgan: It sounds like you did a lot of hiking obviously. What else did you do on the trip?

Danielle: Yeah. The other thing that we did do was after that, we had this giant dinner at the end. Literally as soon as you get down from the mountain, I don't know why, but I went from zero to the hungriest I've ever been in my life.

Morgan: Oh, I bet.

Danielle: So, that was probably a highlight of the trip was all the food they put in front of you after.

Morgan: Oh, I bet that was awesome. Just when you go from hiking way hard to getting food, there's nothing better.

Danielle: Yeah, literally, I don't think Coca-Cola has tasted better in my life.

Morgan: Wow. Well, is there anything else that's just standing out from your trip?

Danielle: Every day when you're hiking, you have to get up early because you have a long day ahead of you. So, they do the sweetest thing ever. I just found it endearing, but every morning to wake you up, they'll knock on your cabin door and you'll open it for them. They'll serve you coffee and tea in bed. It's so cute. It literally is just like the perfect start to your morning. Oh, just a hot cup of coffee and then you go in there and breakfast is served. And then, you're just on your way. It is so nice. I wish I could do it every week, someone just bring me a tea or coffee in bed.

Morgan: Wow. That sounds awesome. It sounds like they took care of you.

Danielle: No, you don't go hungry. I'm also a pescetarian. I don't eat any meat, which can be challenging on hikes like this. But, they took such good care of me, always made sure I had food, always made sure that I had everything that I needed. It was like I was one of their own children. They literally took really good care of me.

Morgan: I'm so glad you had that experience.

Danielle: Thank you. Yeah. If anyone is looking for an adventure, it's definitely a trip to go on.

Danielle’s Next Adventure

Morgan: I know. You're just making me want to go. I'm like, "I need to go on this trip." Okay. Well, along with your trip, is there anywhere else that's on your bucket list that you're wanting to go?

Danielle: Oh, my gosh. Yes, literally everywhere. But, I think the next place that I want to go is probably Peru. I would love to go to Peru and hike around there as well or... Oh, gosh. I'm trying to think of the name of it. It has that village that's all blue. Morocco. Oh, my gosh.

Morgan: Oh, Morocco. Okay.

Danielle: The next place I want to go is Morocco.

Morgan: So, Peru, Morocco.

Danielle: I am not the type of vacation girl that like, "I want to relax." I want to go adventure and do things.

Morgan: Hey, I'm the same way. That's good too because there's so many different vacations you can go on, so many different trips. And so, you're more of like, "Let's hike." That's awesome.

Danielle: Yeah, exactly.

Morgan: Want to do like Machu Picchu and things like that?

Danielle: Oh, my gosh. I would love Machu Picchu. It would be a dream.

Morgan: So, what's up next? Which one are you wanting to go to, Peru, Morocco?

Danielle: I think honestly next, my boyfriend wants to go on this vacation with me. I didn't let him go on the last one.

Morgan: Oh, yeah.

Danielle: So, it will probably be Morocco because he really wants to go there.

Podcast made in partnership with Acanela Expeditions

Theme Song - I’ll Just Be Me by Gravity Castle