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Episode 51 - Acanela Expeditions Review - Stephanie Climbs Mount Kilimanjaro

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EP 51 Acanela Expeditions Review - Stephanie Climbs Mount Kilimanjaro Acanela Expeditions

Acanela customer Stephanie Chapelliquen sits down with us and shares with us her experience climbing Mount Kilimanjaro (and great hiking advice). She also talks about her favorite travels, her adventure hiking Mount Kilimajaro, going on a Tanzania safari, what she loves about Acanela Expeditions, and more! Listen to hear her Acanela Expeditions review!

In this episode, we discuss:

  • What made Stephanie want to hike Mt. Kilimanjaro (3:40)

  • What hiking Mt. Kilimanjaro was like (8:13)

  • Stephanie’s experience doing the safari extension after hiking the mountain (8:48)

  • Stephanie’s favorite part of the expedition (11:23)

  • Stephanie’s advice for someone going to Mt. Kilimanjaro (13:06)

  • Where Stephanie is going next (15:13)

Dakota: Hey everybody. Welcome back. This is Dakota. And today I'm here with Stephanie who traveled with us on our casting call to Mount Kilimanjaro. Thanks for being with us, Stephanie.

Stephanie: Hey Dakota. Thanks so much for having me.

Dakota: Yeah, no problem. We're excited to discuss your adventure and any future adventures that you have coming up. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Stephanie: Sure. So I'm a management consultant based on the East Coast. And so I do a lot of travel, but as with this type of work, it is a work hard play hard mentality. So generally when I take my trips, I like to make sure I can totally disconnect and going to Africa and specifically Tanzania and climbing Kili was an easy way for me to say, "Okay, that hits that requirement for me." So let's get to it. Let's get away. I do a fair amount of international travel as well. It kind of depends on the clients. I'm in the pharmaceutical and medical device, life sciences space. So obviously there's a need for that everywhere, but unfortunately just by nature of the work, you are much more tied to either the office or the hotel room or the conference room that you'll be working with your client in at the time, so you don't really get to experience as much unless you tack on some extra days, which may or may not be available depending on the project that you're working on. So I definitely prefer to make sure that when I am taking my vacation, it is for a long time and that I can truly disconnect and turn off my cell phone, not have to worry about emails or text messages even coming in, just being able to take my pictures and enjoy the sights and sounds around me.

Stephanie’s Memorable Travel Experiences

Dakota: Do you have any memorable travel experiences or any destinations that you want to talk about?

Stephanie: Yeah, sure. So last year I did a trip to Thailand that was another like group trip for solo travelers. I've also done trips to Israel, Jordan and Egypt, and getting to see like Petra and a lot of the religious landmarks in that region. I've also done travel to Australia, New Zealand, doing a bit of performance there on that side of things. So getting to see a fair amount of the world, I think, given a young age.

Dakota: Yeah. Awesome. What's your continent count?

Stephanie: I think I've hit them all except for Antarctica.

Dakota: Oh, wow. Yeah. That'll be your next one, right? Antarctica?

Stephanie: I mean, part of me is looking at like doing a marathon down there. I don't know. I prefer cold weather running, but that might be even too extreme for me. We'll see.

Stephanie’s Adventure Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro with Acanela Expeditions

Dakota: Maybe a little too cold, yeah. We'll go into your trip to Africa with us. So tell us about that.

Stephanie: Yeah. I consider myself definitely to be a highly prepared traveler when I go places. So I like to do a lot of research beforehand and plan for all types of adventures and misadventures. So I think in terms of like my packing checklist, I felt like I was in a really good spot, what I didn't realize was as I was looking at like the weather app when I use like Kilimanjaro is my reference point, how hot it was going to be, earlier on. And I recognize that this may be totally variable based on the time of year that you're going or just variability of the climate in that area, in that region. But the first couple of days were much warmer than I had anticipated. Obviously layers are always good, but I had brought a lot more warm weather, or I should say cold weather, layers to be warmer rather than warmer weather layers.

So like I started out with like multiple pairs of pants and multiple pairs of tops. And I was like, "Oh my gosh, I'm dying." So it was a lot of delayering over the course of the first couple of days and just getting used to what that weather it would be like, and especially when you're hiking up, your body is getting warmer too. So you want to make sure that your body is being comfortable and allowing yourself to sweat properly. So that was like the biggest, I think learning for me, I travel with all sorts of like meds and things to make sure that not just me, but like those that are around me, if you have like tummy troubles or if you're starting to like get blisters on your feet, you're prepped from that side of things. We had an amazing group of people that were present on the trip, not just from like the Acanela travel side, but like even the travelers themselves, like no one really knew anyone.

Maybe they knew like one or another person, but going, and I think it really takes a certain type of a person to be able to go onto a group trip and be able to kind of like, let yourself be open to the elements and the people that are around you and accepting of what may be presented to you and those dynamics and how different they may be. We had a really great group of people from around the country. Everyone had different levels of experience, but was always willing to share advice and feedback and tips and tricks for things to consider for not just this trip, but even like future trips moving forward. And then I can't rave enough about the actual like Acanela groups and the guides and the chefs and everyone that was involved. I mean, I can't rave enough about the food.

I was definitely worried that we were going to have like jerky for so many of our meals and it was nowhere near anything like that. We had full like multi-course meals for every meal. The soups were fantastic and definitely hit the spot after a nice long day of hiking. And especially at night when like the weather and the temperatures would drop a bit and the guys coming by with coffee or tea or Milo, and I don't know, it's just those memories that I come back to where you're just like sitting and decompressing after everything that you've passed through and just saying, "Ah, this is this moment that I'm just like soaking in," because the whole time that you're climbing, it's the scenery and the microclimates, they changed so dramatically. And for me being, I would say, I definitely consider myself a novice hiker, like I am not someone that does a lot of this kind of thing all the time.

It was physical. And as much as I'm an athlete and I run and I weight train and whatever, you can't really prepare for altitude when you're at sea level on the East Coast. So that was a bit of a surprise for me in terms of how my body reacted. But I think it was also about being open to what that experience would be like. And recognizing that there's so much more to this world around you and you start thinking about, for me, it was oftentimes like my family and friends back home, people that have since passed on and random things that would just bring memories to mind and kind of just put you more at ease and at peace with yourself to just allow yourself to be centered in that moment and appreciate the moment and stop and smell the roses. Like for me, that's not something I often get the chance and time to do. And so I thoroughly came back very much refreshed as a result of that.

Dakota: That's an amazing outlook, be up on the mountain and have those moments and those memories.

Stephanie: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, there's something to be said for when you are looking up and all of you sees just like rocks and darkness, especially like I'm thinking like on summit day or summit night, because you start climbing at like midnight one in the morning and you're hoping to get to the summit by sunrise and to get to that point, it is hard. It is cold. Your ability to breathe is tougher at this point, but you know that, slowly, slowly, one step at a time slowly, slowly, you will make your way up. And you're surrounded by these people who believe in you and have confidence and faith in you that they will get you there. And it's as a result of that, that gives you strength and keeps you going, keeps you motivated to just keep going. And the views from that day, it still takes my breath away.

Highlights of Hiking Mount Kilimanjaro & Tanzania Safari

Dakota: That's awesome. I know you talked a lot about the hike. Do you want to go through day by day or do you want to... Do you have any highlights from that?

Stephanie: I'm not going to lie like day by day for me was like a blur of what was happening each day, like I remember the first couple of days, definitely. I was like, "Oh my gosh, I'm feeling this." Because like I said, I'm coming from sea level. And then even just arriving in Tanzania, I think you're already at like 3000 feet up or something. So without any Diamox or altitude sickness medicine on board for me, like I felt it right away. And then it was like that continual transition of, "Okay, let's let our body acclimate, let's let our body acclimate."

Dakota: You did our safari extension after, do you want to talk about that a little bit?

Stephanie: Yeah. The safari was fantastic. I definitely felt like I was living in the real version of the Lion King. I don't know if anyone thought of that movie afterwards, but we went to a few different national parks and this was all on the Tanzania side. And it was just incredible to be able to be so close because you're in this safari vehicle, which is, I guess like a fancy... I think it was a Toyota, but like a Land Rover type vehicle and the roof of the car kind of pops open your windows are down and you're able to just drive around this natural habitat that these animals have. And you're obviously going very slowly, but the animals aren't scared of you at all. If anything, I would say like the monkeys are definitely fierce and ferocious. And so they are very friendly. They'll want to get into your vehicle and snag your lunch.

I know we did have one incident where that did happen for our group, playful of course, but it was still a little bit scary at the time. And we saw just like so many different animals. I'm just thinking like essentially like the Lion King. We saw a few lions. We saw like at one point the grass was really tall. I think it was in the Serengeti Park that we were at. And we saw the lioness at one point, like crawling around or I guess walking around in the tall grass. And then at one point, like she just disappeared and we realized it was because she was in this grass area and the grass had just gotten taller. And we were like, "Well, we can't see her now, but we know that she was there. So what else are we not seeing? What other animals might be hidden in the grass that we might not be seeing?"

And it just gives you a little bit of foreboding because you realize like there's so much that could be out here. And yet here we are. Elephants and giraffes were just incredible, wildebeests, warthogs, all types of different types of birds. Yeah. The wildlife was just incredible. Hippos, flamingos, ostrich. Yeah. It was just beautiful seeing them in their natural habitat. And how playful some of the little ones would be. The zebras, I think I did learn that they were actually a lot more scruffy and I guess more on the brown and black side when they're babies and younger, but it's actually, as they mature that the brown kind of goes away and becomes more white and black. There's a little fun fact for you.

Dakota: What was your favorite thing from, I guess this whole trip, this whole experience?

Stephanie: It's hard to just pick one. I think the recognition... There's definitely of course, something to be said for getting to the summit, getting to Uhuru Peak and giving yourself credit for having made it this far, because not everyone gets to that point. And as we were making our way up, you do see the emergency helicopter areas or the stretchers along the way that may be used for medical emergencies. And it just gives you perspective about the difficulty and the respect that you have to have for the mountain and nature and the elements there was also for me personally, I think with Kili, they were telling us the story about the mountains in general. So you've got the one peak with the Uhuru, but then you also have kind of like the brother peak. I want to say the name was Malawi, but I'm not entirely sure on that one.

Me personally, I often was thinking about like my brother and the relationship that my brother and I have. And so the relationship between the mountains and the relationship between my brother. And so as you're climbing Kili, getting to Uhuru, you get to see this peak, the brother peak from across the way and how close they are and the story I think that they relayed just reminded me so much of my own brother and the relationship that I share with my brother. And it just warmed my heart. And so I think that that memory will always stay with me.

Dakota: That's awesome. Yeah. I'm sure the summit experience for everyone was completely different, but on that same level.

Stephanie: Yeah, absolutely.

Stephanie’s Advice to Those Who Want to Travel to Africa and Hike Mount Kilimanjaro

Dakota: So any advice for someone going to Africa or Mount Kilimanjaro or traveling out of the country in general?

Stephanie: Yeah. So I would say in terms of being prepared, you of course want to make sure that all of your vaccines and medical history has been checked up and everything beforehand. Obviously right now, we're in the midst of like coronavirus precautions, and so making sure that you're taking your own proper sanitary approaches, making sure that you are bringing hand sanitizer or wipes to take care of yourself, I think is super important. Some of those, I actually brought like biodegradable wipes with me because obviously you want to make sure that you're not leaving anything behind. You're trying to leave the environment better than you found it to the best of your ability. For females, I would say using hygienic pads can sometimes help in terms of when it's really cold out. You don't always necessarily want to be getting all down to your skivvies, and so it may help to have another layer of protection there of what you're changing and not changing.

So I think that was very handy. Layers, layers, layers can't stress that enough, but I do want to stress you're making sure of like are you having things that are for cold weather versus warm weather and having a good mix, I think is important. Comfy pair of shoes for days when you're in camp. And for the time that you're in camp, I should say because your hiking boots do... They'll wear on you and they have additional weight and support that is provided for your ankles, but you don't always need that when you're just hanging out. So making sure you have a comfy pair of shoes is helpful. I think those are definitely the big ones for me. I never leave home without a very big pack of Pepto Bismol, because you just never know how things are going to strike you.

And I can say I did take the Diamox for the altitude sickness that I anticipated having. And I think for me it worked pretty well. I know some people have differences in terms of their reaction to it, but I would definitely encourage taking it. And if you're not able to take it and making sure that you're hydrating as much as possible, because that's what's really going to help you with that.

Stephanie’s Future Travels

Dakota: Well, thank you, yeah. So upcoming, what places are on your bucket list?

Stephanie: Yeah. So a few different trips on my bucket list right now. So for this year, I'm thinking, based on how things look from a travel safety perspective, but I'd like to do Berlin for Oktoberfest later in the early fall. And I'm also looking at actually, I'm going out of order. So in the summer I do have a cruise to Europe.

So that's the one that's actually perhaps more dependent on travel safety. Like I said, Berlin, Oktoberfest, and then Bali, potentially in the late fall, early winter timeframe.

Dakota: Well, thank you so much for coming on today. Is there anything else that you'd like to discuss or add?

Stephanie: No, I hope everyone takes the opportunity to travel because I think overarchingly, that is what opens up your perspective into not just your own world, but the world around you. There's so much we can learn from the cultures of those around us and how different people are and different doesn't necessarily mean bad. It just means different. And by knowing that it helps increase our understanding and perceptiveness and it's something we can bring back with us that stands with us forever.

Podcast made in partnership with Acanela Expeditions

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


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