Up...Up...Up-in-the-Air!

Part I, Kilimanjaro Journey

About thirty minutes ago, I stepped down the stairs off a 13-hour Qatar Airways flight from Boston to Doha. My glasses fogged so quickly in the humid, 110-degree air that I nearly pitched headlong down to the tarmac. Dorothy ain’t in Kansas, no more.

Doha Airport, Qatar

The advantage of calling my newsletter Work/Craft/Life is that it pretty much gives me free rein to write about whatever I want. The workcraft profiles are still the core, but I’d like to venture out as well—so here I am chronicling in short dispatches my journey to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest free-standing mountain in the world. It is part work, part craft, part life.

As background, I am venturing up all 19,341 feet of Kilimanjaro in support of PROJECT POSSIBLE, a foundation that supports centers dedicated to treating and empowering children with disabilities. The foundation was started by my close friend, Bonner Rinn, and he has established centers in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Nicaragua, and even the United States. A decade ago, I collaborated with Bonner on his inspiring memoir ONE MORE STEP, which followed his mission to become the first individual with cerebral palsy to climb Kili and race in the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii. Now on the board of Project Possible, I am joining the 15th anniversary of his record-breaking feats to raise monies to expand the foundation’s network of centers.

Altruism aside, I frankly needed an adventure, something to get me outside of my comfort zone, outside my routine. Stepping into your fifties will have that effect. Perhaps buying a zippy red sports car would have been easier (and decidedly less painful), but climbing a big mountain seemed like a good fit, and it was a fine excuse to satisfy the gearhead in me. I’ve kitted myself out in so much fancy new stuff that I could be my own Patagonia commerical. More on that in a follow-up post.

So, here are the upcoming highlights. I soon embark on a midnight flight from Doha to Kili. After thirty-six hours cramped in an middle-seat in economy right next to the toilets in the back (that’s another story, thanks American Airlines, you *******), I’ll need to stretch my legs, shower repeatedly, and sleep. Then it’s a few days of seeing some centers in Kenya. On July 19th, we finally head to the mountain for our six-day climb. There will probably be some radio silence….no wifi, I’m told—unbelievable! If I don’t perish from hypoxia, we’ll return for some more foundation work, then a safari, and finally back home to Philadelphia.

Over the following weeks, I imagine there will be lots of hijinx, laughter, fear, weariness, soul-crushing emotion, and bizarre and moving moments alike. I hope you come along for the ride.

Your guess is as good as mine!

Now I’m off to try to give a hug to the world’s biggest Teddy Bear that sits in the center of Doha’s main terminal. It’s 23 feet tall and weighs almost 20 tons in cast bronze. That’s a lot of love, but I can’t figure out the gargantuan headlamp…is he getting light exposure therapy? Maybe afterward I’ll have high tea at the Harrod’s outlet, play a game of squash, wonder through a tropical garden, and hit a few rounds of golf. This airport is Bananaville!

Neal