Big Trip ‘09: Itinerary… Want to meet up?

by Brooks on June 3, 2009

Because the tickets we’re using are based on total mileage traveled without regard to number of stops, it made sense to do a bit of a whirlwind trip, with an eye towards seeing a bit of everything. We ended up with three or four days most places (except Budapest, which is just one evening, but both Anna and I have been there before). The downside is that it’s not really enough time to explore any one place… but the upside is that we’ll see a fair chunk of the world, and should be close to some of my far flung friends. The full itinerary is below.
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Big Trip ‘09: The Route

by Brooks on June 1, 2009

Big Trip '09: Planned Route

Big Trip '09: Planned Route


Summer ‘09 seemed like a natural time for some adventure travel, since I have a break in the MBA program and a stockpile of frequent flier miles. In talking to Luke, my adventure buddy in rafting the Futalefeu and climbing Kilimanjaro, the idea came up to do camels across Sinai desert. It sounded perfect, since if you’re going to go all Lawrence of Arabia, you might as well do it in the peak of summer. I mean, if you trekked in Sinai in January, you’d be forever wondering “I wonder how much worse that would be in July.” We, on the other hand, will not have to wonder.
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Kilimanjaro, Part 6: Mweka gate and wrapup

March 25, 2008

After the incredible difficulty of day 8, when we climbed from Barfu (15,000 feet) to the summit (19,000 feet) before descending to Mweka (10,000 feet), day 9 promised to be a figurative walk in the park. Sure, we were exhausted and sore and dirty, but we were starting out at a mere 10,000 feet, [...]

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Kilimanjaro, Part 5: Summit day

March 24, 2008

Today’s installment really begins at 11pm on the previous day. That’s when we woke up to start getting ready for our summit attempt. Getting ready, in this case, basically entailed trying to wriggle into almost every bit of clothing I had brought with me: several stacked sets of thermal underwear, two pairs of [...]

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Kilimanjaro, Part 4: Karranga valley, Barfu camp

March 24, 2008

After spending the night at Barranco camp, we had the almost 1,000 foot tall Barranco wall to look forward to. If we could manage that, we’d spend the next night at Karranga valley, another camp that some people skip in favor of getting right to Barfu camp, which is the base camp most people [...]

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Kilimanjaro, Part 3: Lava Tower, Barranco, and a hail storm

March 23, 2008

Waking up at Moir hut, both Luke and I were feeling pretty refreshed. This altitude thing, we thought, isn’t so bad after all. After all, we had spent the night at 13,500 feet, and while it was certainly a bit chilly, it wasn’t all that bad. And the view was just [...]

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Kilimanjaro, Part 2: Shira camp, Moir hut, and a misadventure

March 23, 2008

After getting a good night’s rest at Mti Mkubwa, we were ready for our first real day of hiking. Our route for day two would take us from Mti Mkubwa to Shira Camp, and our schedule called for a 5-6 hour, 7-mile hike that would take us to 11,500 feet. The hike [...]

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Kilimanjaro Part 1: Moshi, and the hike begins

March 22, 2008

Well, that was certainly an experience. I have just returned from climbing Kilimanjaro with my friend Luke. I’m going to try to control my natural verboseness in writing about the trip, but if you want the no-words-at-all version, the pictures are available here: Brooks’ Kilimanjaro pics. Or, if you want the full [...]

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Random Notes: Southwest gets even worse

December 16, 2007

Everyone hates flying Southwest Airlines. The cattle call boarding, the undersized boarding areas, the frequent delays, and those awful Boeing 737’s. But hey, sometimes they’re half the price of other airlines. And, like most other people, I figure that if can save $200 on airfare on a one hour flight, I can [...]

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More work on DMX lighting

December 3, 2007

Some projects make sense because they’re likely to be profitable. Other projects justify themselves by making life easier. My DMX project, though, is all about “oooh, pretty lights.” I’ve always enjoyed theatrical lighting, and the couple of years I was involved with lighting and lasers for raves were fantastic. And [...]

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