This would all change in 2015, when I set out on an adventure that would change my view of the world and give me perspective on what is important in life and what isn’t. Ancient wisdom states that this type of reflection is fundamental to living a good life and the ancient Stoics advocated contemplating the vastness of the universe as a way to find your place in it. This broad view then allows you to zoom in and focus on your own existence.

Marcus Aurelius in his personal journal “Meditations” noted down his reflections on how things are connected in the universe.

“Frequently consider the connection of all things in the universe and their relation to one another. For in a manner all things are implicated with one another, and all in this way are friendly to one another; for one thing comes in order after another, and this is by virtue of the active movement and mutual conspiration and the unity of the substance.“

However, for a person who spends their entire life in the city, this is quite challenging. All the noise and impersonal ways of doing things distract you from being able to focus on the whole. The Stoics once again had an answer to this: live according to nature. Living according to nature can connect you to the whole, and give you a particular place in the order of things. In the words of Marcus Aurelius:

“This you must always bear in mind, what is the nature of the whole, and what is my nature, and how this is related to that, and what kind of a part it is of what kind of a whole; and that there is no one who hinders you from always doing and saying the things which are according to the nature of which you are a part.“

Reading these words, the city boy in me only had a very theoretical idea of what they meant. Something more was needed in order to awaken a magnificent wanderlust and to gain a connection to what it really means to live according to nature.

This realization came on one fateful day in 2015, standing on the top of Africa. However, before that a whole series of events transpired which led me on the course with destiny. My brother had lived in a place which was close to the mountains and gained a craving for mountain hikes. He had already climbed Kilimanjaro once before and came up with the idea of doing it as a family adventure. I was hesitant at first, but finally decided to give it a try.

While Kilimanjaro is not an impossible climb, and is quite doable for fit city-dwellers, you still need to have respect for the mountain. It is 5895 meters high, and has been known to scuttle the advances of even the fittest of sportsmen. A few months of intensive preparation are required if you want to be sure that you are fit enough to climb it and also to enjoy the experience.

I had spent hours in the gym working on my cardio, but the first real test came in the Alps. In order to acclimatize to the low pressure and lack of oxygen in the high altitudes, you need to slowly build up your mountain conditioning. Things are different in the mountains and your body needs to get used to it. So we started off on a series of hikes in the mountains, which culminated in the attempt to climb Mt. Breithorn, 4164 meters high, but considered one of the easiest peaks over 4000 meters to climb.

This proved to be a wake up call. At one point of the climb, my head started aching really badly and I had trouble even taking steps. I managed to push myself and reach the top, but it was very painful. After coming down, I realized that if I had so much trouble reaching the summit of a mountain which is barely above 4000 meters, I would probably fail scaling up a mountain which is much higher. I needed to work harder. And work harder I did.

Then in August 2015, we arrived in Africa, in the country of Tanzania where Mt. Kilimanjaro is located. This is the highest mountain in Africa, and while at its bottom you find sub-tropical rain-forests, the top is covered with snow (although unfortunately the glaciers are constantly shrinking due to global warming). The days you spend circling the mountain allows you to see nature in all its stages, you trek through forests, then enter areas full of small bushes and weird tiny trees, to be followed by landscapes which literally resemble the Moon.

1) Willpower is something you can build up

Climbing a mountain is the ultimate test of your willpower. For you are always going up and up, and the walk gets harder and harder. What you could do easily at lower altitudes, now becomes much harder. Just putting one foot in front of the other is an act of conscious will, biting through the pain in order to reach your goal.

When you are on the verge of quitting, your mind says “no” and you push through the pain. At that point you learn that willpower is something that you can work on, something that you can control. Your body has hidden reserves left, which you can utilize to power through when the going gets tough.

2) Pole, pole — go slowly

Mt. Kilimanjaro also teaches you another lesson. Your mountain guides always remind you to go: “pole, pole”, which in Swahili means slowly. For if you rush too fast at the beginning, not only might you not have enough strength to finish the journey, but even might make yourself sick. The point is to go slowly, but surely towards your goal.

3) Each problem you face is like a mountain you are climbing

A mountain is sometimes used as a metaphor for life, and by scaling one, you begin to understand why that is. Getting to the top and then descending safely down (for getting to the top is just half the journey) you have accomplished something which most people will never do. Also by climbing the highest mountain in Africa, all the other mountains that you will face in your life will feel smaller in comparison.

Getting to the top is also a success that you can keep in your memory for the rest of your life to inspire you. For when the going gets tough in the future, you can look back at this accomplishment and inspire yourself. You pushed hard through this challenge and got to the top, you will be able to do so in other circumstances as well. Things might get tough, but they can be overcome, just like a mountain can be climbed.

4) You gain a perspective on how other people live

While on the mountain, you meet a cast of characters, which helps put your life in perspective. You are required to hire local guides and porters, which then aid you to negotiate the mountain. Through constant exposure to them, you learn a bit about who they are, and where they come from. Some of them are on the mountain to support their families, others to secure a better job.

One guy we met was there lugging around heavy packs in order to pay his way through university. Life isn’t easy for these guys, which makes you more thankful for some of the things that you have. For you this is an adventure of a lifetime, for them, this is their job.

5) You connect yourself to the greater whole

Standing at the top of the mountain, you are at a point higher than anyone else in Africa. Around you, a desolate landscape reminds you of the power of the natural world, for this is the edge of the caldera of an ancient volcano which had exploded long ago. The experience is further heightened when you realize that where you are standing at, Uhuru Peak, is the highest part of the Kibo volcanic cone, which is lying dormant, but not extinct. Powerful forces are stirring around underfoot.

Your eyes stop their gaze at the huge swathes of snow and ice that are lying scattered around, the last remnants of a glacier, which just a hundred years ago covered virtually the entire peak. This reminds you of the wonder of nature, but also of the human power to destroy it.

The rugged beauty that you see in front of you transports you to another plane of experience, as if you were entering another world. You sense being part of something more powerful than yourself, and it makes you feel a sense of other-worldly awe. This not only connects you to the rest of the universe, but according to scientific studies even makes you a better person:

“New research from UC Berkeley and UC Irvine suggests that experiencing awe can actually prompt us to act more benevolently toward others. In other words, awe can help make the world a better place.“

When you are at the top, you realize how retarded some of the problems you face back home really are. You are confronted by stupid people, useless work, and bad luck. Yet, here you are, literally at the top of the world.

You should remind yourself of the old Stoic mantra of focusing on what you can control and forgetting about the rest. At this moment, you are experiencing the ultimate triumph, something that all those other petty people who ruin your life will never get to experience. They will focus on their stupid little wars, back-stabbings, and selfish acts, while you have pushed yourself and done something real. In that moment remind yourself of another saying by Marcus Aurelius:

“Begin the morning by saying to yourself: I shall meet with the busy-body, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial. All these things happen to them by reason of their ignorance of what is good and evil.”

Being in the mountains shows you what living according to nature really means. It connects you to the greater whole, and reminds you how the worries that you have back in the “real” world are unimportant, even stupid. For where you are living at is not the real world, but instead a fake construction. Nature is the real world. It has been here for millions of years before us, and it will survive us all.

If you want to read more:

Here is the original story I wrote on my blog describing my experience of climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. I also wrote a short guide on what you need to do to prepare for climbing the mountain. The thing is that this was just a beginning of the experience. Since then, I have climbed several other mountains, including Mt. Blanc.

I originally published this piece on Medium’s publication “The Startup” here.

Credit: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

It was a long and dangerous climb, and the hardest thing I have ever done physically. However, after two days of pushing myself, for a brief moment I was the highest located man for thousands of kilometers around me.

I had accomplished something that I had thought was impossible and beyond my limits just a few years ago.

Doing something like this really gives you a great feeling and a boost to your self-confidence. A sense of accomplishment that results from this is priceless and can really help you in other areas of your life.

Cure for what ails you

Unfortunately, in our lives we are often confronted with stupid shit, which we have no control over. Stupid people, stupid rules, and other retarded stuff that just don’t make sense.

You can’t really control it, but it ends up bothering you. You stress over it and it makes you miserable. You need to realize that this stuff doesn’t matter. It is just stupid shit done by stupid people, people who have lost touch with reality.

If you really want to find meaning, happiness and balance in your life, you need to concentrate on doing things that you have control over.

You are the judge of the worth of all things. Only you can determine that you are the man.

And no, you won’t do it by standing in front of the mirror all day and chanting affirmations, but by going out, working hard and challenging yourself.

Mt. Blanc is the perfect test of that. And even if you fail to reach the top the first time, you will feel good about giving it your best. You will then know what to work on and come a second time better prepared.

When you do reach the top, you will have achieved something that the vast majority of people will never achieve in their life. Best of all, you will have done it through your own willpower and perseverance.

You will have tested yourself and you will have succeeded. This will be an enormous boost to your self-esteem.

You can take that back to your little office life and use it to get through all those confrontations that often happen in the modern workplace. When an overweight, sweaty slob starts shouting at you over some minor BS, you can just sit back and smile at him.

He will never accomplish what you have done. This is just his way of compensating for his own failures. Keep that in mind, and you will be able to rise above the BS. You don’t even know what an amazing feeling that is.

Read More:
Read my initial article on climbing Mt. Blanc:
Crazy Shit To Do: Climb Mt. Blanc

I had also climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro during the summer of 2015. Read about that here:
Crazy Shit To Do: Climb Mt. Kilimanjaro

You can think of your life as a hero’s journey, where you are the hero of your story. Each hero has to overcome impossible challenges, like climbing over mountains:
What is your impossible challenge?

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Image: 1;

That’s the basic description of what you will feel like when you go up Mt. Blanc. As one of the characters in the movie “Everest” said, climbing is just pain.

It is the ultimate test of your willpower. It takes an enormous amount of mental strength and perseverance to be able to finally reach the top.

This especially applies for people who spend most of their year sitting in their office being desk jockeys. For them, this can be quite challenging.

It is not an insurmountable task though. Every year, thousands of people manage to climb it. The pain lasts only a short time, but the memories last a lifetime.

Struggle on for a few days, but from then on, you will be a man who climbed the mountain. That is something no one can take away from you.

Contrary to what some people think, Mt. Blanc is not the highest mountain in Europe. That honor belongs to Mt. Elbrus in the Russian Caucasian Mountains. However, it is the highest mountain in Western Europe and stands at 4808 meters high.

The climb is not technically challenging, meaning that you won’t have to do any specialist mountaineering techniques. All you require is a good stamina, and good acclimatization.

You will also need equipment for mountaineering in snowy conditions, such as ropes and crampons. If you are a beginner, don’t go alone, but instead with a guide or at least an experienced mountaineer.

Don’t underestimate the dangers, as every year, a few people die on the mountain and many more need to be rescued.

The hardest thing I have ever done physically

I stood on top of Mt. Blanc last week. For me, it was probably the hardest thing that I have done physically, ever. It really pushed me to what I thought were my limits, but I discovered that my real limits are still way beyond that.

So in that way, it was one of the hardest things I have ever done, but also one of the most rewarding ones as well. Paradoxically, this pain is the reward of the journey.

By conquering this pain you prove to yourself that you have what it takes and can succeed at even the hardest things. You can succeed at things that the majority of people are too scared to even attempt.

What does a typical desk jockey need in order to be able to climb Mt. Blanc?

Well, besides the equipment and a strong mountaineer with him, the most important thing is a good preparation.

The first part of the preparation involves having good stamina. I really concentrated on getting my cardio up. The journey is long and hard, and you need to be physically prepared for it.

The best way to prepare is to do a lot of progressively longer (and more challenging) hikes in the mountains, but for many city folks, this is something they can’t do too often.

Most of my time training for this was spent in the gym, going up on these stepper machines. I started off going for less time and easier modes, but as I was getting more fit, I kept increasing the times and the challenge.

You can also go on daily runs or maybe even join some of those group fitness classes, if you think that you will get more motivated that way. Anything that improves your stamina is good.

This is the basic prerequisite, however no matter how hard you work in the gym, it does not ensure that you will be prepared to summit.

The key here is a good acclimatization. The most challenging part of hiking in mountains is that the higher you go up, the harder it gets. The reason for this is the lower amount of oxygen in higher altitudes.

This means that all the stuff that is easy at sea level, becomes quite hard in the mountains. You need to get your body ready for this, and this means that you need to spend a lot of time at higher altitudes as close as possible to the time before your ascent of Mt. Blanc.

The best way to do this is by scheduling a few hikes in the mountains a few days or the weekend before you go to Mt. Blanc. This way your body gets used to the altitude and you lower your chances of getting headaches or worse when you are there.

A bonus with this is the fact that you will also train some of the muscles that you don’t use in your desk jockey life, but which are crucial for mountaineering.

Doing these mountain hikes, really exposed how far we are removed from nature and “real life” in our modern lives. I discovered muscles I never knew I had and they all hurt!

It is all about your mental strength

All this preparation helps, but you will never be able to reach the top of Mt. Blanc, unless you have one key ingredient: mental strength.

Climbing Mt. Blanc hurts. It is pain. Every step makes you more and more exhausted, and this continues for hours on end.

You need to overcome your constant urges to quit and instead keep pushing on. There are different strategies that you can use in order to help you with this.

One strategy is the long-term strategy. For this, you need to situate the entire trip in context. That day is only one day and just like any day, it will end.

Picture the end of the day and the rewards that will come with it when you complete your mission. This will keep you motivated.

The other strategy is keeping in the moment. Just concentrate on being in your mind and keep reminding yourself to just put one foot in front of the other.

You can also concentrate on short-term goals: make it to that ridge, make it to that hut. Once you reach this short-term goal, you will most likely see that you still have power left and then you make another short-term goal to reach another ridge. These short-term goals will add up and at the end, you will make it to the top.

Most likely, you will need to resort to a combination of all these strategies and mental techniques when climbing Mt. Blanc.

The journey is long, but beautiful

There are different routes you can take to the top of Mt. Blanc. Probably the “easiest” one is the one that passes through Gouter Refuge. That’s the one we took.

It is a two day trip with a huge variety of sections to overcome. You start the first day early in the morning to catch a small train that takes you up to an area a bit below the Nid d’Aigle refuge, which is at an altitude of 2373 meters.

From then on, you start the first part of the journey, which is a classic mountain hike. At first the slope is not so steep, but it gets progressively steeper. However, going up, this is probably the easiest part of the journey. As a bonus, we got to see some chamois on the way!

This part of the hike ends when you come to the last remnants of a melting glacier close to the Tete Rousse refuge.

The glacier is now just a puddle of melting snow and a big testament to the rapid changes that the planet is undergoing due to global warming. It is not that hard to cross, but can get slippery, so watch out.

After crossing this glacier, you get to a very dangerous section of the entire trek. It is called the Grand Couloir and is notorious for its rock falls, which have been known to kill people.

What you do is try to run across as fast as possible in order to get to the other side. You can often see rocks falling and if one of these hits you, you can suffer injuries or worse.

Once you get passed this part, you arrive at a section which you could call a climb. From far it seems like you have to overcome an almost vertical section of rock above which sits the Gouter Hut, but once you get closer, you find out that this section is made up of a series of rocks which you have to navigate and scramble over.

This for me was physically the hardest part of the entire two-day Mt. Blanc climb. Here you are not only using your legs, but also your upper body in order to get over rocks, which can get pretty tiring quickly at this altitude.

You have to negotiate one rock after the other and some of them can get quite tricky. You have to look for better ways to get over these rocks and always keep in mind that you have to have 3 points of contact with the rocks in order to be safe and stable.

After this section, you are almost done for the day. The only thing you have to do is put on your crampons for the first time and negotiate a small section of snow to get to the Gouter Hut. Finally, you have arrived at today’s destination!

The Gouter Hut is the place where many people climbing Mt. Blanc rest for the day. You have to book it in advance.

You chill there for a bit, eat and try to recover as much power as you can for the next day. These are basically dorms and so a lot of people stay in the same room.

This can be quite distracting if you are trying to sleep, as some people are snoring, others are talking or making other types of noise. Let’s just say, I didn’t get much sleep.

The next day you wake up at 2 in the morning (yes 2!). You get breakfast and then put on your crampons and hit the mountain at around 3.

We started a bit later than the rest of the teams and could see a winding snake of lights going up the mountain. However, to my great surprise, we managed to surpass many of the teams on the way up.

Basically, you are roped in with the rest of the people on your team in order to avoid falling into crevasses and try to find footpaths created by other people in order to ease your ascent. On the way back (when it was light), I saw that there are indeed many crevasses, and in order not to fall into them, you should follow the paths already created by other people.

It’s dark outside, so you need a headlight. You keep on putting one foot in front of the other and continue on walking. Even in the middle of summer, it can get pretty cold and the temperatures are in the negative, especially during the night.

We made it to the Vallot refuge (at 4362 meters of altitude) when the light started to show up. Some people sleep at that refuge during the night (although it’s illegal), but we just rested there for half an hour, had some hot tea and went on our way.

We were still a long way off, and had to go through some pretty steep rises. Some of the ridges are very narrow and have drops of several kilometers on either side. It can get pretty scary, especially if there are team going in opposite directions and you have to make room.

Finally, we made it to the top at around 8:30 in the morning (maybe earlier, but I don’t remember the exact time). The view from the top is spectacular, but the sense of accomplishment is even more so. You are standing on the highest point of the Alps. Everyone else is below you!

We enjoyed our moment of glory, but knew that it was time to get back. The journey down can sometimes be even harder than the way up. Since I especially have problems with the knees, the way down was quite painful.

On the way down, many people cover the entire distance that they covered the past two days. So from the top, all the way to the train. That’s what we did. Paradoxically, the hardest part of the way down for me, was the easiest part on the way up.

The last stretch of the way down, the part after the rock fall valley and the melting glacier, was really painful for me, especially the knees, but also due to the fact that I had formed blisters on my toes that were really sore and hurt like hell!

Luckily, I managed to make it down in time to catch the last train. What a journey! It was hard and painful, but now and forever, I will be a man who stood on top of Mt. Blanc.

Read More:
I had also climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro during the summer of 2015. Read about that here:
Crazy Shit To Do: Climb Mt. Kilimanjaro

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Image: 1; 2; 3; 4;

Unfortunately I grew up and no part of that dream came true. No karate tournaments, no wild motorbike chases, no awesome death touch. Well, now I will make at least a small part of that dream a reality.

Yes, at times I did train and tae kwon do and did get some colored belts, but at no time was I serious. Now I will change that.

I booked a flight to Thailand for a month and will do intensive training at one of the muay thai camps in the country. I am a complete beginner in the fighting art, but hopefully after a month of intense effort, I will learn at least the basics.

I was planning to do this for a long time now, but kept postponing it. I am not getting younger though and so finally I said “fuck it” and booked the trip.

How do I get the money and time off to do this?

Well, as I wrote previously, due to my hard work and some creative skills (which can be replicated by you), I managed to get a job where I am the decision maker and make decent money.

I also work in Europe and so have plenty of vacation time to do this, plus time I carried over from previous years.

What will I do?

Well the plan is to train muay thai, but the camp also offers classes in BJJ and some related martial arts, so I might try those as well. I will also try to improve my fitness, strength and stamina.

Since I will be in the country for 31 days and can get a visa-free entry for only 30 days, at some point I will also need to make a visa run to Malaysia to get my entry visa extended. So some travelling will be a part of the experience.

I will keep you updated on the blog once I go (latter part of August and beginning of September).

Read More:
This will add a new chapter to my life:
Your own hero’s journey: how to grow as a person

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Credit: 1

As I have written previously, climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro is one of the most rewarding experiences us average city slickers can do. However how do you go about it? What types of things do you need to do in order to make your expedition a success?

Luckily for the normal guys out there, this adventure is not out of reach of almost anyone. Unlike Mt. Everest or countless other mountains, you don’t have to be an advanced mountaineer to climb it.

In fact, Mt. Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain in the world that you can reach without the need of any climbing equipment. Basically it’s one long hike, with only a few rocky patches that you have to climb over.

How should I prepare?

While going up Mt. Kilimanjaro is not something super, super hard, you do need to be fit in order to do it. There are two important things that you need to get ready for.

1) You need to be prepared for long hikes in challenging terrain

If you do a lot of hiking on your free time, then you are set to go. However if you are a sit-on-your ass desk jockey, then you will need to spend some time to get your ass up to speed.

The first thing you need to do is to work on your stamina. Get your ass to the gym and start doing some cardio, whether on the treadmill, on a stepper, or on one of those static ski machine thingies. Or better yet alternate all of them!

You can also join some group classes where they do endurance work. One of the things I did to prepare was join a group of people who were doing cardio circuits. It’s a fun way to get in shape, but also meet some new people in the process.

The best way to prepare is to start going on actual hikes though. Start off slow and then gradually keep on building up, increasing the distance, varying the terrain and going higher and higher in altitude.

2) You need to be prepared for the altitude

And this is the key part of the preparation. No matter how fit you are, the altitude can get you. That’s why you need special preparation to address this issue.

If you are like most people, then you probably live at lower altitudes. In higher altitudes, there is lower pressure and less oxygen, which could create adverse effects in people who are not used to this. In extreme cases, this can even result in death.

The good news is that your body gradually adapts to higher altitudes. That’s why during the trip to Kilimanjaro, you spend several days hiking around the mountain, hiking high and then sleeping in lower altitudes. This gives your body time to adapt.

However, if you want to significantly lower your chance of your body breaking down while at Kilimanjaro, you should spend some time in higher altitudes before going there. That way, your body is already prepared.

We did some hiking in the Italian Alps, the weekend before leaving on the trip to Africa. I think this helped, although it probably wasn’t enough. If you spend maybe an entire week or two at higher altitudes before your Mt. Kilimanjaro adventure, then this could be very beneficial for you. You don’t even need to spend that entire time training, just being in that altitude and letting your body adapt, can be really good for you.

What to pack?

You need to remember that Mt. Kilimanjaro has different zones with different climates and temperatures. That’s why you will need to pack a variety of clothing ranging from summer stuff to winter stuff.

You don’t really need to pack too much, as you will be spending most of the time hiking. Just remember that during your entire time on the mountain, you won’t be able to take a shower, so you will be a bit stinky. But that doesn’t really matter, because everyone else will be too!

Here’s a video I watched before going to Africa. Don’t forget to pack lots of toilet paper and make sure you have good hiking shoes! Another tip I can give is to pack two pairs of sunglasses. While hiking, I lost my pair and had to borrow another one from others.

How to find the company that will help you go up the mountain?

You cannot go up the mountain by yourself, but you need to hire a company to guide you up. This actually makes it easier for you, as you won’t have to lug all your stuff (like tents and food) up the mountain yourself, but instead will have a team of porters to do that. They will also set up the tents and cook for you.

You will also be surrounded by a team of experienced guides that will lead you up, as well as help you out in any case of trouble you might get yourself into.

There are a lot of companies that provide this service and it is worthwhile to shop around online to find the best deal. The overall price will also depend on what type of a comfort you want to have on the mountain as well. For example, they can even carry up a private toilet for you.

I have to say that the company we chose to trek with on Kilimanjaro was very professional and I can only say positive things about them. However on the internet I have read that not all companies are like that. Especially beware of the cheaper ones without any references.

The actual trek itself

There are several different routes you can take to the top of the mountain. Each route differs in difficulty and scenery.

The most frequent route is the Marangu Route, often called the Coca Cola Route. That’s because it is considered the easiest and you sleep in huts instead of tents. It’s also the shortest and fastest route.

However, it is also one with the highest failure rates. I think there are two main reasons for this. Since it is the shortest and easiest route, it attracts less fit climbers. Since these guys aren’t fit, they can’t keep up and are forced to give up.

Another and probably bigger reason is the fact that since it is the shortest route, it also gives the climbers less time to acclimatize to the altitude. Because altitude has such an effect on the human body, those that haven’t prepared well, end up having all kinds of problems and have to turn back.

This route is not the only one that leads up the mountain. There are also other routes that you can take. Beware a bit of going on the Western Breach side of the mountain. While Mt. Kilimanjaro is generally safe, there have been occassional rock falls, and most of them occur there. That’s also the area of the mountain where Scott Dinsmore died.

The route we took is the Machame Route, which is supposed to be one of the most scenic ones, as well as good for acclimatization. It’s a bit more challenging than some of the other routes, but overall if you are fit it is pretty manageable.

One important note: on any route be ready to rough it up, meaning no showers and squatting over stinky holes to take a shit.

That is an underrated problem that no one ever mentions. For us people used to toilets, it takes quite a while to adjust to taking care of business over what is basically a hole in the ground. It takes a lot of practice and technique to squat properly and aim in the right place. Not to mention the smell!

With the Machame Route, you start off at the gates. You have to sign your name and complete a few formalities and then you wait at the gate to get the final clearance to start your trek. In the meanwhile, all the porters are weighing all the stuff they will be carrying, as you are not supposed to leave any trash on the mountain, but need to bring it all back down.

Once all that is done, you can start on your trek. Remember to go “pole, pole“, Swahili words that you will hear often. They mean “slowly, slowly” and are often uttered by guides when you start going too fast. Remember you are in high altitudes and you don’t want your body to work too hard. You might be a bit faster now, but later you might come to regret it. So pace yourself and err on the side of caution by walking slowly and carefully.

Throughout the multiple days of your trek, you pass through different types of scenery and the weather might change from minute to the next. This is something that gives the entire experience its charm. At higher altitudes you even spend time above the clouds and can start to get the same feeling that the Gods of Olympus must have gotten when they were looking down from their mountain stronghold.

The entire route is set-up so that you can acclimatize yourself well. You hike high and then descend to lower elevations in order to sleep. This allows your body to get used to the high altitudes and lack of oxygen. This will be crucial for your final day of going up.

That final climb that begins at midnight in pitch black and freezing temperatures is the make it or break it day. It will be the hardest day of your trip. This is the point when most of the people who don’t get to the top turn it around.

You are in Africa, but there is snow and freezing temperatures. You are reminded to drink frequently since it helps with the elevation, however at these heights the water often freezes in your water bottles, making the act of drinking almost impossible.

When you get to the top, a sense of relief and joy overwhelms you! You made it!

Before embarking on the trip, I watched some videos on Youtube from guys who were sharing their own experiences and many of them were crying when they were on the summit. I was kind of shaking my head.

However I experienced it first hand. When you finally make it to that sign that says that you are on the top of the highest peak of Africa, emotions do get the best of you. Especially if you are there with your friends and family. Tears start forming at the corners of your eyes and you just can’t help yourself.

In a moment of triumph, you also remember all the people who helped you get there and it can sometimes overwhelm you.

Going Down

The climb to the top was hard, but the day is not over yet.

What makes the day even harder is that after finally getting to the summit, celebrating and taking pictures, you still need to go back down. And there is no lift to do it. You need to descend by yourself.

I thought the going down part was going to be easy. It wasn’t. All the physical damage I took away from the trip happened on the way down.

Directly at the summit, you go down on these slopes of powdery dust, which allows you to descend really fast and feels almost like skiing. Watch out, since it is very easy to fall and hurt yourself. There is a lot of dust in the air as well and my black coat got all covered with it. It ended up going from black to fifty shades of grey.

After this initial part and a few hours, you finally make it back to your camp at midday (remember you have been up since midnight). At the camp you take a short rest and immediatelly start walking down to your other camp, which is really far away.

A frequent injury that you can get and one that I got is that your toes start banging against your shoe, which then causes severe pain. I ended up getting blue, green and purple nails from it and had trouble walking in shoes for a while. After a few weeks, the nails fell off. They are still growing back almost 8 months later!

It was not an easy trip, but it also wasn’t something that was impossible. If you prepare well for it, you can make it. Supposedly the success rate is 60% (so a bit more than half of the people who start the climb get to the top), but in our party 11 out of 12 made it to the top, with only one turning around on the final night climb to the summit.

Overall, it was one experience that you will never forget and the memories from it will last a lifetime.

Read More:

Crazy Shit To Do: Climb Mt. Kilimanjaro

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All pictures are copyright by me! Note to self, learn how to take better pictures.

If you have been reading my blog, you might have caught the fact that last summer (August 2015), I went on a crazy adventure to Tanzania. Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, camping out in the Serengeti and relaxing on the island paradise of Zanzibar are a combination that can create memories to last a lifetime.

I am not exaggerating when I say that this is one of the ultimate adventures that you can do. In two weeks, my entire worldview and beliefs about myself changed. I pushed myself to the limits and discovered what I am capable of, connected with nature and explored a set of whole new cultures up close and personal.

The most incredible part of this whole trip is that this is something that just a year before I would never have considered doing. I would never even have imagined myself being capable of doing this. Climbing a mountain was never something that I thought I would ever do, especially not one so tall.

On the surface, it seems like a daunting task. Mt. Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain in Africa and rises up to 5,895 meters above sea level. It is located close to the equator, but due to its height, its top is constantly bathed in snow.

The peak of the mountain is covered by glaciers, although ones that are shrinking fast due to global warming. They have shrunk by 85% in the past 100 years and unfortunately most predictions say that they might disappear completely in a very short while.

Standing at the top is an amazing experience. Looking around, you see a desolate landscape and huge swathes of snow and ice. You are in Africa, but there is snow!

The rugged beauty that is in front of you has a special effect on all that experience it. It is as if you were suddenly transported to another world.

You are overwhelmed by the entire magic of it all. You have spent days circling this monster, getting closer and closer to its peak, to be foiled day after day. However on this final day, you have made it.

By standing on the top, you get a sense of something more powerful than yourself. It makes you reflect on the world and your place in it. What you are experiencing is awe and it can really change your entire world view, not only of yourself, but others. This has actually been proven by scientific studies:

“New research from UC Berkeley and UC Irvine suggests that experiencing awe can actually prompt us to act more benevolently toward others. In other words, awe can help make the world a better place.“

You literally come back a changed person. The top of Mt. Kilimanjaro is something only a select few get to experience and you are lucky to be one of them.

For a city boy like me, it’s something I thought I would never be able to experience. I didn’t think I had it in me. Granted it’s not the toughest of climbs, but you still have to be physically fit to do it.

The most difficult part is the day of the final ascent. You start shortly after midnight, dressed up in all kinds of winter gear, resembling someone ready for a trek in Antarctica and not smack in the middle of Africa.

It is freezing cold and it will just get worse the higher you get. What gets you are not the negative temperatures or the fact that you will be going up for hours, but instead the altitude itself.

The higher you go, the less pressure and oxygen there is. This can cause severe havoc on your body, especially to people who live in very low altitudes (above all at places close to the sea-level like me). Even if you are physically fit, you never know when your body will literally start exploding, the headaches becoming unbearable and your entire anatomy feeling like if it wanted to fall apart.

Even trained athletes have had to turn back, not because they weren’t fit, but because their body just gave up. In extreme cases, this can even result in death.

The climb is a test of your skill, endurance and determination. A little luck is needed as well, but a proper preparation beforehand can make your success almost a certainty. By spending time in higher altitudes, hiking and climbing, before going to Mt. Kilimanjaro, you can acclimatize your body and lessen your chances of complications.

And complications is something you don’t want to get. You want to be fit enough to enjoy all the beauty around you.

On this final climb, you have to negotiate through different types of terrains, ranging from huge rocks, to snow, to powdery dust.

This is not the first day you have to make your way through changing scenery. The entire one-week climb takes you through different terrains, as you start in a sub-tropical rainforest and with each day the landscape changes. One day, you are making your way around groups of small exotic looking trees, while another day you might be hiking through a setting that makes you think you are on the Moon.

However this final ascent is different. You do it in pitch total darkness. All you see is a winding snake of little yellowish lights ahead and behind you. These are the headlights of the rest of the people who are undertaking the conquest of Kilimanjaro that day.

And the going gets tough. Sometimes you see people going back down, the ones who decided to give up and turn it around. That night, you are pushing yourself to your limit. When you are on the verge of quitting and taking the easy way out by turning back, you clench your teeth and push on, driven by a determination to succeed.

It is at these moments that you discover that you are not a pansy after all. And this discovery is as valuable as all the memories that you will take back with you.

This is a learning experience. It will do wonders for your willpower. If you train it, your willpower can gradually get bigger and bigger. However doing something like this can fast-forward the entire process. Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro is like training on steroids for increasing your willpower.

After the successful ascent, you will feel on top of the world, since you will literally be at the top of the world (sorry for the cliche ), on the roof of Africa. You will have achieved something that no one will ever be able to take away from you and you will guard it in your heart forever.

You will be able to use that as an example for yourself in the future, in situations when the going gets tough. You will be able to take out that memory and say to yourself that here you pushed hard and you succeeded. This will drive you on to power through all your other challenges.

I cannot underline enough how much of a valuable experience this has been to me. By climbing the highest mountain, all other mountains seem small in comparison. Use that as a metaphor when you feel yourself stumped or in front of a problem, for each problem is like a mountain that you can climb. It will be hard, but it can be done. You only need to set your mind to it.

Another aspect of the journey is that you are surrounded by locals every step of the way, your porters and guides. You gain a different perspective on life by listening to their stories. You meet the guide who has climbed to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro over a thousand times! For you it’s an adventure, for him it’s his job.

You meet the porter who is trying to gain enough money so that he can pay his way through university. You will also meet the guy who is going up and down the mountain carrying things just to provide for his family. Life isn’t always easy for these guys and you will gain a greater respect for others and the hard work they do.

This is a trip that leaves a lasting impression on everyone who undertakes it. Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro is not just a journey to the top of a mountain, but it is also a journey deep inside your soul. It will change you. You won’t come back the same as before you left.

Read more:
Go beyond limits: How to do the impossible

Part of the preparation training for Kilimanjaro that we did included a few trips to the Alps. We started off with hikes in lower altitudes, and finished with an ice trek to a mountain over 4 100 meters above sea-level (I will have a separate post on that in the future). These trainings were a wake-up call for me:

When the going gets tough, you just gotta push through

The normal person guide to climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro

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This summer I spent some time in Georgia. However this wasn’t your momma’s Georgia. They don’t speak with a southern drawl there. In fact their language is unrelated to any other language that is spoken by any people outside the Caucasus. I did not go to the American Georgia, but instead to the Georgia that used to be part of the USSR.

It’s a country in the Caucasus region. In the north, you can find the Caucasus mountains, while the west of the country is located on the Black Sea.

I got to Tbilisi, the capital, at midnight and while being driven into town, the first thing I noticed was the quaint charm of the old town, or the historical center. There was an old fortress perched high up on a rock and a bunch of old churches all around. All these were illuminated by lights of different colors and this gave the entire scene a certain glow which uplifted the senses.

What was surprising was that even though it was after midnight and in the middle of the week, the center was full of people, walking around or just hanging out, which gave the town a dynamic atmosphere. There were groups of young people chatting, girls in mini-skirts on their way to party and families with little kids enjoying a nice after midnight stroll. If you have been to any cities around the Mediterranean, then you know what I am talking about.

What to do in Tbilisi
The city of Tbilisi itself looks quite modern, with many of the old buildings being reconstructed and clean. The highlight of the visit will be the old town. The old town lies right on the river and there are several churches there which are more than a thousand years old.

High above the old town there are the ruins of an old fortress, which are definitely worth a visit. Once up at the fortress, you get a great view of the entire city.

You can also walk along Rustaveli Street and explore all the shops or go to the amusement park above the city. Once at the amusement park, don’t forget to go to the restaurant there, as you get a great view of the entire city while eating there.

Nightlife in Tbilisi
There are two main nightlife areas in Tbilisi. One is in the old town, while the other one is close to the university. I only visited the one in the old town. This one is especially pumping during the weekend. There are many bars located in the tight, crooked streets of the old town. People are mostly sitting outside and when I was there, there was even a Cuban band playing. Most of the action occurs in the bars, as there are only a few clubs. One of the clubs that I noticed (but did not enter), is called “Safe”. The doors to it are like the doors on a vault in a bank.

Georgian girls are pretty hot and dress really well, but Tbilisi is also full of Russian girls and girls of other nationalities. Also Georgia is known for its wine, so if you are out, try it.

Batumi
Batumi is a city located on the Black Sea. When I got there, I was surprised by how much development is going on in the city. Most of the old buildings in the center were restored and they were coupled with a lot of new buildings that were built in the last few years. There is a lot of construction going on in the city, with many high rises being built.

The most important thing about Batumi and the reason why most people go there is the beach. It is a pebbly beach, but there is a very long promenade that leads several kilometers. When I am at a beach, I usually like to walk from one end of the beach to the other, but here it was impossible. The beach promenade is so long, that while I started at the beginning and continued walking for a long time, I had to turn around at some point, as I was really far from where I started from with no end of the promenade in sight.

The nightlife in Batumi happens on the beach. I don’t know if there is anything in the center, however the beach promenade is lined with a bunch of bars and clubs and at night a lot of people are walking up and down the promenade, either just strolling or looking for a party. At night, there are also a lot of people drinking on the beach, just in front of the waves.

How to get around
So how do you get around? Both Tbilisi and Batumi are not that big, so you can get to a lot of places on foot. Tbilisi is a bit bigger, so to get to some of the out of way places, you can take a taxi, a bus or the metro. Most of the taxi drivers don’t speak English, so if you only speak that language it might be a bit difficult to communicate. However most of the taxi drivers do speak at least a bit of Russian. So before going to Georgia, it might be useful to at least brush up on some basic phrases in that language.

To go in between cities, you can either take a train or something that is called a marshrutka. A marshrutka is a concept that is pretty common in all parts of the former Soviet Union. These are basically vans that go between different cities and transport people.

Riding in a marshrutka can be quite an adventure. I took one going back from Batumi to Tbilisi. It cost me 20 lari. What happens basically is that these marshrutkas have signs saying their final destination, usually it is in Georgian, sometimes in English as well, or a few times in Russian. So at the first station the driver is just trying to get as many people in as possible.

Space is pretty tight, so don’t expect a very comfortable journey. The particular marshrutka that I took was already almost all filled up when I got there, so I had to squeeze in the back. I sat down and after a few minutes the driver closed the doors, put on loud Russian music and off we went.

There was still one empty seat left, so the driver was stopping at random places trying to pick up people. It was quite an adventure. He was driving like a maniac, fast and trying to overtake any other cars on the road. He would do one maneuver and then another one, speeding up, slowing down, swerving in different directions and always shouting something in Georgian.

Also don’t expect the fact that all seats are taken to stop the drivers from taking on more passengers. After the last seat got filled, the driver stopped a few times and took on standing room only passengers! The time to get to Tbilisi from Batumi is around 6 hours, so imagine standing up for that long! Although there were a few people that got off along the way, so most of these standing room only people had to stand at the most for only an hour.

For the journey from Tbilisi to Batumi and back, I would actually recommend taking the train. There is a modern train with air conditioning that goes between the cities and it costs the same as a marshrutka ride. Plus it gets you to your destination faster, in 4 hours. However it gets filled up fast, so make sure to book ahead of time. In extreme cases, when you cannot find a train or a marshrutka, the taxi drivers are very willing to take you between different cities as well, although that option will be a bit more pricey than the other ones.

General impressions
My general impressions of Georgia were pretty positive. The cities seem pretty safe, although I guess here the standard be careful cautions apply. However I was walking around after midnight and so were many other people.

The official language of the country is Georgian, but I doubt many people outside the country who are not of Georgian origin speak the language. So basically here the two most useful languages for communication are English and Russian.

Most older people will not speak English, but most of them do speak Russian, so you should use that language when trying to communicate. Many of the younger people do speak English, as well as Russian. However what I heard is that the knowledge of Russian among the younger generations is eroding, while the knowledge of English is getting stronger. It does seem that Georgia has replaced a lot of the old Russian signs that it used to have with signs in English. I saw some old street signs and they were bilingual, with Georgian at the top and Russian at the bottom. The new street signs now have English at the bottom, instead of Russian.

There are a lot of foreign tourists in Tbilisi. The mix seems to be split between backpackers and more serious older tourists. They come from different countries of the world, including many Western tourists. The situation is a bit different in Batumi. It’s a very nice beach resort, but the only Western tourists I saw there were small groups of Polish people and a German family. Otherwise the majority of tourists there are from Russia and other countries of the former USSR, as well as a lot of tourists from Turkey and Iran.

Georgia is an interesting country and if you visit don’t stick just to the two most popular destinations of Tbilisi and Batumi. Try to go out and explore. One interesting place to explore is Khevsureti, which is located in the mountains in the extreme north of the country.

Khevsureti is a region which has been populated by clans of hardy warriors and traditionally many families used to live in high fortress towers, which can still be seen in many villages. They even used to have a tradition of kidnapping girls. So if a guy wanted to get married, he would stake out some pretty girl from a neighboring village or somewhere else and then kidnap her.

The people of Khevsureti also used to wear old chain armor. There is even a tradition that they descent from a group of Crusaders that somehow got deviated from the Holy Lands and ended up in the Caucasus, although most people regard that as a myth.

There is an interesting story concerning the warriors of Khevsureti and World War I. Supposedly in April of 1915, the inhabitants of Tbilisi were treated to a very interesting spectacle. A band of warriors on horseback, dressed in chain mail and clutching their swords, rode through the town. Supposedly they heard that there was a war going on and they wanted to help the Russian tsar win the war. What makes this even more interesting is that they rode into town seven months after the war was declared, meaning it probably took that long for the news to reach them in their mountain strongholds.

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I am above average height for most countries (6’1 or 184cm), however in the Netherlands I was just average (sometimes I felt even below average). I am used to urinals being way below my crotch level, however here it felt like I almost had piss up instead of down.

This is one of the first things that you notice when you arrive in the Netherlands (besides the fact that everything is flat and there are bikes everywhere), the people are much taller than in other places.

They seem to tower above you. They are quite lanky and not too built, but they are tall. I remember my first day at school, sitting down at a table next to one Dutch guy. He seemed pretty thin and not very big, so I did not pay particular attention. Then he stood up from his chair and was almost a full head taller than me! While sitting down he seemed small, but when standing up you had a completely different image of him.

It wasn’t always so. In fact a few generations ago, the Dutch were one of the shortest people in Europe. Almost all the other countries had on average taller people. This changed rapidly, especially after World War 2.

Height seems to be linked to nutrition and health. The average height of Dutch people started shooting up after World War 1, but declined sharply during World War 2, to again start rising sharply after the end of the conflict. The explanation is that during war times, people don’t really have access to adequate amounts of food and nutrition and their health declines, which means they also end up not growing as much.

Two factors have been linked to the enormous increase in the average height of the Dutch, their nutrition and healthcare, where they have a high standard and expectant mothers even have access to advice on nutrition for their kids.

Their diets are simple, but are heavy on dairy products, such as milk and cheese. This means they have a high supply of protein and calcium, which then helps their bones grow, as well as other parts of their bodies. Sometimes they even drink milk for lunch!

So here is something to be learned. If you want to grow taller, you need to incorporate a lot of dairy products in your diet. Most of you are probably already past the age of growth, but maybe it’s still not too late for any potential kids that you might have.

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“We don’t have a room for you and the entire city is booked out,” said the hotel manager as I stood across from him, clutching papers in my right hand and looking around nervously.

I grew angry and worried: “But I made a reservation. Here is the proof.” I showed him a paper with proof of my reservation. He looked at it, but came back with some sort of stupid reply, absolving himself of any blame and pushing the fault at me.

I wanted to yell at him, make a scene, but it would have been of no use. It wouldn’t change the fact that I was now stuck in Copenhagen for three days without lodging and needed to make a presentation at a huge conference the next day. The most important thing is to try to find a place to stay the night.

All the hotels in the city were booked out. ALL OF THEM! There were most likely several big conferences happening at the same time, therefore pushing up the prices for the hotels and bringing down the availability of rooms to zero.

I was in crisis mode and quickly needed to do something. There must be some hostels nearby that I can stay in. Those always have rooms. Resigned to my fate, I calmly asked where the nearest hostel was. Apparently there was one just up on the next streets. I took my bags and started walking to where the hostel was supposed to be. On the way, I passed another hotel and stopped in to ask for availability of rooms. As expected, they were all booked out.

I got to the hostel and asked whether they have any rooms available for 3 nights. The guy at the counter checked, but there was a private room available only for tonight. I was kind of relieved. I still didn’t know what I was going to do the two other nights, but at least I could stay somewhere tonight.

That’s where further problems started. The hostel was accepting only online bookings for some reason. Their ipad was already rented out to someone who was hogging it. So I took out my own smartpad and tried to book the hostel online. No luck. For some reason, my smartpad didn’t recognize any certificates as valid, so that prevented me from logging into secure sites and actually booking the hostel.

What to do? I was worried and getting more frustrated. Felt like throwing the smartpad somewhere at the wall and smash it. I went to talk to the guy at the counter. At first he insisted he could do nothing, but after a bit of talk and seeing how frustrated I was, something was arranged and he made the booking in their system himself. What a relief!

I had a place to stay for one night at least! I went to my room, all sweaty, dropped off my bags and came down to the lobby of the hostel to continue my adventure. Mission: Find a place to stay for the two other nights!

“Do you guys know of any hostels around here where I could stay?” The guy looked on the internet, but couldn’t find anything.

Then he started thinking: “There is another hostel a bit towards the south. Maybe you should go there and ask. Maybe they have something.”

Seeing no other choice, I asked for him to point out the hostel on a map for me. He took out a pen and drew a circle around where the hostel was supposed to be.

I am pretty good at directions. I had already located the spot where I was at that moment on a map and mentally calculated the way to the other hostel. I would have to go down and cross a few streets.

Armed only with a map, off I went to find another place to stay in a city which I had never been to, with the time getting late and the night starting to descend.

I managed to find the hostel with no problem. I entered through the front entrance and went to the reception and told the guy what I was looking for. He looked at his computer and started typing.

“Hmmmm….don’t see anything,” he said looking up from his computer after searching in his reservation system.

“Anything? Not even a bed in some room?” I pleaded, looking desperate.

He looked back down at his computer: “Wait, an 8 person room has just opened up for two nights.”

“Great I will take it all,” I was happy and wanted a private, so decided to book out the entire room.

“Oh wait…sorry…there is a problem,” said the guy at the reception.

“Problem?” I asked worried.

“It seems that actually the room is only available for tomorrow night.”

“What about the night after? Not even one bed somewhere?” I asked.

“No, sorry for that night we are all booked out,” said the guy at the reception.

“OK then. I will take the room for tomorrow and will try to find another room somewhere.”

I booked the room for tomorrow night and rushed back to the first hostel to ask whether maybe some room for the third night hasn’t opened up. I came back and talked to the people at the reception of my first hostel. They said that there was the possibility of getting a bed in one of the big dorms they had. At least something. I wasn’t extatic, as I would have preferred a private room, but at least I had a place to stay. I was relieved. Homeless no more in Copenhagen.

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PS: The adventure did not stop there. That was just the beginning. I will write a continuation in a future post.