Day 2 - Nairobi to Moshi! - 22nd August

One of our views out the window

Jambo! Today has been another long day! We travelled approximately 7 hours from Nairobi to Moshi in a minibus, it was interesting to see how different the scenery and the people looked from place to place - it was amazing how quickly everything changed.

There were lots of street side sellers which was pretty scary when we were at the Tanzanian border as they tried really hard to make you buy things, and it's something I'm obviously not used to. One put a bracelet on my wrist and tried to make me have it, so Simon had to come and give the bracelet back to her and take me to the bus as I got a bit out of my depth! It's hard being a ridiculously polite Brit sometimes!

After we passed the Tanzanian border we stopped off for a loo break at this lovely little shop, they were selling lots of wonderful things, but I didn't want to spend any of my money yet. Simon bought some things and it was funny as he tried to haggle and the man asked for a pen (which Simon didn't have), and then for his T-shirt (to which Simon was awkwardly a bit like "but I need it...") and then for his walking boots!! (to which Simon was like "I need those too!") So the man let him have it at the price he said and told Simon not to forget to bring his shoes with him next time!! (Simon wasn't sure whether he was joking or not!).

Our first glimpse of Kilimanjaro!

 As we carried on our drive we saw lots of little sand storms - which were pretty cool! We also saw lotsss of goats and even some gazelle and camels at one point!
We also saw our first glimpse of Kilimanjaro!! We spent a lot of the drive guessing it was different mountains, being like "do you think that one's Kili??" Until we finally saw it hiding in the clouds and Jo told us that's the mountain we'll be climbing tomorrow!

There was a lot of speed bumps on the way here, so the ride was a bit rough. But I couldn't help but enjoy the casual nature of our driver as he overtook everything in our path! Even the other minibus we were with he overtook!

Overall though it was a good ride with frequent naps and lots of thinking as I compared what I saw outside the bus to what we have in Britain - we're so privileged and we don't even realise it!!!

Anyway, when we got here we put our stuff in our rooms and got briefed on our coming week on Kilimanjaro - exciting stuff!!! We're setting off at 8.30am to Machame Gate, I'm looking forward to it as it will only be approximately 6 hours walking tomorrow, which I'm sure will be blissful compared to the coming days! - I'll say more about the climb when I'm actually doing it!

It's really nice here at Midlands lodge, I'm sharing a room with Tony (Antonia). Our room is really nice! - I enjoyed my last shower not long ago, and tried to make the most of it before baby wipes is the only answer!!

Right, time to finish my packing and get myself to sleep for my early start tomorrow!!!

Lala Salama!!

Day 1 - UK to Nairobi - 21st August

This was a particular point
I got quite excited!!

Today was my first time flying! The day started with us (Simon & I) waking at 4am, driving to Oxford, getting a coach at 5.30am and arriving at the airport at 6.50am for our flight at 10.15am! I was naturally like a big kid in the airport, excited to see all the planes up close and nervous for if I accidentally set a metal detector off or something! In my opinion airports seem like big, posh train stations, but for planes... Obviously.

Nice view out the window!

Our flight was great! (in my opinion) I just really enjoyed the whole thing (especially the food!) We had chicken curry for dinner and then got a yummy sandwich and scones later! I watched Insurgent (which was really, nothing like the book! Annoyingly!!) and Home - which was great, such a sweet film even if it was absurd to hear Sheldon Cooper and Rihanna!  And I also had a little nap (8 hours travelling is a long time!) Asides that, I had a great view as I had a window seat, going through the clouds looked so amazing, and seeing all the places we flew over was also a pretty amazing sight :)

In the minibus, tired & hungry but happy nonetheless!

When we arrived at Nairobi, it was scary checking in, as this was my first time in a place not in the UK, and we got health screened as we walked through and none of us really knew what was going on, but it was pretty simple and we stressed about nothing. I thought we'd all got there okay and got all our bags, then I found out that someone hadn't even got the flight and poor Angela had lost her bag! Then we met Jo, Sarah & Ben (the staff of Dig Deep) at the airport and walked over to our minibuses. The air smelt very petrol-y, which wasn't that nice, but seeing Nairobi as we drove to our hostel was exciting and... THEY HAVE WOOLWORTHS!!!! Which, everyone was excited about - naturally!

At the hostel they have such a cute dog, apparently called Scooby, and he's just so chill!! We got given our rooms and also given some food (which was much appreciated!). I'm sharing a room with Angela, Ro and Gabby and the beds are real comfy! - except the mosquito net which I was constantly faffing with trying to get it over me properly.

Overall, everything's great so far! Time to get some sleep before a long day tomorrow!

See you later!

Kwaheri!

'Cause Baby Now We Got Bad Blood! (literally)

Hey!! I'm back again after a long time of telling myself to blog, and then not doing it... (naughty me.)

I've had a jolly ol' couple of months doing various things such as, finishing 2nd year with a 2:1, completing my fundraising for Dig Deep, joining the gym and finding out I'm going to be the team leader of a group of fundraisers next year!!! Exciting stuff!

So yeah, I'm still on with the Kilimanjaro climb, in fact I'll be leaving to do that in less than a month now!!! Scaryy!!! But I've been going to the gym and doing walks and stuff to try and improve my fitness, so fingers crossed, I'll manage it! I hope, even more-so because I'll be leading people to climb Mt. Kenya next year, and I'll look a bit silly if I couldn't even climb the first mountain I set out to do! (in my opinion). 

I went for a walk in the Peak District yesterday with some fellow future team leaders, and it was great! Very pretty, and thankfully the weather held up for us! (Here's one of the nice pictures I took) :)

Anyway, with regards to the Arthritis, (seeing as this blog IS about that) I recently got put BACK on Sulfasalazine.... To then come off it again 2 weeks later as it was making me really poorly again (if we recall last time I had it, I lasted 4 weeks before being taken off them). Fun times! And now in consequence, I'm having to have 2 weekly bloodtests as stuff has all been off with my blood (hence the title of the blog), I'm hoping that my next bloodtest will be fine as I'll have been off it for a while by then. Silly medications!

Along side that I found out I'm not able to have the Yellow Fever jab for my travels  due to being on methotrexate (You need to have a Yellow Fever jab & certificate to prove it to enter Tanzania due to the risk of it in Kenya)... Sooo thankfully I am able to get an exemption certificate so they will still let me in! And then I just have to pray (and cover myself in insect repellent) that I don't get Yellow Fever. You'd never think ARTHRITIS could cause so many damn problems!! 

Anyway, I think that's all, I'll try post another update before I head off to climb Kili!!! (aaah excited!!!)

TTFN, ta ta for now!!! :)

OOH! P.S. I got a haircut (I forgot that happened since I last blogged!) This is me now, with all short hair!! (and I love it!) :D

Byee!! :D

Yesterday I Conquered A Mountain!

Hello!... And as the title says... Yesterday I conquered a mountain!!! To be precise, the mountain that was conquered was Mount Snowdon! Woohoo!! I also conquered an (almost) mountain called Y Garn the day before, which is pretty epic seeing as for me, both days were about 8 hours of trekking.

On the way back down Snowdon!

Yes, what was meant to be, an approx trek of about 6 hours, took a couple hours longer for me, as my ankle really doesn't like going downhill!... But I did it! So, naturally I feel really quite impressed with myself.

Everyone at the summit of Y Garn!

The weather was beautiful, and the views were absolutely stunning, and the feeling of accomplishment as I reached the summit on both days, was really something else!

Simon may look drunk, and I may look like an old lady, but being amongst the clouds at the summit of Snowdon was amazing!!!!

 Admittedly, it caused me a hell of a lot of pain, and after doing Y Garn on Saturday I worried that I wouldn't manage Snowdon on the Sunday, but I did!! Along with my pain endurance, I'm also pretty proud of my ability to keep high spirits, naturally, being with a group of people who have the ability to walk off while you straggle behind, is a pretty naff feeling, but with the company & support of Simon and the Dig Deep team, I managed to still feel pretty good about it, and kept pretty jolly in my opinion!

It's times like these where I really wish I'd thought higher of myself these past 7 years... I mean, yes I've got on with life, and gone to college and uni and such, but I've spent the past 7 years moping around thinking about what I can't do in life... When I should have spent the time thinking about what I can do. This weekend has really proved to me that I probably have the ability to do whatever I want if I put my mind to it (I mean, apart from wearing high heels, but who cares? I don't want to wear bloody high heels!) I aim to start thinking more positive from now on!! And I WILL conquer Kili!!!! (well, I really hope so anyway :P)

Trekking poles were a God send!!! They made everything so much easier!

Thanks for reading again folks! :)
By the way, if you read this, which... I assume you do if you've got this far down, thank you! It really does feel pretty awesome to know that people out there read this, and also to see that my views come from all over the world! If you feel at all inspired by what I'm doing (which, I hope I have inspired at least one person out there!) share it? As a bit of inspiration can never go amiss :)

Keep smiling! :) TTFN, ta ta for now!!
(See more photos!! at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/127985693@N04/sets/72157649475013486/)

It's Been A While!

Hello!! Sorry it's been such a while since I last blogged, I just haven't had a clue what to blog about - so if anyone has anything in particular they want to see, comment it, or tell me in some way, shape or form!

Not a lot has changed of recent... I had a hospital appointment recently, and he sent me for an X-ray... And that's about it. Super interesting! Apart from that... My ankle has been the same annoyance it always has been and my knee has been on/off bad - I've discovered that just standing for long periods of time irritates my knee, but walking or generally moving for long amounts of time is fine, it's just if I'm still.

I've done some filming recently for a 3rd Year Media project, in Harlaxton Manor, which is such a beautiful location (google it!) and also Broadbent theatre (also a great location!) and we had such wonderful costumes provided by Pauline Loven (check out her blog! at: http://www.periodcostume.co.uk/ )... Here's a beautiful picture she took of me & Simon in our costume on set, it's probably my fave photo that was taken!

When the final piece is completed I'll be sure to share it with you! It's been such a great experience and has felt so professional - it's definitely given me a taste of what might be in store if I decide to continue film acting in the future!

Apart from that, I've continued fundraising for Dig Deep, as I previously mentioned, I'm climbing Mt Kilimanjaro this Summer for it, and this weekend we're taking a visit to Wales to climb Mt Snowdon as training/fundraising, it'll be nice to see how I cope, and I'll probably tell you all about it when I'm done with hopefully some nice photos! Once again, if you're interested in sponsoring me, visit: https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/mollyclimbskili , every little helps, and I have an awfully long way to go!! So if you're feeling generous, share! :D

Thanks for reading, I'll be sure to blog sooner this time :P

TTFN, ta ta for now!!

Doctors obviously love me...

.... as I got 'double booked' the other day!! HAHA xD probably not really that funny, but I found it funny... got a text saying I had an appointment a few days after and I was just, confused, as my letter said it was in March... so I rang up to ask and it turns out they'd just accidentally booked me in twice, but only sent me a letter for one. Weird! 

So yeah, the cold sucks, I went for a blood test on Tuesday, just for all my veins to be in hiding because it was too cold, so unfortunately that appointment was a waste of time and now I have to journey up to the hospital for it to be done there instead, which I'm sure will be jolly... (I still have a scar from the last time I had it done at the hospital as their plaster thing took off my skin!!! >.<)

This last weekend my knee got a bit swollen and achey, probably from a mix of the cold and a heck of a lot of standing around (as I did a show called Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead this weekend, and the backstage area wasn't the nicest to be in, as it was a bit smalllll), but thankfully, after some looking after it with hot water bottles & baths, it's all feeling better now! 

The cold just isn't very nice, it hurts and I HATE walking on ice as I'm just not very good at it! haha

well, keep safe in the cold weather!
TTFN, Ta ta for now!!

Reminiscing Over the Past 6 Months!

Happy New Year!! I'm back, and it's now only FIVE DAYS UNTIL MY BIRTHDAY!!! (I'm gonna be 20 - getting old!)

Sooo, on Friday I finally got discharged from physiotherapy as my physiotherapist told me I was "the best she'd seen me" and just to carry on with my exercises and maybe make them a bit more weight-bearing to carry on strengthening my legs! So that's pretty good really!

This lead me to reminisce over the last 6 months, and how much it's all changed, I started off 6 months ago, medicationless, in pain all the time and limping dreadfully... Now I'm walking fine, I can even walk up & down stairs normally! And plan on climbing a mountain a few months!

Although I may not like my medication, my injections and my blood tests, overall, it's making everything better gradually, which is of course is the aim... so it's all grand really!

I'm having my next injection delivery on Wednesday... It's weird to think I've had over 7 weeks of them so far, it feels like less? Weird! Anyway, I'm also back at hospital in March to see my doctor again, who will probably try and think of another solution for my (still bad) ankle! Here's hoping it might be slightly better by then :)

Anyway, not much else to say, except gradually making some changes to the blog! Check them out (for instance - my 'gallery' page... which seemed less weird in concept than it does.. oh well)

Also, on a last note... please check out my Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/Climb4CleanWater and give it a like? It would be a great help!

Thanks!

TTFN, Ta ta for now! :)