PayPal Stories Archive

Meet Aisling, part of our Talent Acquisition team in Dublin. Aisling is about to embark on an adventure of a lifetime: A journey on foot to the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro.

 

 

Yeah, I’m off to climb Kilimanjaro next week! I haven’t done anything like this before so I am not sure what to expect. I like the fact that I am going in with a completely open-mind!

 

 

 

I was actually on a hike with one of my friends from our PayPal football team and she mentioned that climbing Kilimanjaro was always something she wanted to do. I love challenges and I love hiking so the idea really appealed to me. About 6 hours later I had the whole thing booked! I am young and reasonably fit so I thought ‘why not!’ There will be a time in my life that I won’t be able to do things like this so better to get them out of the system while I can.

 

 

I am expecting it to be difficult. At 5,895 metres (or 19,341 feet) above sea level, it’s the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain in the world.

 

Since I decided to go I have been training hard in the gym here at PayPal. The gym instructor has been showing me what muscles to strengthen and I have been attending a lot of these classes to build up for it. I’ve been availing of the physiotherapist as well because I don’t want to get an injury half way up!

 

It’s great when you can train during lunch breaks and you aren’t giving up your evening then.

 

 

I have had such terrific support from my family and friends, they have been great, but I didn’t anticipate the amount of encouragement I was going to get from my team.

 

All my colleagues are really interested and a bit concerned for my well-being! Some of them have even started coming to the gym with me during my lunch hour to support me!

 

We have also started a run club to get the fitness level up. I feel like they really care for me and they are doing all they can to support me with the challenge. Anything they could do to help they did!

 

Best of luck Aisling! Looking forward to catch up when you get back!