Explorer Mikael Strandberg

“It is travelling like this you really get to know people” , Anders said whilst having a short brake at a Truck Stop in Luxemburg yesterday, “And it is impossible to hide from other people who you really are.”

Anders is a great guy. Middle aged, with a bit of a pouch and an everlasting smile, once an actor who received the Swedish variety of an Oscar –Guldbaggen- who turned into an award winning scriptwriter and documentary maker. He´s extremely honest, agreeable and socially outgoing. He’s a member of Travellers Club of Sweden, just like me, and that is where I met him the first time years ago and we have on and off said that we just have to do a project together. And since we´re both soul searchers, the main project we´ve had in mind for a couple of years, is to do a documentary about people who do a pilgrimage, like the very popular one to Santiago de Compostela. A pilgrimage made famous on our time by the Brazilian writer Paul Coelho. Then we realized not long ago, that this pilgrimage has become something very popular among Westerners, as kind of another hike to add to their trekking CV and we agreed at that moment, that it then had turned into something not so interesting to document. Kind of old news. Then I introduced Anders, just by pure chance, to Facebook, which changed his life in many ways and a discovery he will make a documentary about. Anyway, when I sent out a Newsletter about me preparing for the next Expedition, which would involve deserts, he said he knew a French bloke who 30 years ago walked three times through the Sahara, and I just had to meet him in his village not far from Anders grand house in Murviel. That is how I ended up in Murviel, a picturesque village I left yesterday together with Anders and a relative of his wife, Svante, in a new 2008 Ford Mustang convertible. And quite a few bottles of local red wine in the boot. Now, this amicable bloke named Svante, is kind of an oddball in his own ways, brought up in the U.K and posh schools, meaning he speaks perfect upper class English with the odd hint of a stiff upper lip, who turned into a construction worker living in Surahammar, a kind of a back of beyond settlement in the middle of Sweden, who recently lost his job and came to Murviel to help Anders out. I just want to add that I speak cockney Essex English. All this has made Anders laugh even more than before. Together we´ve travelled three days through Europe and become great friends. That´s what happens whilst travelling in the intimacy of a Ford Mustang Convertible.

However, professionally, the most important thing is that we have realized that Anders would be a perfect partner for me at base. We don´t know how yet, but we´re making plans. It could mean a major difference in every single way, when it comes to everything that concerns the build up for a great and major Expedition. Keep your eyes open, we will know soon….the thing is, time is running fast and the Expedition is not far off and I hardly have neither any cash or sponsors ready…..but I feel very confident regarding the future.

This week has made a major difference. It could mean much more then a series of six documentaries broadcasted globally. It could mean there is a future after the Great Expedition To Come….