However, to avoid, which occurs a lot, not too loose my train of thought….A visit to London to check the possibility of any Expedition and its success, is a must! So is connections which you have built up throughout the years. Two of the most important I have is friends doing pretty much the same thing – continuously putting pressure on life!

I am talking about two of the nicest people I have ever come across, my old friend and chairman of the British Chapter of Explorers Club, Barry Moss and the new Face of Discovery Channel – Olly Steeds. They have both helped me for many years with their belief, compassion, friendship and extraordinary kind words.

Ollie had set me up for a lot of meetings with some amazing people in his range of friends. Stephen and Jamie taught me pretty much about everything about the Gulf area and the digital side of exploration. As always I went to Stanfords to pick up some maps over Rub Al-Khali and went to the Royal Geographic Society to browse thru old Expedition papers and reports in the area where I am setting up my two upcoming Expeditions….didn´t find anything I dind´t know about though, Internet has changed a lot, for the better….and went to a lecture at the Scientific Exploration Society on Wednesday evening and had a chat with Sir John Blashford-Snell and then the pub again. The London Pub scene….I like it.

I spent all Thursday meeting a lot of people, who gave me a lot of positive and negative output on my upcoming Expedition. Most think it is impossible, which I like. I need to hear these things to concentrate and focus. And Thursday evening I spent at the Polish Club with some of my London friends….I have always been an Anglophile by the way….and I believe I have a new very good friend after that meeting, old Sam from the Hebrides. Same age, exiting life, gone through many obstacles, fantastic guy!

Came back three in the morning, went to the airport at 5….well, I am extremely tired…but, once again, the adventure is on!

I immediately recognised the worries, the stress, that comes with just leaving for a big Expedition, when Marcin picked me up at the airport in Gdansk. Winter was here, lot´s of snow and relatively cold. His jeep was full of gear, two dogs, Brenda and Fidel, and I hardly got in myself, we headed immediately, after picking up his girlfriend Anja and a stunner called Grazyna who we also managed to fit in to the car, before continuing for the Polish bush, were we spent a great New Year Eve! An evening with great food, too much vodka and no sleep in a log cabin in the forest belonging to Daniel, a great fella who spent 30 years living in Canada, which he missed a lot. A soul mate, no doubt. I am so priviliged to meet these soul mates all over the world. We cruised a village by foot, full of vodka, meeting laughing and celebrating people everywhere and during the night Daniel lost all his horses in a runaway, due to the fire works. So we spent next day looking for them and didn´t find any, really, but I got to see some of the Polish back country and it reminded me of Russia. A distinct smell of coal, half ruined buildings, flat and undulating fields and a penetrating cold.

From here we travelled for a few hours to a Sports Center, who was sponsoring Marcin with the hotell, preparations and the press conference and we spent many hours pouring over the maps and the equipment he had. And I have a few small worries, because he will be travelling in total darkness, minus 50 degrees temperature and his equipment is quite used from other expeditions, but then again, he is after all Polish, and they´re tougher then other Europeans, and especially Americans. Follow his Expedition on www.zewpolnocy.com

Next day we went through all the equipment again and I felt more tired then in a long time. I could feel Marcin worries. It was like he was draining me of energy and of course, I immediately picked up a nasty polish flu, which bedded me immediately. I had a dream that night, that Marcin lost all his fingers and I was stupid enough to tell him about this, and it made him even more worried. the cold terrifies him, which I can understand. Grazyna seemed to be responsibel for my well being and she took care of me as good as it is possible. And that is my major feeling from this visit, the love of this great people.

The third was the day for the press conference and my lecture. Polish TV, radio, sponsors and others were there, plus a lady, Tatiana, who was born in Zyryanka and had spent a big part of her life in Seimchan along the Kolyma. A real Kolymanian! She told the group of her own experiences living in this coldest inhabited place on earth. Very interesting. She felt like a sister to me. I will tell you in a seperate article about the lecture and the response. Another visitor to the press conference was a famed Polish polar Explorer and a guy writing for National Geographic, Marcin Jamkowski, who just spent a long time in the Sudan desert travelling by camel!

Next day, the fourth, I left with Grazyna, early at 6 a.m, after no sleep at all, to travel by car, train and taxi to the airport. Then back to a grey stockholm, hit badly with the flu, but feeling very inspired indeed and with a great longing to return to the Kolyma area again. Marcin is very priviliged!