The young explorer in question is really a true explorer who genuinely loves preparing for an Expedition, doing it and getting back sharing his experiences, but who have decided to put his boots on the shelf.

“It is amazing how much time I spend on the Internet connecting with other people who are into adventure and expeditions. And all the time I was away from my family doing this for nothing. And there is such a hard job getting sponsors nowadays. It is getting harder by the day. Nope, all that plus the fact this stalker just got worse by the day, well, I decided it was time to do other exciting things and spend more time with my family. I don´t regret the decision a second right now.”

In truth, in my book, there are few proper explorers out there today. Most of the one´s fighting for a piece of the sponsor cake or a few seconds in the lime light, are in it mainly for their own benefit to become famous and remembered. Which I can understand, but with age have realized how destructive it is. Plus of course they like the adventure. And than they use global warming or “educating” school kids as a way to get sponsor money and recognition. Which I can understand as well, but to make a difference long term you really have to have your heart into the issue to make a difference. My friend who has had enough of this eternal struggle, he had many very good ideas for the upcoming future which could have made a serious global difference, but the strain to support his family and an evil stalker, killed his promising future as an all time explorer.

He had come a good way on the route to establishing himself as an explorer and to support himself, but a personal tragedy plus this stalker, just killed his energy. It is really sad, since we have so few proper explorers on earth right now, just a whole lot of young personality free wannabees who fight for the few sponsorships which are available and who due to this fact, are ready to do whatever to get into the lime light.

I am writing this piece because I really feel sad of this fact and there´s nothing I can do to change the explorers mind. And, worst of all, is the fact how few of these so called friends who where there when things were going well for him and who knew about the stalking and his personal tragedy, who suddenly disappeared and forgot to give him any kind of emotional support. Next time it can be your turn.

So, my advice to young explorers is; Build a very strong base of very good friends within the business and that can only be achieved by being loving, present, supportive and helpful. In good times as bad.

I think it was the Danish philosopher Sören Kirkegaard who said:

“To live, is to dare.”

I don´t disagree with that quote. I am really trying hard to do just that. Right now I am taking a risk bigger than any other I have mastered to do earlier in my life. I have left a relatively secure, safe and pampered life in Stockholm and Sweden to try my luck in a totally different part of the world, were most things are totally opposite to what I have been brought up to believe is the truth, and nothing but the truth. The Arab world and initially Oman. And Oman is actually not the easiest place just now in the Gulf to turn up with a big vision in your head and on paper and hope anybody will buy it. Since doing business in this part of the world is a question of personal relationships, which I like a lot, and it takes time to bond, another thing I like a lot, the world around you could change quickly. It has for Expedition Arabia. When I first came here in January the global economic recession had started to take hold of this part of the world, but people were still positive and vibrant and it felt like I had arrived in a Klondike of possibilities. I felt a sense of pioneering spirit.

Kamil Al-Raisi, one of many good friends in Muscat. Photo taken at The Wahiba Sands. He is worrying as well for his future.

9 months later the recession has hit harder than expected, it seems, since funds for corporate businesses are less, the swine flu is terrifying the authorities, that much that the famous Muscat festival will be suspended this year, the great neighbor in the west, Saudi-Arabia, has hit back at al-houthi rebels who has crossed the common border with Yemen, and some people of authority seems to believe it could spread and that borders will close. There´s a dark cloud over the Omanis that I didn´t see during my former 5 visits. A lot of people just don´t seem to dare at all. Frustrating, yes. But time to train what I am really rotten at, patience.

In all this negative light I arrive with Pamela, who is doing the same journey, she has left a life, to try a new. We have a very small amount of money to live on, after a divorce which has totally cleared me. And life in Muscat is more expensive than London and Sweden! It is almost impossible to stay here for less than 2500 dollars a month as a temporary visitor, because you need a car to get around, I don´t think I have seen a public bus yet, one needs a flat were you can set up and run the Expedition professionally, a living which is proper enough to invite people for business meetings and socialize in expensive venues, Internet connection is a must and on top of that, you have to eat. We have been eating a lot of chicken, potatoes and rice lately…haha, we ain´t suffering, on the contrary. And we work from very early in the morning till late night, most days 12 hours.But we are still very positive and very hopeful to find a solution how to get the Expedition on its feet, but it is still far off…

Where we live.....

However, let me state this, we wouldn´t survive without our very good friends here. Like Robby George, this amazing wizard and joker from Kerala, with his sharp brain, business know-how and common sense and will to always help, no matter what. Kamil Al-Raisi Al-Baluchi, the soccer fan who is also a tour guide and so full of Arab spirit and willpower.  Wael Lawati, who probably one of the smartest guys I have met and extremely helpful in every way and always ready to find a solution or offer a razor sharp analysis of the situation. But the spider in the wheel of help, understanding and love is my great friend Talib Omar. Even though he is extremely busy, since he is a very successful business man, father and husband, he always finds time to encourage me, find solutions, book meetings, find the right people and explain for me the often very difficult etiquettes of Arab business and social behavior. I have met an angel.

By giving you this story of today, I just want to say that to become successful in life, you need good friends. And, almost as important, you need to be at the right place, during the right circumstances at the right time in history to become successful as such. Whatever successful means. So even if you have everything needed as a person to become successful and great visions, if it is during the wrong historical circumstances, nobody will ever hear about it. I hope we are here at the right time in history. People here just need to dare a bit more. And worry less.

One of many meetings. Robby to the right.

What do we do during the days? Well, we write an enormous amount of emails all over the world to gather information, ask for help finding needed contacts, we phone people and converse and sell, we meet people, we train 1-2 hours a day, basically a brisk walk on the beach on the top photo here and we read a lot of local newspapers of the Gulf to get an idea of the region. It is really interesting work in many ways, one impressive story was this editorial about the great leader of Oman, Sultan Qaboos and his yearly royal tour!

And we will continue to do this until we have enough funds and support to go through with this expedition. Somehow, everything taken into account, taking away Kirkegaards thoughts of reason, it seems fated to be. In this part of the world, some locals think it is written in the stars…

The Sultans mosque by night...not far away from our flat.

Eid al-Adha , The Festival of Sacrifice, is coming up for all our worlds Muslims, 1.2 billion in total, representing  28% of the worlds population. It marks the end of the pilgrimage to Mecca. In Oman it also means that everybody is taking ten days off work, everything is closed, our work is brought to a total stand still and a lot of locals have rushed to all the malls in Muscat to buy presents. My friend Kamil calls it the Muslim Christmas. He and his family will fly for a short holiday to Bahrain, three days of additional shopping. It is a time you spend together with your family. I will write a blog report about it, once Eid is over. We look forward to it very much. Suddenly something big is happening in town! No matter what, we will still leave Muscat and head for Salalah to meet one of my Bedu friends from the Al-Mahra tribe, Mussalem Bin Hassan and at the same time check our upcoming route through the country.

Since I arrived to Oman I have received a fair amount of requests from people who´d like to join the Expedition, which is an honor, from some really good names with in exploration and adventure and I have received an uncounted number of emails from people, all young men, if I can help them find sponsors or how to go about. And I think throughout these 24 years of travelling, and 1000s of emails, this is the most common question I have received. So, inspired by a Facebook friend, Alistair Humphreys, I have spent a fair amount of my thoughts today, whilst sitting in long queues of traffic, dodging shoppers crossing the road, thinking about the issue. So here we go,  3 tips and thoughts on the subject!

1. Do you really need it? I know many “wannabes” and first timers want sponsors because they think it looks cool, professional and impressive having a lot of logos on yourself and your gear. Travelling like I do, with cultures as the main issue, one doesn´t want to look like a formula one guy. I can understand that climbers, north and south pole skiers…I mean where meeting people and cultures are less important…and so on want to keep a high profile and market their sponsors, but otherwise there are other ways to market your potential sponsors. I have a feeling that potential sponsors in the West understands this, that it is not good to get over exposure, but in this part of the world, it hasn´t hit home yet.

Two of our main sponsors in Siberia......

So my point is, if you have the funds, it is a better choice. Less work, less stress and you run everything the way you want. However, I want to add, I have always had a great partnership with my sponsors and many of them are very good friends today and they have never, ever, had opinions how I use their brand or expose it. However, I have heard other opinions, especially if you involve broadcasting media. (Check the site at www.siberia.nu and the link to partners to see what sponsors I had on the Siberian trip.) I know that Christian Bodegren, who is trying to pass the Sahara Desert, is funding his expedition by himself. I respect that a lot for a first timer.

And, if you haven´t done a serious Expedition before, do one, and than try for sponsors for the second one. Potential sponsors wants to see a track record of what you have done. So better choice is to work and save money!

2. You really have to figure out, what does a potential sponsor want out of it? What can you offer them, which all the others cannot? For example I have a friend who is in charge of Canons sponsorship department and he gets 300 requests for sponsorship per day. He offers sponsorship to ten causes a year, meaning less than 1% of all who asks and almost all of them are well known already. I don´t want to make it look hopeless, just telling you how hard it is. My only advice is, try a new perspective, if you are not famous.

3. Target only the ones which fit your vision and find ones that you will become a pal with. Some people do anything for money, forgetting that the future will judge you by who you cooperated with. After awhile, if you take anything, your vision gets clouded in being looked upon as purely a moneymaker. Many of them in exploration I am afraid. I personally really enjoy working with sponsors. I think it is because I love dealing with people and almost all of them are very good friends to me today, with whom I socialize. Like the legendary Olle Widell at the former Outside Scandinavia. He believed in me from the beginning and sponsored me through many expeditions. I would never deal with a sponsor if I don´t have a personal relationship with them. So find the ones who fit your vision and it will be a great partnership for both!

By the way, have a look at this! (Yeah, I know, it doesn´t have anything to do with sponsorship!)

Satellite equipment sponsored by Tomas and Tina at Explorers Web on the Siberian expedition, they´re two of my best friends today.

How to Get Sponsors for  Your Cycle Tour

by

Tom Allen

When planning an extended cycle tour, many people go in search of corporate sponsorship. Some come back empty-handed. Some are successful. But let’s be realistic: In the world of expeditions and corporate sponsorship, bike trips are small fry. Let’s approach the topic on this premise.

Andy and I managed to procure product sponsorship for most of our major pieces of equipment, and this article will explain how we went about it, and what worked and what didn’t. I hope that it will save you some time and increase your chances of success.

But before deciding whether or not to pursue sponsorship for your trip, you need to decide whether your time would be better spent working in a full-time job to earn the equivalent amount of money. Seeking sponsorship is an intensely time-consuming, frustrating and regularly disappointing process, for which you will need skin like old boot leather, the persistence of black shower mould and absolutely no hobbies or significant others to attend to.

So, without further ado – the Key Ingredients:

1. You need at least one Unique Selling Point.
2. Show that the sponsoring company is going to benefit from their involvement.
3. Prove that you can follow through with your plan, or at least be very convincing.
4. Choose who you approach very, very carefully.
5. Cheek and luck + persistence and enthusiasm = success.

Let’s have a look at these points in a little more detail.

This is taken directly from Marketing 101. If you are planning to simply cycle round the world for the sake of it, no matter how noble an idea that is, you would be lucky to find someone willing to help you. You are just another round-the-world bicycle ride, of which there have been hundreds – why would people take special notice of you? What’s the hook?

If you are motivated towards a charity fund-raising effort and have got yourself some media coverage, things are getting a little more interesting. But what really sets apart the successful, high-profile expeditions is a unique objective or twist to the tale. An Aussie cyclist wanted to bike solo across the three great uninhabited deserts of Australia. Englishman Craig Hughes cycled through Northern Europe visiting towns whose names began with each letter of the alphabet. Scotsman Marc Beaumont decided to break the world record. And so on.

We had one unique objective to our expedition – to make a feature film about a long-distance, multi-year bicycle journey. A real travellers’ tale, not a sports documentary. No such thing had yet been published. (The closest thing I’ve seen since is Rob Lilwall’s cool mini-series.)

This, however, is where the strings start attaching themselves. If you’re selling your project on a high concept, the investment of your sponsors makes the commitment to the cause far greater than one of pride alone. If what you want is flexibility, the ability to change plans on a whim and travel on your own terms, you’re probably best off funding yourself, or finding some very, very laid-back supporters.

This is the primary thing that a potential sponsor will assess, generosity and goodwill aside. How will the company benefit from involvement with your trip? With us, the answer was obvious – the sponsored product would appear in the film, which was likely to reach a wider audience than the website alone. This wasn’t a fail-safe card to play, though – many companies were unable to see the long-term benefits of this, or had too little faith that it would actually come to fruition. Every company takes this kind of risk when they enter into sponsorship.

We demonstrated our commitment to publicizing our expedition well in advance of the trip. We spent a lot of time researching and writing press releases, making media contacts and getting our plans published in as many places as possible – local newspapers, radio interviews, the BBC website, Adventure Cycling magazine, and many more local and national outlets. Our crowning achievement was a 5-minute slot at the end of the regional BBC 6 o’clock news bulletin a few days before we left for the UK!

We also built a comprehensive website, and the effectiveness of this can’t be understated at the time of proposal. Since then, our sponsors have benefitted from having their products feature throughout our story, and having been reviewed (in most cases positively) on our popular equipment pages which draw a great deal of search-engine traffic.

What else can a company gain from your project, other than brand association through media outlets? Well, you can give them something to use themselves. We proposed to all our sponsors that we would send them expedition updates by email, including the story so far, links to photo resources and information about publicity that we’d had on the way. Many of them use this material in their own publicity – it’s great reading material for potential customers, as it’s essentially a compelling human story amidst a lot of shiny bits of metal.

Some companies will also be interested in you from a product-development perspective. If you are happy to test prototypes to destruction and provide feedback, as we’ve done with fringe bike-trailer makersExtrawheel, you become part of an R&D effort as well as a brand ambassador. It’s been rewarding to see the progression of Extrawheel’s trailer design and the effect our input has had.

We had no history of daredevil expeditions to show to potential sponsors. For this reason, early attempts were met with doubt. We had to rely on enthusiasm and well-informed dialogue to get the ball-rolling. Our months of research into every aspect of cycle-touring came in very useful, as we were able to show that we knew what we were in for, and that we knew what we wanted.

If you have successfully completed such projects in the past, then you have a nice head-start. But approaching a company with such a plan, with no previous experience, will sound ludicrous. It’s essential that if you reach the second stage and receive an interested response, you know what you’re talking about. You need to know exactly what you want from the company.

When we were talking with Kona, they were impressed and reassured that, for example, we asked for 8-speed cassettes rather than 9-speed, steel frames, and 26-inch wheels, and explained why in each case. We also elaborated on our route ideas. In reality, we had no idea what we were in for! But the important thing was confidence and preparation.

Small details like this are important to convince your potential sponsor that you know what you’re doing, and that you’re going to follow through with your plans. Again, having some good media exposure at this stage will also help, because the more people know about your plans, the less space you’ll have to suddenly change them (although it can be done, as we hopefully demonstrated and justified).

A well-designed website helped us a lot; this was a regular focus for positive comments. It was often the first port-of-call for marketing managers reading our emails, and displaying already-secured sponsors’ logos consolidated our legitimacy no end.

There a certain inertia to the process – once one established name is on board, others will follow. We approached Wheels4Life and The Wilderness Foundation with our plans, and set up a stall at One Life Live, a ‘new beginnings’ exhibition in Earls’ Court, London. That’s when things really started happening.

Some companies care about cycling, or outdoor expeditions, or whatever their field of business is; and community-fostering and social involvement. Others care more about profit margins. You will quickly learn which category a company falls into. Generally, the bigger the company, the more the swing towards the latter will be. Use this knowledge to your advantage.

As well as this, before you carpet-bomb the corporate world with proposals, think very hard about each company you contact. If you’re sending out emails, then you have one chance alone to make an impact. You might as well expend this energy contacting a smaller number of companies that you would truly like to see involved with your expedition, and who really have the product that you desire, rather than sending carbon copies to thousands of companies who might fall under some industry related to your trip. The frenzy of ‘free stuff’ can initially be difficult to ignore, but do you really want a glow-in-the-dark saddle that you’re never going to use?

There is an ethical dilemma here as well. I was loathe to be associated with some of the companies that we considered contacting. So we didn’t contact them. Even if Halfords, the likes of whom have put countless local bike shops out of business, had wanted to sponsor us, I would rather be promoting a smaller, more focused company who invested real human passion in their work, like the wheelbuilders at the family-run Leisure Lakes Bikes. We also focused on companies who showed their commitment to good ethics and social activism, such as Kona with the Kona Bike Town and AfricaBike schemes.

There is a balance to strike here between this ideal and the reality – all companies need to make money somehow. You’re going to help them do this.

The essential thing is building relationships on a personal level. This means making contacts and approaching real people, rather than ‘info-at’ email addresses. Just talking to people about our ideas led to pretty much all of our sponsorship, directly or indirectly. In contrast, the endless hours – days – of sending emails were pretty fruitless. It is far more rewarding to be personally in contact with a company director, and it leads to far more reciprocal benefits on both sides.

It’s often said that there are forces beyond our understanding that drive the world. The truth is not supernatural – it’s a fact that human beings are innately altruistic towards those with whom they empathise, and that people are now connected by far fewer links than we would normally suppose. Word gets around faster than you imagine.

With that in mind, consider meeting a) someone who was trying desperately hard to get as much free equipment as possible, or b) someone whose life’s dream was to cycle round the world, and who wasn’t afraid to enthuse about making this dream happen. Who would you rather help?

Example 1: By the end of 2006 I had dedicated my existence to making my dream reality, telling everyone I met about my plans and showing uninhibited how enthused and excited I was. Quite unexpected things began to happen.

Whilst working in the French Alps that December, I met a man who held a top role at the WWF conservation NGO, and his family. He was so impressed by my plan that he invited me to visit the WWF HQ near Geneva, Switzerland, to talk about the expedition.

Just before I went there, he called me to tell me that he’d been on the plane recently and had got chatting about my plans to the guy next to him, who happened to be the boss of the European branch of Kona Bikes, and did I want to meet him? (Yes!)

In Switzerland, we sat in the sun and chatted for the afternoon about it all. I returned to England with the promise of anything I needed from the current Kona range, and a variety of film-related ideas withkonaworld.tv as well.

All because I talked to a stranger about my ideas. You never know who’s listening.

Talk to everyone, no matter what you think will happen. Show them that you have a dream. When you do this, “the world conspires to help you”.

Example 2: Andy went on MySpace in search of other young environmentalists, found out about the One Life Live exhibition in March 2007, sent a message to the organiser and was freely given a 40-square-foot patch of floor space in one of London’s biggest exhibition halls.

We spent 3 days there surrounded by a variety of bikes and equipment we’d quickly cobbled together. We slept in the boot of my parents’ car (never again!) and took showers in the local leisure centre. We told visitors that we weren’t selling anything and that we just wanted to tell people about our ideas. We arranged to meet Hans Rey, founder of Wheels4Life, and a representative from The Wilderness Foundation. We also met two like-minded young entrepreneurs and went for a drink with them.

A few weeks later, I got a call from a strange man who said he was from a production company and did we want to meet them in London to talk about possibly filming the journey? He’d heard about us from a guy he’d met at a networking session who had heard about us from one of the two people we’d gone for a drink with after the exhibition, and thought it sounded like a good project to get his production company up and running. We met them and are now filming the first feature-length documentary of a long-term cycle tour. All because Andy went on MySpace.

Things will happen by themselves, once you surround yourself by people with similar focus. Don’t sit in front of your email account. Take every opportunity you can to get out into the world.

Example 3: We spend hours, and hours, and hours, and hours (you get the idea) sending near-identical emails to every bike shop, bike maker, accessory manufacturer, mail-order company, etc we could find – thousands – asking if they would help by sponsoring us in some way. We received practically nothing in return.

Emails can be (and usually are) ignored or deleted. Nobody knows who you are until you meet them.

Now go and ride.

Tom Allen is not only an accomplished cyclist but a very good writer. His site is full of interesting reading material. http://tomsbiketrip.com

Please visit my sponsors Termo who are making it possible for me to write 2 blog reports per week. Just click the logo to find the best underwear on earth.

Lately there´s been a lot of movement in the media of adventurers who will do anything to gain fame.Lie and cheat about what they claim to have done. In this new world of Big Brother, where you can become famous for doing nothing, of course, even the adventure business is teeming with people who will claim anything for fame. Not that it is anything new to the genre, one of the most famous cheats, if it is true, because you never know this, is Frederick Cook. He claims to be the first to reach the North pole and the first to climb Mount McKinley (Denali). My great Russian friend, Dmitry Shparo says he could well have been. He has done research lately on the subject, something which as always, when it is Russian, goes un-noticed by the west.

I just want to touch the subject of the sponsors and media. I have during 25 years of professional adventuring dealt with a lot of sponsors and media, I have never, ever felt that pressure. Either they, the cheats and liers, have chosen the wrong sponsors or media, or they´re just moving the blame to anyone except themselves. I just want to say, people do mistakes, I know that if any, and if they take what ever punishment and get on with life, and get to be better human beings, let them. But one should than not blame others. However, I see that all of these unfortunate modern cheaters, they have all worked together with agents and PR companies, and I think that could well be the problem. People who are just not involved in the business and want to make it is big and profitable as possible for both themselves and their client. I wish all explorers could do the PR work themselves without involving people who have no idea about what it means doing adventurers. That said, I have worked with a PR-company myself, but the bloke who ran it, was into adventure himself. And did a great job. He also became a personal friend. Than of course, you have these adventurers who are really good at marketing and using PR-agents and who get a lot of fame for nothing. They could work at any farmers market on earth and become successful.

Our major sponsor in Siberia, Talarforum, they would never ever put any pressure on the Expedition as such to lie or cheat to gain attention. And I am sure such sponsors doesn´t exist. Just in the mind of the lying adventurer.

Than again, there are those explorers who have done amazing things, and just doesn´t have the marketing skills, they should use help. But take their time to find the right ones, who fits their image that they want to sell to the world. The best solution though, is for the explorer to do his own PR.work. Who better than her or him knows everything about the subject?

I also am a firm believer that most humans want to make themselves look much better than reality. I am definitely one of those who have done these mistakes, but this will not happen again. With age, I know who I am. A human full of mistakes.

I have collected a bit of reading for you to have a look at, chosen from the two sources I find the least corrupted in the business. ExplorersWeb and The Long Riders Guild.

1. Hall of Shame

2. Editorial at ExWeb

3. Amazing really…..

4. And why not read this article from the Independent regarding the movie about Aron Ralston….

“Mikael, can you please tell me how to get sponsorship?”

I must have heard this question a thousand times from potential explorers and adventurers. I think a quarter of all emails I receive today ask this. They are mainly from young people, the world over, who want to organise their first adventure and just don’t have the means.

Believing you are the perfect prospect for a sponsor is not enough. Most bids fail. No matter how good your idea, sponsorship comes with time and a good track record.

Even then it is not easy: I spend a lot of my time looking for my sponsors. So, to help, I have put together three tips for all those budding explorers keen to get out there.

1. Ask yourself: Do I really need it? I know many first-timers want sponsors because they think it looks cool, professional, and impressive having a lot of logos on their gear. Travelling like I do, in the hope of uniting cultures, one doesn’t want to look like you are competing in a highly commercial Formula One race!

Where keeping a high profile is important, by all means, go for the badges and branding.  But remember, there are other ways to market your potential sponsors. I also know, after dealing with lots of sponsors, that most of them today don’t want to be over-exposed: Being too commercial is the same as not being too serious.

My point is, if you have the funds, it is a better choice to avoid sponsors: Less work, less stress and you run everything the way you want. Don’t worry: if you want to start with a historical expedition, you definitely won’t need money for all the gadgets and the best gear.

My advice is: If you haven’t done a serious adventure before, do one. Then try for sponsors for your second outing.

A potential sponsor wants to see a track record of what you have done. So, a better choice initially is to work and save money!

2. Think: What does a potential sponsor want? What can you offer them, which all the other explorers cannot? Just as an example: I have a friend who is in charge of Canon’s sponsorship department, and he gets 300 requests for sponsorship per day! Only ten per year are successful, and almost all of these are from well-known explorers.

It’s not a hopeless cause, however. Just try a new perspective if you are not already established or famous enough.

3. Plan: Target only sponsors that fit your vision, and find sponsors that will become your friend. Some people will do anything for money. And this applies to some within adventure and exploration circles.

Remember, the future will judge you by who you cooperated with. If your expedition has an ecological theme – most have today, since this sells and looks good – why sign up with a sponsor who has a poor record on these issues and is purely commercial?

I would never deal with a sponsor if I don’t have a personal relationship with them. This familiarity means you both know what you want, and unnecessary problems won’t arise. So find the ones who fit your vision and it will prove a great partnership!

I hope these three tips are of use. Please get back to me with your opinions or questions and I will try to help!

The same applies when you go looking for sponsors before a major expedition, because I reckon the upcoming Expeditions, both of them, or should I say, all three, they will cost a huge amount of dollars. Therefore, the last week I have started looking for partners, but it takes a lot of work. And meeting a variety of people who can help, inspire and give you ideas is extremely important and that is what I have done for a month now.

Today I went to Travellers Club of Sweden to listen to a lecture by a well-known Swedish TV-anchor, Arne Weise, and shared a table with my friend and new partner Anders Åberg and a very good friend of his, Claes Ahlin, a lawyer with a big smile. We were able to shoot some ideas around and now we have one very good idea of a possible major sponsor with international connections. See how it goes, I will keep you updated on the developments. And to give you an idea what I look for regarding the choice of sponsors, just have a look at the sponsors from the Siberian Expedition here.