Explorer Mikael Strandberg

Why do we explore? Is there still white spots to be discovered on the global maps?

Lately I have had a lot of emails regarding, why do we explore? Is there anything left to explore? And who is an explorer? It has been a hotly debated issue. It is the second most read report I have written. I am also in favor of a new view on Exploration. Therefore I will republish this article below here as well, after receiving plenty of attention from Great Britain after this piece:

The other night I went to the monthly lecture at Travellers Club in Stockholm. I try to go there frequently. I like the surroundings at Sällskapet, the atmosphere, the lectures, but most of all the people, the members of the Travellers Club. A great lot of people with the most extra ordinary experiences from all over the world. I also go there to get inspired and maybe find an idea to what my next Expedition will be. This time it was a young fella who lectured, a great guy, very friendly and an interesting lecture. Technically. BUT, I am so fed up the attitude of todays adventurers and so called explorers. They are always the best on earth and they only talk about themselves. Incessently. And it is always the same message:

Everything is possible!

We´ve known this for the last 150 000 years, maybe even 3.2 million years back whenLucy went out for a excursion. I don´t know why it is so popular today to listen to this kind of extremely no-good-for-mankind-talk. And that lecture reminded me of the one in February 2008. Same deal. Then I remembered I did write an article about the same issue two years ago after having had the honour to lecture at Explorers Club in New York. This is what I wrote for Utemagasinet:

”…and then the mountain spoke to me, saying: ´Have faith in me, Ed, and you will reach your final 8,000-meter peak.´ And look, there I am on the mountain top!”

This is, more or less, how the famous American mountaineer Ed Viesturs closed his lecture at the Explorers Club´s 102nd Annual Dinner at the Waldorf Astoria in New York. Before him, a young guy named Andy Skurka, elected Man of the Year by Backpacker Magazine, had recounted the story of how he crossed the U.S. by foot from west to east in record time.

”Nothing is impossible! Anyone can do it!” he summarized, displaying a photo of himself posing in the sunset; his gaze fixed beyond the horizon, his muscles flexed and back held straight. An extremely traditional, male image of Adventure and Expeditions. I think I saw Buzz Aldrin, astronaut and second man on the moon, smirk. Woman kosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova simply left when the so-called adventurers entered the stage. Passionately, she had told her own story, filled with fear and amazement at the incomprehensions of life while she, as the first woman ever, rampaged round the moon 48 times.

The Annual Dinner carried the theme ”What´s Left to Explore”. And how this should be brought to an audience. I think very few of the 1,100 spectators enjoyed the adventurers´ talks. One of our neighbours at the table, the editor of a wellknown American outdoor magazine, said:

Papua New Guinea felt like one of the last places on earth I have visited, where there might at least be some white spots of discovery to be made. On the knowledge front.....

”Every day, as I receive letters and articles from people making expeditions and wanting to sell their material, I ask myself: ”Hasn´t Adventure come further than this? Is it still just white males with icicles in their beards dishing out the same old silly story?”

The reason why I´m bringing up this very important subject, is that every week I get a number of e-mails from men and women, young and old, who want to take off on an expedition or adventure. The majority want to know three things: ”What kind of equipment should I use?”, ”How do I get sponsors?” and ”How do I get the media interested in me, so I can make a living selling articles and lecturing?”

There is only one answer: Our view of Adventure and Expeditions must be renewed. Firstly, there has to be an interesting story. The times are gone when a spectator finds it interesting to listen to the hackneyed theme of ”anything is possible”; a story centered around dirty underwear, heroic struggle and white men with icicles in their beards who have managed to reach the North Pole, using a shopping cart and an oar as their only means of transport. Secondly, we need more women narrators. We need a female perspective. Men have to start thinking like women. I think this is crucial to whether the public will continue being interested in expeditions at all.

There are still considerable differences in how a story can be told. For example, I was searching the internet for stories about Swedish expeditions in the Himalayas. A couple of men report as follows:

“It´s been tough and troublesome. Our backpacks weigh about 15 kilos, but all has turned out well. Today we struggled for six hours. Tomorrow we will continue, and then we will use our final camp at 7,500 meters. We will rise at about 12 o´clock local time, put our tents up and melt snow for water. We won´t sleep much, but we are feeling all right.”

Incredibly boring for everyone except the storyteller´s closest relatives or someone else in the know. To be compared with another account from an expedition on the same mountain, at the same time, written by a woman in the same situation:

“Why am I never satisfied? I´m thinking I should have exercised more. Actually, I´ve been exercising at least five days a week. I think I should have been more mentally prepared. Actually, I´ve been preparing for five years. I don´t think I´m a good enough climber. But that´s the way I am in everyday life as well. I could be better at cooking, decorating, fashion, my job. I could be a better wife, friend, and so on. Maybe I need the inherent power of dissatisfaction to be able to hold on and not give up my dream of climbing an 8,000-meter peak. Because it has been necessary – but now I´m going to give it a try.”

Wonderfully thrilling and dramaturgical! The fact that the men reached the top and not the woman, is utterly unimportant. What is interesting is her story. This is how tomorrow´s adventurers on expedition must think to survive. Even better is to tell a story of someone else but yourself. Which is what I did in New York. When I took the stage after Ed Viesturs, the first thing I talked about was how ridiculous all the clever white males with icicles in their beards are. I continued by informing the audience about the Siberians and their everyday life, which makes a contemporary expedition look like a school outing by comparison. The response was fairly good – a ten-minute standing ovation.

Please continue to discuss the subject here!

Please continue the debate on the meaning of exploration and how we should look at it in the future!

This photo was taken in Nairobi 1989. I was really ill in malaria, a disease which would plague my life for the upcoming two years...I still finished my bicycle trip though. But it took me a year to cycle from Nairobi to Cape of Agulhaes. I wouldn´t have made it without the help of one of my best friends, Steve Jewell. Photo taken by Marc Freedman, another of my best friends.

Night has fallen over Al Ghubra. I can see the green blinking sign of Lulu Supermarket through the window of our flat and lots of traffic, as always, is on its way to Father Mammon himself. The air condition is on, I have done another pass at Horizon Gym in Athaiba and I am dreaming about a White Christmas. Five days until Santa is supposed to arrive….Christmas always makes my mood somewhat mellow and philosophical. I have spent most of them away from home, in non-Christian environments. I like Christmas, in the sense that it is a family gathering. I love my family. But for me, Christmas has also always been a time of deep thoughts and reflexions on the year passed by. And thoughts of other people suffering. Because when you are away from your family, you feel vulnerable and weak. Feelings that make you a better human being. And it pains me more than normal, that some people -I should say most- spends most of their life suffering. Basically due to poverty, injustice, race, religion, some tragedy, extreme environment and lots of selfishness. I have been very privileged myself and still is. But, whilst looking back at the passed year I came across some notes I wrote just before starting this blog.

14 and a half months have passed. I was than sitting in a cramped but charming and homely one roomed flat in Stockholm trying to figure out what to do with life. Now in a much bigger flat in Muscat, Oman. I am very content. But my life than was in limbo. Free of direction. Tainted by horror and agony. If somebody thought that the life of a traveler and explorer is always full of joy, forget it. Anyway, that day I wrote these ten tips what to think about when life just goes wrong, when tragedy strikes or hope is gone….they´re still valid!

1. Never, ever underestimate the love of your family. And the importance of having one. The same applies to truly good friends.

2. One can loose nothing by being a true human with all its good and bad sides. The truth is everything, but with some time of thinking before revealing it. Think before talking. Time heals. And wherever you are, no matter what circumstances, stand for who you are. Don´t try to be anyone you can´t be.

3. Never judge and condemn. If you don´t know the true story of what happened. One can have an opinion, but try to put yourself in the other persons place. It makes a difference.

4. Positive thinking always overrules negative. If you have negative people around you, get rid of them until the´ve eaten the humble pie.

5. Take time to be there for other people. You never know when things go wrong.

Santa Claus on ice? Why not? Santa here is one very good friend, Tomas Sjögren who runs Explorers Web together with his great wife Tina, who is in Santas arms here...they will get a white Christmas in Denver, Colorado. And me?

6. Accept responsibility and sort out the problem. Then move on.

7. Better give then take. In every aspect of life. One can never be to kind.

8. Be true to yourself. Tragedy strikes when one tries to be something one ain´t.

9. Enjoy every moment of the day, you never know, when it will end. So then, why worry at all?

10. Never, ever complain. There´s always tons of people who are worse off, no matter how bad your situation is. If you have been a good human when everything falls apart, there will be people there fore you. So being good and kind is a winner.

However, my own hell have been very strengthening for my character, I´ve learned a lot and I´ve been eating the humble pie. A visit to hell have been for the better. I come out of it as a better human being. More humble, more understanding, kinder, warmer and ready to live to its fullest limits again!

I still hope for a White Christmas even if it seems impossible! But than again, positive thinking helps! Stay tuned! Nothing is impossible….!

Less than 40 years ago Muscat was a tiny little fishing hamlet......today it has moved into the Century of the fast, succesfull, wealthy and modern. However, the fishermen are still there, not far away from our flat in Al Ghubra.

When I turned the computer on this morning I had a dispatch email from Christian Bodegren, who has made it to the Nile! Great start of his Sahara crossing, makes me very happy!

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 P, 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.

Walking through Maasiland in the year of 2000, not donning local gear as usual, but called Olorogwa whether I liked it or not....

One of the main visions of the Arabian Expedition is to build a bridge of understanding between the West and the Muslim East and within the Arab countries themselves. No matter how one look upon things, this is one of the major problems that the world is facing today. There´s an enormous need for information, education and clear debate on both sides. One of our major hopes regarding this upcoming Expedition, of which 50% is Arab, Salim and Nasr, and the rest made up of me and Pamela, who is Asian-American, is to communicate via the Internet every third day, where debate will be one of the most important issues. We need to communicate. If this is possible, to create a forum for debate just like we wish, we don´t know yet.

The reason I bring this very exiting and important issue up in this report is due to this email that I received yesterday:

Know that the Bani Hasan tribe has been undertaking camel treks out of Yemen across Africa for centuries – guess that’s already been “explored” (without GPS receivers and sat-phones).

I’ve lived in Yemen for a while now and you are like every dick head tourist I’ve seen coming through here, donning local clothes and a jambiya (you know the locals laugh at foreigners doing that, right?), giving yourself a local name (priceless) and blogging about the place like you discovered it.

However, you stand apart in your unfailing ability to aggrandise yourself for doing what is otherwise standard adventure tourism. You’re no more of an explorer than the 1000th Yemeni traveling through Sweden can claim he is exploring stockholm.

Why not explore the mind of the self-important ethnocentric tourist? You’ve got a head start.

amelahodalt (this person did leave his or hers email, but no name)

Me an ethnocentric dick? Possibly....

During my 25 years of exploration, I have never, ever received an email as offensive and full of bitterness, jealousy and hatred as this one. I am sorry to, once again, find out that so many people feel bad in this world of ours and use so much of their joy to live to pour out their hate and bitterness for something they disagree with. I have received tons of letters, emails, phone calls throughout the years and I have been stopped in the street many times by people who disagree with what I do, who I am and how I see life. Of course, I wish everybody would love me, but that is definitely not the case! But I accept all kinds of critique. It is part of any life where you have personal opinions.

However, to be able to have a debate about anything in life, opinions have to be free and many. Within a limit. Offensive emails like this one, based on hatred, jealousy and bitterness, leads nowhere. But there are, after all no smoke without fire, and some of these issues this person highlights comes up a lot in my sphere, what is an explorer and what is true exploration, so I will start a debate by answering this persons accusations. Feel relatively free to come with opinions, but since I moderate everything, because I on and off get these type of emails, I will not allow more emails like this one, which is free of any reason, good research and thought.

About the Beni Hassan tribe, like the more well-known Beni Hilal tribe, and other Arabs who have traveled both ways, to and from Mecca, this is true, but there´s absolutely no written records that a full east to west trip has been done without a prolonged break. Especially not in modern times. However, one of the main ideas with the Expedition, is to highlight the Arabs as great travellers and their amazing journeys. One of them is the well-known Ibn Battuta. And that is why 50% of the members are Arab, so that they can become modern day Ibn Battutas and give the Arab world a voice from the exploration point.

Reality today, in the modern era of exploration,is that this is how most Bedu travel with their camels today...even the famous Al-Mahra tribe.

When it comes to satellite phones and GPS, it shows that you have no idea about my past history of exploration, feel free to read this. I have never, ever used a GPS and never will. However when it comes to satellite phones, I did have it on the Siberian Expedition and will have bring one on the upcoming Expedition. This is due to the need to communicate via Internet. Plus that authorities nowadays won´t let you into the country without one. It is considered another measure of security. But, I will never, ever, use the satellite phone to call for help or assistance. It hasn´t happened and it never will.

When it comes to donning local dress, I agree fully with you. This is the first time in my life, that I have put on local dress, and I agree with your assessment. The reason is as follows: I was given it as a gift from Pamela and our two friends Mohammed and Hussein, to wear for one day. From which all photos are taken. I felt very uncomfortable, but realized that there were many in the souk who actually felt honored and liked it that I wore there local Sanaani dress. But that was the only time. But, it could well happen again in the future. Once again, I wish you would have done your home work better. This is the thing with blind hate, jealousy and bitterness, it works over reason and research. Better to do something with your own life in stead. Enjoy it. Do it in a way you think is appropriate. Write about it. Because communication is the most important issue for a stable future for the globe.

Together with Hussein...yes, we are all laughing!

The giving of the name Ahmed Al-Hamdani was the same evening. It was Hussein and Mohammed who gave it to me. As a sign of their respect. For what I don´t know. However, many western tourists, adventure travelers and explorers have been given names whether they like it or not. Two well known ones are Wyman Bury and Wilfried Thesiger. I have been given local names, whether I like it or not, meeting other people, tribes, like the maasai. I was throughout my Expedition there called Olorogwa, which means the fiery one. Local names are always given by local people as a sign of respect and appreciation. Maybe that is why you have never experienced this.

When it comes to my love of writing, well, I will always write as I have just discovered a place! For me, I do discover all the time and for me it is a new discovery. It is about loving life. I really love life! And whether you like it or not, I have a following of readers globally who wants me to write the way I do. And its people. If you don´t like my writing, why bother reading it?

That last paragraph reeks of jealousy. I won´t even comment it.

To sum it all up, I see you love Yemen and the Yemenis, which I do as well and you have come across a lot of tourists and travelers that you don´t like. I am sorry to hear that. Why don´t you start a blog and write about your feelings? Find a solution to your anger?

Communication in minus 45 in Siberia......

Yemen was one of the highlights of my life in many ways. See the slide show from there!

Since Pamela and myself together with Salim and Nasr will face the upcoming debate together, Pamela, who is an academic look upon the email like this and will leave her comment as a comment! Start the debate!

Stockholm early morning, autumn has arrived, it is windy and it has been raining all night, but days are sunny and the autumn colors are fantastic! However, I feel real heavy headed and extremely tired. I just get a few hours of sleep right now. And my mood is swinging from desperation to joy….It is always the same story….time to leave, not knowing when I will return….I am kind of packing everything together, cleaning out the apartment, phoning my friends, saying good bye, storing the extremely few things I have after a disastrous divorce and I am ready to take the big step and leave Sweden for awhile, sweating away for awhile in a desert.

Right now I get many questions from you readers about when is the Expedition taking place, and I answer:

“In shallah, when the time is ready…”

I just don´t know, this Expedition just grows, and is getting quite difficult to handle. I have pretty much worked day and night since the vision arrived. I do need 8 hours to feel human, but 5-6, it is tough, but I am living on all the joy all this gives me! But I am leaving Sweden now, getting ready to leave on The Expedition as soon as I have acquired camels, trained them, set everything up with my partners, Salim and Nasr, and have most permits needed, so if all goes well, between 3-12 months from now…..however, remember Chrsitian Bodegren, the Swede I helped with my experience, he is on his way! Go for it Christian! (See http://www.christianbodegren.com/ ) Even though his English sometimes makes things hard to understand, it is an interesting read from a guy who has put his life at stake and wants to become an explorer!

“And the funding?” people ask. Same answer:

“In shallah, when time is ready, all things will fall in place….”

I have slowly turned my mind into the Arab way of thinking, as you see, all is written in the stars already, so why worry….;-)….So right now, am trying to check out of Sweden, which isn´t all to easy. There´s the Internet company who says I need to pay another three months, the gym wants an additional month and so on…..times are hard, so nobody is really helpful, they want their money, whether they need it or not…hardest is getting the time to meet all my best friends…I will soon say goodbye to my family, which is always a nightmare, but I have done so many times now, so it is part of life….

But, once on the Expedition, all these normal day worries will be gone with the wind!

Just a small report from the flat….

The townhall in Stockholm at sunset today....

….at first, it felt relaxingly cool and extremely silent. No buses, motorbikes or minibuses who tried to run me over, no Yemenis yelling at the top of their voices, no dirt, no potholes, vicious pollution or general disorganization, no harsh voiced muezzins….and coming in for landing at Arlanda airport, the plane had cruised over the stunningly green archipelago, so tidy and beautiful….and I thought, there´s no doubt, Sweden must be one of the most beautiful countries in the world and I just remembered the movie I had watched from Sana`a to Istanbul in the night, about a Turk who had fled to Sweden to get away from persecution during the junta years in the seventies and returned to Turkey 25 years later looking for friends and his old love, somewhere in the film somebody had said that Sweden was the cradle of democracy, and I smiled proudly….but suddenly after just half an hour on the bus from the airport to the Central station, I felt bored….I looked at these good-looking people, the Swedes, and realised they all looked dead and lifeless…and I wished I could have turned around and returned to sana`a with the first flight out!

However, for this reason, I have spent the evening since I came back tidying up my apartment after my relative Leo stayed here, and an upcoming film maker like his dad, and putting together this little slide show, please see it here!

It just came as a matter of fact. The vision.

I almost love the research before an Expedition as much as the journey itself. And I know, it has to be thorough, professional and open-minded, because a lot of the success of any serious Expedition has to do with the amount of good research an explorer puts in. For me who love books, maps and since the Internet appeared as a research tool, unfortunately meaning the death of the libraries, this period is a big journey in itself. You almost have to become a scholar. Even though I will only remember a few percent of what I learn now and put into use on the expedition in itself, it will, still, most of it, be there in the back of my head, when the Expedition is over and it is time to do something with all the collected material. Like writing a book, doing a film or preparing for lectures. And it will put you in the right frame of mind already now, even though I am in reality holed up in a small, dusty little apartment in a dark and boring suburb to Stockholm. But already now, I will for example remember, knowledge gained from just the couple of days of research that I have done now, whilst doing research on Westerners Travelling in Rub Al-Khali or The Empty Quarter -well, the Bedu have travelled there for thousand of years of course, something the white West tends to forget, but they have no written material left behind, unfortunately- that one of the legends of the area is Bertram Thomas.

The Empty Quarter, or Rub Al-Khali, was often referred to in the first part of the 20th Century as one of the few remaining genuinely unexplored regions of the world, on the same scale as the South and North Pole. Therefore many explorers wanted to do the first crossing of this vast sandy desert, 650 000 square kilometres in size, like putting Belgium, Holland and France together, but first of all gold digging explorers to catch this price -forgetting the local Bedu who lived here- turned out to be a simple civil servant from Bristol in the UK, Bertram Thomas. He crossed the Empty Quarter together with local Bedu 1930-31 and wrote an excellent book called Arabia Fenix. Amazingly enough his book can be read on the Internet!

At this stage when I have decided on where to go, understanding the objective of the expedition, all effort has to be put into finding the right contacts and background material. Both tasks filled with joy. Communicating with experts on the area is half the fun. And so far almost everyone I have contacted have been very helpful, showing a camaraderie unknown between people in the same business as me here in grey Sweden. One of them is the Grand Old Dame of desert and Camel travel, Arita Baijeens. And as always, you come across people associated with other things and other dreams you have had. Today, by pure coincidence during my research, I came across an old acquaintance of mine, Dan Mazur, and remembered that I had told him a few years ago, that I of pure interest after reading Hillary´s account of his conquest of Everest, wanted to make an attempt on Hillary´s and Tenzing´s original route. Dan Mazur, like me using Facebook, so I contact him and said, I am still interested. He advised me to go for it, if prepared, april 2010. Why not then….life is short.

Second task is to put an enormous effort into getting a picture as big and broad as possible regarding the area. What I have to learn and try to understand in a very short time, 10 months or so, is a gigantic task. Even though I have already had quite a lot of insight into Islam, Arabs, the Middle East and desert travel from earlier travels, I know almost nothing about the Gulf, camels or, most important, their original inhabitants, the Bedu. And I need to learn Arabic, in shallah.

At the same time I have to try to support myself, find sponsors, set up the media kit, keep extremely fit, eat the right food, be relatively happy, have a social life, but still spend most of the time studying, no easy thing. Gee, there is some sacrifice indeed! It is at the same time, one of the best moments of an explorers life, but also the worst in some ways, because you love it more than other parts of your life. But it is the same thing before every Expedition. Most people who are close to you, genuinely fear and hate it! This is what a true explorer want to do more than anything else in life! travel, be it through books or in reality. I do look forward to this Expedition more than ever before!