My life, since I last wrote on the blog, has been one of the most exiting, tumultuous, interesting and tiring time of my life. Getting your vision down on paper, having an idea which will stick and which will make people love what is coming up, well, at times I have thought:

“How in earth am I going to get it all together and get an Expedition on its feet? Impossible!”

However, I have now decided what Expeditions I will do, when, I have the project descriptions ready -after a great amount of reading, research, email exchanges and telephone calls- and I have started looking for people who would like to sponsor the vision. In these economical times of distress, not the easiest thing, but what a challenge! Then again, it has never been easy, so, I see no real difference. It is just that I a moment ago read the news and bought their constantly negative message that we´re going down the drain, we humans.

But as always, it is the courage and help from other people which makes visions possible. Because it is always like this, when you are more stressed out and heavy with work than ever, things happen which makes life more complicated. This fact has been a plague for the last 2½ years for me. Last week the auditor called me, a very nice old lady, and said she needed all my receipts and economical transactions from the last year, I panicked, called the person closest to me and she raced over to help me and sorted it all out. That is the thing, it is impossible to make a vision a reality without the help of others. During these weeks I have met some of earth’s most interesting people, experts on camels, travellers of the the world, the Bedu and experts on branding. All very interesting people. I couldn´t do this without their words of encouragement, wisdom and help. And I am very lucky to come across a lot of helpful and great people. I have the greatest friends and family on earth. But, I think two of the most inspiring people, and helpful, loving and encouraging folks, who have helped me survive and live a dream through the last years, have been two amazing Swedes living in the US, running the most exiting and biggest website for adventurous reading in the world, Tomas and Tina at ExplorersWeb. (See photo, they´re the Santa Clauses on ice, Tomas used to be an expert figure skater, among many other issues he has excelled doing in his life.)

Tomas and Tina, which seems to be neglected and forgotten in this Duck Pond of a country I live in, belongs to some of the best merited and famous explorers on earth right now. (Sweden is a small, but a stunningly beautiful country, full of lovely people, but we tend to buy the American Dream in many ways, by which I mean, it is not what you have done, the merits, which are important, but whether you have a PR company behind you which penetrate the media and if you spend all your time trying to get noticed, I call it the Big Brother mentality, the soap opera, not the Orwellian thought…therefore Sweden isn´t big on decent explorers) Tom and Tina, though, together they have climbed Everest and skied to both Poles and are now getting ready to shoot of to Mars! It seems impossible, but if anyone can do it, it is these two warm-hearted people. I just can´t comprehend the thought!

Anyway, Tom and Tina have inspired me more than most people these last years, Tom has spent lots of time helping me and advising me and know then, I have met and communicated with many famous and well-known people. What differs Tom and Tina from most, a way to be I admire a lot, they always stick to their own beliefs. They´re 100% honest, straightforward and tell you exactly, good or bad, what they think. They don´t let anyone, no matter how powerful, famous or impressive person, company or organisation, tell them what to do. The don´t sell their soul as so many wannabes do, to become noticed by the media. They totally run their own show, are fiercely independent and most of all, they have gone through good and bad times and know what life is all about. Which many young explorers of today, many lacking any kind of insight into real life, would need to become interesting. There´s no doubt, the more you have gone through in life, bad and good, the better human you become. And much more interesting. And, for me, two of the most inspiring and interesting people I have ever come across, is Tom and Tina at Explorers Web.