Ushuaia - the end of the world...

A few days in Amsterdam would help to prepare and pack. A long meeting in Aarhus and I almost missed my train. Actually the time in Netherlands was fantastic but not for the preparation. Lots of things missing in the last minute. This blog post half-written. An excited and underprepared 'change agent' going to Antarctica. That's not good!

Luckily the flight was excellent and I arrived in Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world, for 2 days of preparation before embarking to Antarctica. The whole group of 60 students plus BP Leaders, professors, experts and facilitators is here, united. Tomorrow at 9am we gather. At 7am we practice Aikido (thanks Thomas!).

It feels surreal still. I just had dinner with Peter Senge this evening. Nice easygoing guy. He knows very well AIESEC, he was totally up for Pioneers of Change members to join the expedition, and surprisingly (for me), he knew lots about the Kaospilots!

I promised myself to disconnect from the Internet after this blog post. We won't have any communication or mobile signal while onboard, except for a basic satellite connection, where we can send a few packets of information: blog posts and photos for the official website. I'm one of the expedition bloggers so you can follow the website for more details: www.expedition-antarctic-2009.com. The position of the ship can be tracked and you can leave (me) a message, and it will be delivered!

Below is the (planned) itinerary, if the weather conditions allow...


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Antarctica Expedition

I wrote here about a month ago saying that I'm going to Antarctica. A lot has happened during the past weeks and I'm flying next Tuesday (24th of March) to Ushuaia. The journey is about to start!!

BP Alternative Energy and 2041.com, as hosts of the expedition, have arranged several weeks of preparation before the group of 63 students and 20+ BP staff (and experts, facilitators, photographer, etc) meet in Tierra Del Fuego. Each week had a different theme and a virtual platform was launched for the sessions and meetings. I must confess that I got surprised and amazed by the possibilities of such platforms, where audio and avatars play in a scenario where hand and head gestures enable communication in a much more involving way than Skype calls.

In this snapshot you can see myself (my back actually) during the first session, when Vivienne Cox (CEO BP Alternative Energy) introduced the Antarctic Village and the project Antarctica Expedition.

The themes were broad and very interesting: Climate Change & Energy; Theories of Change; Climate & Policy; Public Behaviour; The Skeptical Economist. For each session key scientists, economists or experts came for a short presentation and Q&A. Before each session, we receive a package of reading materials, and other related materials.

In parallel to it, my preparations included finding clothing and getting to know the other participants. Two weeks ago I received a brand-new Patagonia jacket and I will get proper boots to wear during the expedition. I'm still trying to get sponsorship from shops in Aarhus for the rest of the clothes - 1st and 2nd layers (yes, we need 3 layers of clothes for such a cold weather!).

Among the participants, very nice surprises... Almost the whole hosting team of the Pioneers of Change' Global Journey in 2007 is joining: Lesley (South Africa), Dania (Ecuador) and myself. From the hosting team of the AIESEC's 60 years Anniversary Celebrations last August, I'll meet again Thomas (Brazil), Sabine (Germany), Max (Mexico) and Lucy (Australia). Besides these participants, I have also met Aron (Sweden) over Chinese New-Years in Shanghai last year and I know Majken's twin sister Louise from Copenhagen... apart of these known faces, a lot of new, very interesting and intelligent group of people, from whom I expect to learn a HELL LOT OF STUFF :)

The official expedition website will be launched during the next days, and I already volunteered to be one of the bloggers during the trip :) Before I leave I'll write more about Antarctica and my own expectations...

Inspiration is Magical

Inspiration is like picking up one of those blinky things in a video game that makes you invincible for awhile. You can do anything, go anywhere, and you don’t have to worry about it.

Those blinky things exist in real life too. It may be a picture, or some words, or a sound, or a idea, or a mistake, or a moment. Whatever it is, pick it up and run with it. Run with it like you stole it.

You can’t bottle up inspiration. You can’t put it in a ziplock, toss it in the freezer, and fish it out later. It’s instantly perishable if you don’t eat it while it’s fresh.

On Friday I was inspired by a few things. I swore off the weekend and dove into it. And I got about 2 weeks of work done in 24 hours. Inspiration is a time machine.

Inspiration is a magical thing, a productivity multiplier, a motivator. But it won’t wait for you. Inspiration is a now thing. If it grabs you, grab it right back and put it to work.

PS: I wish I had written these words. I wish I had done 2 weeks of work over the last 24 hours this weekend. The original was written by Jason from 37signals.

Forget Travel Buddies - Hit the Road Alone

This article is fantastic. I decided to copy (steal) it and publish it here. I wish I had written this. It's so true!! Well, enjoy it... the bold parts are mine. My "rite of passage" was back in 1998, 11 years ago, during a 7 weeks trip into Bolivia and Peru together with 2 friends from college. My life has never been the same since then.

Myself traveling in China, alone, April 2008

You don’t need anyone to hold your hand.

Written by RoadJunky, published at Road Junky Travel, yesterday.

One of the great things about the Internet is that it’s brought travelers together; in forums and on social networks, backpackers and vagabonds can share experiences and tips, discover new places and ask questions about destinations they’ve yet to hit.

But in the end, the only real travel is done alone.

When you head out on the road by yourself there’s no longer anyone around to define you, no one who knows your personal history, no one who knows where you’ve been and where you’re going. You’re forced into the Now.

And unless you make the mistake of carrying a GPS phone and check into internet cafes every ten minutes to report back to friend and family, you digest your experiences by yourself. There’s no one to hold your hand when you get scared, no one’s shoulder to cry on when things go wrong. There’s no childhood buddy to help you decipher the train timetables and no one to introduce you to the cool bunch of travelers sitting at the other end of the hostel.

Travel should be a rite of passage, a sacred journey, a vision quest. It’s about leaving behind the cloying emotional support system of family and friends and learning to stand on your own two feet. Then, later on, you’ll be able to support others in their time of need.

Although we do our best to deny it, filling all our quiet moments with Messenger updates and shuffled tracks on the Ipod, life itself is actually pretty scary. It’s a blank slate for you to make what you will of it and no where is that more true than when you travel. You could get lost or injured, you might get married or change religion. You might even die: the greatest journey of all and one which is almost certainly a solo trip.

You can only find yourself on your own terms and that’s why just about everyone should leave home and head out on the road for a year. Your prejudices and values will be challenged, you’ll have to get by on your wits and find out who you really are.

Compare such a voyage of self-discovery with the gaggles of school leavers who head off i groups of 5, all armed with Eurorail cards and guidebooks, collectively bumbling their way from train station to hostel to local bar and back again. Each time something out of the ordinary happens they shrink back into the safety of the herd and they carry with them a mini-world from home with them as they go. Why did they bother leaving in the first place?

When you travel alone you’ll meet more people and move at your own pace. Sure, you’ll team up from time to time with other travelers and find yourself sharing a train carriage with an Israeli, a Finn and a couple of locals. Spontaneity and variety are what it’s all about.

Hitting the road alone you’ll grow in ways you never imagined. You’ll experience stuff that your friends and family will never be able to understand.

And nor should they. It’s your trip and it’s entirely up to you to make sense of it.