travellerjacko

It St Patricks Day so I had an Ireland rugby shirt on!! After two days going up the Beagle channel and then across the Drake's passage, which was extremely kind to us and so was nick named the "Drake Lake". We arrive at the Russian base at Bellinghausen, on the south shetland islands in the afternoon and it is decided there is time for a quick landing to look around and stretch the legs. We get on the zodiacs, I was in the first one!! Not that I was so excited like a little kid or anything! The temperature is abou 5C, but it always seemed warm as we had thermals, fleeces, coats, hats and gloves. Notice it is relatively far North so very little snow about in the photos. Visit www.2041.com to see the weather ... read more

Today I am a team leader for 8 of us on a walk up a glacier just behind our hotel in Ushuaia. The team leaders had a briefing last night, around a flipchart with a hand drawn map on it and then given some top tips and told to get on with it !! I had been around all my team members last night to make sure they knew who I was and more importantly so I knew who they were. This exercise was all about seeing how physically capable everyone was and getting to know each other. All the AkzoNobel people were split up so it was all new for everyone. I was in one of the later groups, as the different groups set off every 15 mins from 7.30 am, so thought I would ... read more

I get my first texts in Argentina and the Benelux contingent have made it and are at the hotel. So I make my own way from the airport, its only 30 mins and Carlos has done a great job in preparations telling us which taxi company to use and booking a nice hotel - lucky to have a team member who lives in Buenos Aires. At the hotel we all meet up in the lobby and head for a walking tour of the city that Carlos's secretary recommended - see the pictures! There is so much energy in the group and we are all comparing stories and getting to know each other, it feels like I have met everyone loads of times but we had all just met for 3 days in Amsterdam. Its a good ... read more

Robert Swan is leading our expedition to Antarctica. Now that he is not walking to the North or South pole he runs an organisation called 2041 which is raising awareness of Antarctica with the aim of protecting it as a wilderness for ever. The reason for this 2041 name is that the treaty that protects Antarctica runs out in 2041 so by then we need to have enough influential people wanting to protect it as well. See www.2041.com. Robert is also sailing around the world promoting the use of renewable energy by calling in at ports and talking to Schools, Universities, Industries and telling his story and raising the profile. The aim is that we will not be reliant on fossil fuels by 2041 so there will not be the requirement for this beautiful continent to ... read more