Awe inspiring

Yesterday, we had the final expedition meeting, which was by turns, exciting, scary and fun....but above all, awe-inspiring!

Having over 50 people with a common goal in one room is pretty great. We've all worked hard in different ways to get to where we are today. However, no-one has worked quite as hard and with the same dedication as Kirt and Wes. The two boys stood up yesterday and put our minds at rest about a number of issues that I'm sure we've all been thinking about; how much money should we take, will the cooks keep us safe from stomach problems, but most importantly - how many pairs of underpants should we take? It seems that Chris Martin can't make his own underpant calls.

It has to be said that Kirt wasn't looking his most sprightly. Tan aside, after a quick jaunt to Kathmandu, he looked like a few good hours kip wouldn't do him any harm. But the atmosphere of the final meeting was enough to keep him focused and on form. It is staggering to think of the amount of work that Kirt and Wes have put into this trip. From the perspective of most of the expedition members, they've worked their nuts off to get sponsorship, permission, logistics, and much more sorted out, but our perspective only gives us the tip of the iceberg. I can't fathom the long days and sleepless nights that this trip has kindly given them.

We all had the pleasure of the scare tactics of our medical team. Breck, Isla, Nick and Ian gave us a quick rundown of the changes we can expect to experience in our bodies. These ran from the expected and mundane dehydration, to the less appetising worms. Worms were delightfully illustrated to us by a shocking picture of a woman (I think - lack of hair), legs akimbo, with, what looked like, lots of spaghetti protruding from her rear end. Unfortunately, I didn't realise what I was looking at until, closely studying the picture, the true extent of the horror slapped me upside the head! According to Nick, it is almost guaranteed that we won't suffer this fate.....I'm not sure if that just means that we won't be photographed in that state!

The medical chats were sobering, but didn't seem to be enough to quell the excitement that was clearly spreading across the gang. We're just 10 short days away from setting off and now we're very clear of the risks we're taking, but still counting down the days until takeoff.

This is going to me awesome and I'm excited beyond belief. At the moment, there's nothing else happening in the world.


(except the 6000 word assignment that I have to hand in before we go - ARGH!)

Not long now.....

It's almost a year since this adventure started and that time has flown by. It's now only around 5 weeks until we head off for the adventure of a
lifetime!

Accordingly, exercise has become a huge part of my life and I'm enjoying Trim Trails, exercise classes and the gym. I say "enjoying"....., I mean "getting through and feeling better for it".

What I did enjoy this weekend was a great 10 mile walk in the North Downs! Organised by Brooks, a bunch of intrepid Trektators got the train down to Gomshall and took in the fresh non-London air - beautiful! It would be remiss of me not to mention the hard work that Lucy put into it all - sending emails, planning the route, checking train times and ticket prices, bringing the map. Oops, my mistake, that's not what happened.....Lucy left the map next to her bed! Luckily after a few frantic phone calls, lovely medic Isla confirmed that she had brought a map to be on the safe side.

So, we get to Gomshall and meet up with Isla and Vicks, who drove to the station. It turns out that Vicks car doubles as a cafe and came complete with tea and biscuits - awesome!

The walk was brilliant - 10 short miles and not one of them was in the wrong direction! Oops again - that's not what happened! I'm pretty sure that every group of walkers we came across, we had to ask for directions - including asking a group of 13 year olds! It's a mystery where we actually walked, but Zooby's phone-tracker thingy seems to think that we did do 10 miles and we ended up where we started, so small things like 'going the right way' don't really matter.

The day was topped off nicely with some beers in Clapham whilst (trying) to watch the England/Ireland game in the pub (small TVs, no sound). We also met up with the entirely sober Drovers! All credit to the Drovers boys, they really made an effort with their outfits - particularly Toad from Wind in the Willows - I only wish I'd taken a picture!

The countdown has started...........