Stop Dreaming, Start Planning» Adventure

10 Lessons from a Mini-Retirement in Rome

Team Esc — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 19:52:56 +0000

Soul is one of the first true supporters of Escape the City way back in the recesses of 2009 when the Esc website was nothing more than a blog.

Soul’s professional career pre-escape went as follows: “Worked as a strategy consultant for Capgemini Consulting for 5 years. Prior to that worked as a financial consultant for 1 year, in an internet start-up for 1 year, and in investment banking for 6 months. I also studied for and passed my ACA and CFA exams in 3 years, instead of 6 years, which gave me a very strong financial education.”

He completed the 25th Esc Hero interview: Esc Hero #25: I can run my businesses from anywhere in the world. He was the special guest at one of our very first Esc Wednesdays: 10 things we learnt at ‘The Answer to the Money Question’. He has just returned from a mini-retirement in Rome and has been kind enough to write down 10 things that he has learnt.

I hope you find this informative and inspirational. We certainly did and are planning to use this advice when we make our own escapes from the UK and take Esc on the road…

1. Go to your passion

I’m not talking about members of the opposite (or same) sex here (although I wouldn’t compain either!) I mean go to a country or place you are already passionate about. For me this was Italy, and Rome. I had already been to Rome 6 times before the mini-retirement and loved the place. You’ll need this passion to get over the tough times. Yes, it’s wonderful to travel like this, but it can get lonely at times. Your passion will get you through this – remember why you chose this path.

2. Making friends is easy! (Within an activity)

Most people worry about making friends when they go abroad for long periods – I was most people. Play it too cool and you’ll spend a lot of nights alone with Skype friends for company, try to be too keen and you’ll come across the next Talented Mr Ripley.

Relax, it happens, often faster than you think. I made some very cool friends but these were always within doing some other activity. Mine were at language school and at capoeira classes. Doing an activity together gives you something to bond over, a shared experience which underpins the friendship.

3. Learn 1,000 words before you go

And I don’t mean just profanities and cheesy chat-up lines. This accelerated my language learning massively. I was able to skip 5 weeks of beginner classes – why? Because at the beginning vocabulary is more important than grammar. Learn the following categories: Adjectives; Adverbs; Foods; Household; Meals; Moods/Emotions; Numbers; Pronouns; Superlatives; Time; Important Verbs.

Use a program which has a spaced-repetition learning option. I used AccelaStudy on my iPhone.

PS: Learning profanities does actually help…

4. Take Risks

“The solution to every problem you have lies outside your comfort zone”. I’m not sure who said that, but it’s true. Make sure you take risks. You didn’t make this trip to act small, but to stretch yourself out of your comfort zone. Talk to people you don’t know, or wouldn’t normally talk to. Don’t judge people on appearance. Ask to join in. I did these things and make some great friends, and went on some great road trips around Italy with people I had only met a few weeks before. I really learned not to judge on appearance, something I tended to do a lot in London.

If you’re feeling really daring try out some of the challenges from the Four Hour Work Week. In the space of 3 hours, I managed to lie in a public place motionless for 30 seconds, ask a total stranger out in the street, and not break eye contact with everyone I saw until they did. (Although I admit I did fail when a late middle-aged “working girl” smoking in a doorway locked eyes on me and just wouldn’t break eye contact… I made a sharpish exit…)

5. Take your partner (even if only for a short-time)

If you have a boyfriend or girlfriend take them with you if you can. If you feel you want to do this by yourself, as I did, then work out an agreement with them. It wasn’t easy making that decision and working through it, and I won’t lie, it was almost the end of us. We came to a compromise that I would come back for a week every month, or she would come to Rome, and that we would not spend more than 3 weeks without seeing each other.

Plus make sure that you at least spend the first week in the new location with them and do as much of the things you would normally do with them. This helps them feel a part of your adventure, and also know people and places you go to. Share photos. Not doing this is dangerous. Otherwise for example guys, if you say to your girlfriend you met a really cool girl at language school your girlfriend will probably imagine this girl has the face of Angelina Jolie, the body of a Victoria’s Secret Model, and the sexual morals of Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct… of course if this girl does I don’t know what else to say apart from can you introduce me…? And yes girls, vice-versa it’ll probably be visions of horny but oh-so-nice-and-friendly athletic Brad Pitt look-a-like with a six pack… easy now ladies…

6. Learn one intellectual skill, one physical

This is a tip from Tim Ferriss in the Four Hour Work Week. A great way to spend your time is learning one intellectual skill, usually language learning, and one physical skill – for me this was capoeira. These will keep you occupied, grow as a person, help you make friends, and give you new skills to bring back. Plus people will think you’re cool! Kind of…

And if you can, definitely learn to cook, especially from a native of that country. My flatmate’s mother taught me how to make some delicious food, including a mean Melanzane Parmigiana!

7. Keep track of expenses – especially those phone bills

You will spend more than you think… WAY more! I budgeted for £1,000 a month all in, but found that I spent more on food and going out than I thought. Plus I hadn’t budgeted for language school, which I wasn’t planning on attending originally.

And phone bills, oh, the price of having a partner in another country. Let’s just say my phone bills almost came to half my rent per month! I had to juggle using my UK and Italian SIM cards. If you both have iPhones get Viber (free calls over the internet) and use a local SIM card to connect… or hack you iPhone for Skype (I never told you that…)

8. Take less than you need

You don’t need a lot of clothing. I mean in terms of a wardrobe, not walking around the city in bikinis and speedos. If you can use adventure clothing from companies such as North Face and Patagonia – it’s awesome. They look smart, are quick to dry and keep you warm. If you forget something you can always buy it when you get there.

Apart from clothing I also took one pair of hiking shoes/trainers, one pair of smart black shoes, football boots, a Macbook Pro, iPhone, old Nokia phone for an Italian SIM, a rucksack, a notebook, and a few favourite books. That was pretty much it.

9. Live near a Metro Line

I made this mistake by moving in with two friends who lived only on a tram line, which was not great for late nights or hot days, as it only ran till 10:30pm and wasn’t air-conditioned. The metro however ran as late as 12:30 and with full air-con. Plus generally living near a tube line tends to be safer.

10. And finally remember: Most people won’t understand

Most people won’t understand why you are doing this. Really. And it will often be the people closest to you. When you do something daring, something new, it causes people to question there own choices, and can leave them uncomfortable with the answers they find. So they will often try to justify their choices by attacking yours. Expect it, and have compassion. You won’t be able to argue your view across, but let them see what you do, and more importantly, who you become and who knows, it may just inspire them to step outside their comfort zones and do something they have always wanted to.

I’ll just finish by saying that I don’t consider myself a master exponent of the Escape lifestyle by any means. I make mistakes, I have ups and many downs when I question exactly what it is that I’m doing and why, including many times on this mini-retirement. But whatever happens in the future I know that no-one can ever take away from me what I have experienced and the magic moments I’ve shared and what I’ve contributed. At the end of the day, isn’t that all we ever have?

Soul

Resources:

The Four Hour Work Week: Tim Ferriss

Vagabonding: Ralf Potts

iPhone Learning App: www.Accelastudy.com

Accommodation (these are sites for cheap accommodation / house shares): www.AirBnb.com, www.Couchsurfing.com

Rome Language School – www.italiaidea.com

Making calls – www.viber.com (iPhone); www.skype.com

More photos to follow tomorrow when I have a chance to upload them…

Advice for ‘Starting Something You Love’ – #11: Tim Moss

Team Esc — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 09:00:58 +0000

At the beginning of 2011 we started a campaign called Start Something You Love. We kicked it off on 19th January with our big Esc winter party in front of 600 people at Guanabara bar in central London.

We are now following it up with 365 bits of advice from real people who are doing interesting and inspirational things with their lives. And we asked them all the same question:

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ESC’S QUESTION: “HOW CAN I START SOMETHING I LOVE?”

TIM’s ANSWER:

Don’t think about it too hard, don’t try to convince yourself, just start the motions.

Order some books/magazines about whatever you’re interested in; go to or organise a club/meeting/social about it; start a savings account/website/project folder with your idea’s name on it; call up or email the charity official/bank manager/coach/employer and start a dialogue.

I can’t tell you exactly what those motions are because I don’t know what you’re trying to achieve but you know what you need to do. You can never know in advance what the right decision is and there are more questions about this sort of thing than you could ever possibly have answered.

So just start taking the first small steps and, by the time you look up, you may have walked further than you think.

The Next Challenge – Tim Moss

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NOW DO THREE THINGS:

Watch this video: Start Something You Love: Escape the City…1 year on
Comment below to tell us what you are going to start this year
Join the revolution at www.escapethecity.org/register and subscribe to these posts (top-right of this page)

Advice for ‘Starting Something You Love’ – #9: Andy Cameron

Team Esc — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 11:00:10 +0000

We are now following it up with 365 bits of advice from real people who are doing interesting and inspirational things with their lives. And we asked them all the same question:

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ESC’S QUESTION: “HOW CAN I START SOMETHING I LOVE?”

ANDY’s ANSWER:

“Just go for it, if it all goes wrong then you can go back to your old life, if you don’t try it you will be wondering forever what could have happened if you had…”

Andy Cameron – Wavehunters – a surfing lifestyle company

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NOW DO THREE THINGS:

Watch this video: Start Something You Love: Escape the City…1 year on
Comment below to tell us what you are going to start this year
Join the revolution at www.escapethecity.org/register and subscribe to these posts (top-right of this page)

Advice for ‘Starting Something You Love’ – #8: Richard Hume

Team Esc — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 09:00:03 +0000

We are now following it up with 365 bits of advice from real people who are doing interesting and inspirational things with their lives. And we asked them all the same question:

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ESC’S QUESTION: “HOW CAN I START SOMETHING I LOVE?”

RICHARD’S ANSWER:

“Your mind will give up before your body. Doesn’t matter how hard a position you are in, you can always go that little bit further and faster.

Never stop. Even if you move like a snail, you’re still getting nearer to the end.

I’m sure there are more things to learn, but until I learn them, I can’t tell you them.”

Richard Hume – Freelance personal trainer in SW London

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NOW DO THREE THINGS:

Watch this video: Start Something You Love: Escape the City…1 year on
Comment below to tell us what you are going to start this year
Join the revolution at www.escapethecity.org/register and subscribe to these posts (top-right of this page)

Advice for ‘Starting Something You Love’ – #7: Ben Keene

Team Esc — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 11:00:01 +0000

We are now following it up with 365 bits of advice from real people who are doing interesting and inspirational things with their lives. And we asked them all the same question:

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ESC’S QUESTION: “HOW CAN I START SOMETHING I LOVE?”

BEN KEENE’S ANSWER:

“The future of business is social. The more talented and well educated people that get into social enterprise the better for all. Get ahead of the curve today, and don’t think too much about the eventual destination, enjoy the ride and do the right things along the way and it will come back to you and more.”

Ben Keene – TribeWanted Founder

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NOW DO THREE THINGS:

Watch this video: Start Something You Love: Escape the City…1 year on
Comment below to tell us what you are going to start this year
Join the revolution at www.escapethecity.org/register and subscribe to these posts (top-right of this page)

Advice for ‘Starting Something You Love’ – #4: Rob Cousins

Team Esc — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 11:00:11 +0000

We are now following it up with 365 bits of advice from real people who are doing interesting and inspirational things with their lives. And we asked them all the same question:

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ESC’S QUESTION: “HOW CAN I START SOMETHING I LOVE?”

ROB’S ANSWER:

“For me it has been identifying what I love doing. Then having to confidence to do it. Try lots of things, different things, maybe even unusual things for you. Really reflect on how you felt about it, what you liked, what you didn’t. Surround yourself with like-minded people, or people that work in that field. You’ll never be inspired if you only talk to people in the office about officey things.

“Talk to them about you, what you like doing, what you’re interested in. See where those conversations go, and what you learn about yourself and what you’re good at. Be speculative and persistent. The worst that can happen is to get no reply.

“Once you have found something, even if it just feels like a good idea, believe in it and yourself. See what you can grow it into. And be bold when it comes to the all important moment.”

Rob Cousins – Why I moved to Nepal

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NOW DO THREE THINGS:

Watch this video: Start Something You Love: Escape the City…1 year on
Comment below to tell us what you are going to start this year
Join the revolution at www.escapethecity.org/register and subscribe to these posts (top-right of this page)

Advice for ‘Starting Something You Love’ – #2: Sarah Outen

Team Esc — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 09:00:28 +0000

We are now following it up with 365 bits of advice from real people who are doing interesting and inspirational things with their lives. And we asked them all the same question:

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ESC’S QUESTION: “HOW CAN I START SOMETHING I LOVE?”

SARAH OUTEN’s ANSWER:

“Go with your instinct, f*** your intellect.

“Never lose sight of the dream – you will get there if you want it badly enough and are willing to put everything you have into it, mind, body and soul.”

Sarah Outen - Youngest woman to solo row an ocean

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NOW DO THREE THINGS:

Watch this video: Start Something You Love: Escape the City…1 year on
Comment below to tell us what you are going to start this year
Join the revolution at www.escapethecity.org/register and subscribe to these posts (top-right of this page)

Advice for ‘Starting Something You Love’ – #1: Pete Waterman

Team Esc — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 17:36:17 +0000

We are now following it up with 365 bits of advice from real people who are doing interesting and inspirational things with their lives. And we asked them all the same question:

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ESC’S QUESTION: “HOW CAN I START SOMETHING I LOVE?”

PETE WATERMAN’S ANSWER:

“Don’t worry, be happy.

“Seriously. The ability to avoid stressing yourself (and others) out by worrying too much is the single most important one to have if you want to be happy. Any time you find yourself worrying, instead dwell on your confidence in yourself and the nature of others around you.

“People have a hard time understanding when they ask if I’m afraid of mechanical problems in the middle of nowhere and I respond “I look forward to it!” There’s always an interesting result when something goes wrong, so why worry about it? Our fear causes us to make such a big deal out of things we then easily deal with. Be chill.”

Pete Waterman – TrackPete: swapping IT for big adventures

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NOW DO THREE THINGS:

Watch this video: Start Something You Love: Escape the City…1 year on
Comment below to tell us what you are going to start this year
Join the revolution at www.escapethecity.org/register and subscribe to these posts (top-right of this page)

SSYL from an Esc Member’s perspective…

Team Esc — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 12:21:37 +0000

Hermione Taylor, Esc Hero and founder of The DoNation sent us this email having attended our Esc winter party. We’ve been through many of the same emotions ourselves. An interesting read for anyone thinking of ‘doing their own thing’…

I was just bubbling with inspiration and envy as I left… pining an adventure like never before. It was such an amazingly fitting night for me, and really got me reflecting on what I’m doing and why. My whole journey with The DoNation started as a simple lust to go on a big adventure, and cycle to Morocco… hearing Al and Ed speak really bought back that burning feeling, excitement, and freedom of adventure – something that I fear I’ve moved far too far away from now!

Both Lara and Zarine’s talks also rang so true, so painfully true… whilst massively inspiring, they also made me question wtf I’m doing to myself… I never pined for the challenging, risky, terrifying, and lonely slog of entrepreneurship, so why the hell am I doing it? I was chewing over this on the walk home, wondering why I’m lining myself up for a daunting life of managing nightmare employees, huge risk, and insane workloads, and being unable to drop all responsibilities on a whim and head off around the world on some crazy adventure.

Then I realised the answer was simple, and fully summed up in the title of your event… because I wanted to start something I love. I may not love all that’s involved – especially the employee management thing and spending my nights on financial forecasts, VAT returns, and refining legal contracts – but I sure as hell love the the cause that I’m fighting for, the potential it has to make a difference, and the fact that I’m doing something that I couldn’t be more passionate about. It might be at the expense of my sanity and my social life, but eh, we can’t have everything…

I just need to work out how to tie another big cycle adventure into my launch plans…. hmm.

The Big Escape Picture: 3 Jan

Team Esc — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 22:25:02 +0000

The story behind the picture:

“Around three years ago, I realized I wanted to experience more outside of my career-driven lifestyle. After many experiments, I walked away from a successful career in Information Technology in early 2010 to focus on exploring the world, raising money for charity, and inspiring others through my writing and photography.”

“What began as a desire to escape for a while has turned into an adventure lifestyle focused on exploring the people, culture, and landscape of the entire world.

In just over a year, I have ridden unconventional vehicles across Peru, Bolivia, India, and all of North America (into the Arctic Circle). I’ve trained combat sports in Thailand, traveled across Nepal and Cambodia, and raised thousands of dollars for charity. Soon I will return to South America to complete an unfinished trip with the goal of exploring the entire continent on three wheels.

Throughout all these adventures I’ve taken tens of thousands of photographs, hundreds of hours of video, and engaged with people over the internet through my blog, Facebook,and Twitter.

Ultimately my goal is to inspire others with the truth that things are often so much easier than we think.”

Read Pete’s Hero profile here.

http://whoispete.com/

The Big Escape Picture: 13 Dec

Team Esc — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 11:34:55 +0000

The story behind the picture:

Travelling through Kyrgyzstan on a beat-up old bus, I was reading a text book on mountaineering. Arguably I should have done this before attempting the first British ascent of a 6,000-metre peak but better late than never. One piece of general advice stuck with me – “You get the best photos when you least want to take them” – and believe me, having spent the night on a 9-inch platform above a 45-degree snow slope, I did not want to take this one.

By all tangible measures the expedition was a disaster. Near starvation, near death experiences and nowhere near any summits. But for all its awfulness it remains as probably the most formative experience of my life and still, after all these years, my favourite expedition.

About Tim:

Tim is a legend. He wrote the best email we’ve ever received in reaction to the Esc concept. He resigned from his job (Esc Hero profile) to start up thenextchallenge.org around the same time as we left to start Esc. He does fantastic work helping people with their adventures.

Free tickets to The Adventurists Xmas Party – next week, London

Team Esc — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 21:05:57 +0000

The Adventurists are to travel what Escape the City wants to be to careers. Their motto says it all: FIGHTING TO MAKE THE WORLD LESS BORING.

They’re kind and generous and have always been great supporters of our cause. They’ve now gone as far as giving Escape the City 10 free tickets to their London Christmas Party next Friday (10th December).

Read on to find out how to nab your free Esc Member’s ticket …

The line-up

The 2010 Christmas party is going to take place on Friday December 10 2010, between the twilight hours of 9 pm and 3 am, at the most marvellous Islington Metalworks in London Town.

The Metalworks will be transformed into a three-room steampunk universe with a blistering array of wonderments for your delectation. We’ve got Geordie-powered balkanicity from festival foot-stompers The Baghdaddies, psychedelic electronica from Wobbly Squadron, eclectic tunes from an array of disc jockeys and multifarious dancers, performers and oddities from Lillywhitesass and Sonic Sideshow.

Full details here

To win your free ticket…

All you have to do is the following:

Click onto The Adventurists Facebook page (Pls ‘like’ them, only polite)
Post a really bad Xmas cracker joke (If possible with an Adventure twang)
Get 3 ‘Likes’ on your joke (Yes, your ‘like’ counts if you’re really unpopular)
Email me – rob@escapethecity.org – to tell me your triumph (and your name)

The first 10 people to successfully negotiate this dastardly obstacle course will receive their £12 ticket for free and access to the hottest Xmas party in town (on perhaps the coldest winter in living memory!).

Team Esc hopes to be there on the night too – so come and say hi.

In other news…

If you can’t make next Friday but you love adventures, you love films, and you love parties… you’ll definitely love The Adventurists 2011 Film Festival on Saturday 9th April 2011.

“A showcase of the very best scare-yourself-stupid adventures caught on camera plus talks, prizes and other good stuff.”

You’re even invited to submit your own: “Three minute wonder, self-filmed seat of your pants or Adventurists teams – everyone can enter the festival with their glorious filmic mayhem…”

Check it out…

Announcing an Exciting New Partnership

Team Esc — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 10:21:03 +0000

We’ve long been fans of the Adventurists. In fact we’re rather jealous of them. They have built a tribe of people around making the world less boring. Their – now world famous – Mongol rally is the stuff of legends and each year they make a stack of cash for charity. So it was a great pleasure when they gave us a call to ask if we wanted to get involved with their Film Festival being held in London 9th April 2011.

It’s going to be a showcase of the very best scare-yourself-stupid adventures caught on camera plus talks (headlined by Ed Stafford talking about his rather long Amazon walk), prizes and loads of other good stuff.

Plus if you have an adventure masterpiece that you would like to submit for the festival you can submit it here as they are now accepting entries.

There are two categories open to the public:

1) The Three Minute Wonder category:

Open to everyone who can squash glorious mayhem into a the time it takes to boil a kettle to make a good cup of tea.

2) The self-filmed-seat-of-your-pants adventure category (5-20 mins):

Open to anyone who has been foolish, sneaky or brave enough to embark on their own adventure with a camera and film themselves getting into a multitude of pickles.

Festival to be held Saturday 9th April 2010 at the home of the Great British Exploration the Royal Geographic Society London.

For full details click here

After my first five years of professional life, I felt a little empty…

Team Esc — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 14:48:51 +0000

I think all Escape the City members will recognise many of these emotions. The passages below are from the introduction of Riding the Ice Wind by Alastair Vere Nicholl. They really struck a chord with me. You can view the full extract here.

Special offer to Esc members: a 30% discount – use the promotional code: 4CI when buying the book through this website – www.ibtauris.com

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“We are all familiar with the phenomenon of the mid-life crisis. We can instantly recognise its distinctive and incongruous couplings – the uplifted blonde with the down-slung grey, the slow body in the fast car, the ostentatious outfits but the thinning plumage – but we are less familiar with its quarter-life counterpart. A decade after leaving school and looking ahead to a life of repetitive drudgery like a goldfish in an aquarium, those hitting their late twenties or early thirties can often also face their own, quieter, crisis of direction.”

“While the mid-life crisis is essentially Epicurean – characterised by indulgence – the quarter-life crisis is more Stoic. Rather than wanting to be in society, it wants to be outside it. It wants to get its kicks from something of substance – rather than from substances. It aspires to reinvention rather than reliving.”

“After my first five years of professional life, I felt a little empty – as if nothing in the current circle of my existence had the capacity to truly stir me. Admittedly, to feel restless after such a comparatively short period of working life sounds somewhat pathetic – despite the fact that for most juniors such a period of apprenticeship inevitably involves repetitious and uninspiring tasks with little responsibility – but it is precisely this brevity, the feeling that you have only dipped your toe into ‘real’ life but have found it unbearable, which leads to the quarter-life crisis.”

“It is worst for those who have excelled at school and university and who expect and have got used to standing out, or have been funnelled by that very success into professional careers that are the most unromantic and laborious. Your future spreads out before you and can seem so interminable, so dull, so filled with routine tasks – each successive day the same as the next, the career ladder so hierarchical, and promotion won by time-serving, conservatism and petty politics.”

“It is the world of precedent – you learn by copying what those have done before you, all risks nullified. The formula of each year punctuated only by the odd holiday spent going to the same overcrowded and rapidly melting ski-slopes.”

http://www.ridingtheicewind.com/files/9781848853065.pdf

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Special offer to Esc members: a 30% discount – use the promotional code: 4CI when buying the book through this website – www.ibtauris.com

Beach Life, Eco-Tourism: “So where next?”

Team Esc — Thu, 20 May 2010 10:50:58 +0000

“So where next?”

It was September 1st 2006. We’d just welcomed the ‘first footers’ onto Vorovoro’s golden sands and Tui Mali had accepted our offer of the tabua (whales tooth) as our social contract with his community. We had begun.

I’m not sure who had asked the question but it stuck in the back of my mind.

Finding Vorovoro has changed a lot of things. And I know I’m not the only one.

But finding another Vorovoro wasn’t a priority on that perfect day in September. Our job was to build Vorovoro and we committed ourselves to a minimum of three years.

It worked. Not easily, but it did work. The project is ongoing and, although some months are slower – even in Fiji – than others, it’s a way of life now. Hopefully for a long time yet. Claire’s recent Vorovoro report sums up why it was worth it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guf4a8p5IE8

But how did I go from an island in Fiji to a beach in Sierra Leone?

As we celebrated our three year birthday on Vorovoro last year I finally started to look seriously where we might go next. It wasn’t for lack of offers.

I’ve kept a special file in my inbox marked Tribewanted II. It’s where I procrastinate.

People still find it difficult to describe what Tribewanted is. Here’s where I think we’re at: “Our mission is to build and sustain cross-cultural communities in beautiful places that benefit locals and visitors; inspiring positive change within and far beyond the village.”

So with this clearly in mind I clicked through the ‘Tribewanted II’ file….Sierra Leone wasn’t there. But soon I was.

Last year a good friend invited me to visit his football academy and school in Ghana. There he told me about a similar project he was managing in Sierra Leone. I made the short journey with him to Freetown and quickly fell for this chaotic, charming, beautiful country.

Later in the year I was introduced to an Italian living in New York who worked in Sierra Leone. I know, I know. But this is how these things work. Filippo Bozotti made a film called ‘Bling’ – blood diamonds and hip-hop – and had been fundraising and supporting mircrofinance, education and computer literacy through the Shine on Sierra Leone foundation. Filippo was keen to bring a new kind of tourist to Sierra Leone and was looking for the right model.

A natural partnership formed and in Janaury this year Filippo, myself and a local partner – Dr.Michel Sho Sawyer – met in Freetown to see what might be possible.

Three months later we had secured a long-term agreement for a few acres of land at my favourite beach – John Obey – on the awesome Freetown peninsula and burgeoning relationship with the local community.

Right now – as we share this opportunity for the first time with our members and beyond – I’m as excited as I was when we first found Vorovoro.

Four years later, ‘where we went next’ has finally arrived. http://sierraleone.tribewanted.com/

Get Involved – Stand Up Paddle from Bath to London…

Team Esc — Thu, 20 May 2010 09:30:02 +0000

Esc is proud to strongly recommend that you join a couple of British Adventurers “on the Water for a 150 Mile Charity Challenge Between Bath and London.” If ever there was a photo that encapsulates Esc in an image this would be it… love the look on the kayaker’s face!

Between June 2^nd and June 8^th 2010 British Adventurers Dave Cornthwaite and Sarah Outen will take to the water and Stand Up Paddle between Bath and London, a distance of 150 miles. The two are not strangers to this sort of journey, last year Sarah rowed over 4000 miles across the Indian Ocean, and in April 2011 will begin a global circumnavigation from London to London, Via the World! Dave had paddled the length of Australia’s longest river and in 2006 he broke the world record for skateboarding further than anyone else, ever! He’s also planning a world distance record on a Stand Up Paddleboard in 2011.

The pair’s journey will start at Bath’s Top Lock at 10am on Wednesday 2^nd June, following the length of the Kennet & Avon canal via Devizes, Pewsey, Hungerford and Reading, before paddling onto the Thames and making their way to London. They will finish at lunchtime by paddling underneath Tower Bridge.

We’d like to invite members of your club to join Sarah and Dave for a stretch of their journey as we pass through your neighbourhood. You could paddle in canoes, kayaks or on Stand Up Paddleboards, or even walk, run or cycle alongside. We’d like everyone joining us to help us raise some funds for our charities.

Dave and Sarah are big supporters of The Blue Mile project. A Blue Mile is a mile travelled on or by the water. If each paddler aims to raise £10 per Blue Mile paddled with Dave and Sarah this would be absolutely wonderful. We are aiming for a total of 1000 Blue Miles and if we achieve our target, this will mean we’ve raised at least £7000 for our charities, which would be amazing!

All donations and sponsorships should be donated online at www.justgiving.com/greatbigpaddle

Finally, Dave and Sarah will be supported by a small and very fun team who will be making a documentary and taking photos of the event. We’d love to hold fundraising events each evening and if you’d be interested in organising one, please take a look at the schedule on www.thegreatbigpaddle.com and get in touch. We’re also organising where can stay each evening, so any help with this would be greatly appreciated!

This event is all about getting people on the water and promoting exercise, water sports and a passion for the environment, so the more people who take part, the better!

We hope you can be involved, and look forward to hearing back from you.

Best wishes

The Bath2London 2010 Team

Email: hello@thegreatbigpaddle.com
Tel: 07872 986084
For full details of the event, please visit www.thegreatbigpaddle.com
To find out more about Sarah, visit www.sarahouten.co.uk
And to learn more about Dave, visit www.davecornthwaite.co.uk

Our Charities

The AV Foundation boosts the quality of school education in several African countries. Funds raised through The Great Big Paddle will be used to install solar and drinking water projects into these schools and their communities.

CoppaFeel works hard to ensure that breast cancer is detected sooner, rather than later. The disease knows no age and has no discrimination, and CoppaFeel encourages healthy conversation and awareness about breast cancer and surrounding issues.

In the footsteps of Captain Scott

Team Esc — Fri, 14 May 2010 14:21:16 +0000

“I saw you on the telly” screeched the voice from two checkouts over. Everyone looked up. “yeah, you were towing tyres or something training to walk to the North Pole”. My cheeks flushed deep scarlet; unless Ben Saunders was standing at the next checkout, she’d picked the wrong end of the globe, but her comments were directed at me.

She waited until my shopping was being scanned and I was packing, and then came over to chat. I have to admit that initially I was quite chuffed really, that is until she said “Yeah, you’ve got a right cushy life. You go on holiday and do stuff you want to do and talk other people into paying for it all” Not so chuffed.

“Right cushy life”? Is that what the public at large really think? I have to admit, it bothered me.

A big thank you to Justin Miles from LastGreatChallenge.com for this article talking about his experiences of fund-raising and planning for a HUGE adventure. Please do get in touch with them if you know of any way in which you could help their project. They are going after Captain Scott’s prize (the first unsupported journey to and from the South Pole) and deserve our support for a monumental effort thus far.

Doing something different

Becoming a full time ‘adventurer’, for me, has been my dream for a little over ten years. A good career in the fitness industry came to a very abrupt halt when I had a car accident in 1999. The resulting brain injuries left me unable to walk or talk properly and the prognosis was for a very long and probably incomplete recovery. As I sat for hour after agonizing hour with nothing to distract me from the boredom and frustration I had nothing to assist my escape but my own imagination and I started to daydream; I dreamt of one day becoming a full time adventurer, seeing everything that the world has to offer and helping a few good causes along the way. Then I realised that if other people could do it, the likes of Ranulph Fiennes, then so could I. I turned my dream into a tangible objective, set goals along the way, then set about turning my dream into a reality.

Ten years passed quite quickly, and when I met John Wilton-Davies in an Exeter coffee shop we hit it off straight away. By the end of our ninety minute meeting we’d decided to embark on a polar expedition together, to be the first people to walk unsupported from the coast of Antarctica to the Pole and back. The expedition, which will also become the longest unsupported polar journey in history, has been named the ‘Last Great Challenge’.

Making a plan

The first meeting was the easiest day that John and I have had ever since. From that day on, we really found out about the amount of dedication, perseverance, hard work, long hours, heartbreak and joy that pulling off an expedition like this involves.

Many expeditions get involved with raising funds for a charity, but we wanted to do much more than present our chosen charity, the British Heart Foundation, with a chunky cheque.

We chose to work with the BHF because as well as their endless work to research and treat cardiac disease, they’re also heavily involved with programmes focusing on disease prevention through encouraging people to adopt healthy diet and exercise habits – something that resonates with our own beliefs and the work that I’ve been involved with since the age of 14.

A massive amount of thought, planning and a humongous amount of work has gone into developing the ‘Great Heart Challenge’, a national schools health and fitness initiative which is promoted to c38,000 schools across the UK and encompasses a sponsored event (for the BHF), healthy lifestyle promotion, and activity or exercise based around an ‘adventure’ theme.

On top of the GHC we also have an education programme which uses activity based learning exercises to support curriculum subjects. This learning programme is visible to a growing number of schools across the UK which currently stands at around 9,000.

The hardest part

When we get to the Antarctic, all we have to do is walk. The journey is a long one, and it’s cold, and the load is heavy, and I’m really not underestimating the enormity of the task ahead, but all we have to do is walk. My current eighteen hour days (all seven in every week) usually consist of working on the Great Heart Challenge, working on the education initiative, loads of work trying to generate publicity opportunities and sponsor hunting.

Hunting down sponsors isn’t easy in this economic climate and takes a massive amount of work. Many companies have stopped allocating budgets for sponsorship, and more still have cut back on their spending in the area dramatically.

Then we get a plethora of responses to our sponsorship enquires: “How visible is a polar expedition likely to be?” type of response from some as they look down their noses, preferring instead to sponsor a local club level sportsman, or a Formula One racing car. Then sometimes, we introduce the fact that our Great Heart Challenge will be visible to 38,000UK schools, followed by press and media including the BBC, and there’s an adult version currently running through the national chain of Spirit Health Clubs, and the education programme – then we get the response “Far too big for us to be involved with”. How do you win?!

“Lateral thinking’ is a daily exercise for me and John as we attempt to find the companies whose businesses or models for growth are aligned with the image that we’re trying so hard to portray through the expedition and the projects surrounding it, and then convince them that investing in us and our projects would be a very worthwhile business decision.

Then, if that wasn’t enough to keep us busy, we have to remember to work for the sponsors and supporters who are already with us. John and I are very conscious that without the support of our sponsors all of our projects would, without doubt, grind to a halt so we work very hard to make sure that all of our supporters get an extremely good return on their investment.

When it works, when our ‘pitch’ hits home and we hot the sweet spot, it does work well. Every company that’s become involved with us in one way or another has been delighted with the way that we’ve worked with them. So much so, in fact, that many have increased their investments with us which is a good reflection on how they value their association with our projects.

Doing it full-time

The Last Great Challenge expedition and the projects that we’ve built around it have been a full time job for both of us since March 2009. To make sure that the expedition and everything else is a success, we have both given up our businesses and invested everything we can to make it all work. Now, just a few months away from the starting pistol, things are getting really busy and exciting. You’re just as likely o find John and I talking on Skype at 2am as you are at 2pm. The Great Heart Challenge fitness initiative is in launch phase, the media is waking up to what we’re trying to achieve (in all respects), we’re running around all over the UK doing promotional work for the Great Heart Challenge and the expedition, we’re working for the sponsors already supporting us, we’re still working extremely hard to find more sponsors – and we still have to find the time to train!

Five months to go, knackered, exhausted even, but this sure is one hell of a ride!

Details of the Last Great Challenge and the Great Heart Challenge can be found on www.lastgreatchallenge.com

Footnote:

Justin and John are still looking for help with the Last Great Challenge and Great Heart Challenge, from sponsors to media coverage and promoters. If you, your company, your boss, your friends, your friends friends, your second cousin six times removed, or the lady who works in the shop around the corner want to help out in any way then please take a look around the website and contact Justin or John.

Footnote Part Deux…

Justin and John would really appreciate introductions to sponsors. If you think the company that you work for could benefit from being associated with the expedition or the amazing projects surrounding it then please contact Justin at justin@lastgreatchallenge.com

Esc Update: Cycling the 6 Continents

Team Esc — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 11:06:48 +0000

Three months have gone by since Esc Hero Dr Steve Fabes Escaped the City to embark on his epic expedition – to cycle the length of the six continents. Here Steve gives Esc an update and with it some advice for any one one thinking of doing something similar. Stop dreaming – start planning.

Guest post by Dr Steve Fabes

Like most decisions of great consequence, I happened upon the route for Cycling The 6 in a pub garden, beer in one hand, mini-Atlas in the other. The plan hatched was to travel the length of six continents, all by bicycle. I would leave my life in London and my job as a hospital doctor behind for five whole years to complete the expedition.

What did I want to get out of it?

First and foremost… an adventure. Only three months in and it has been every bit of an adventure as I had hoped. Secondly… a challenge, and there have been many. I also hoped I would learn a thing or two en route. Some lessons have been more profound than others but almost all have been learnt the hard way.

Lessons from the road

I will never again enter an Albanian shop wearing a Buff as a full face mask and unwittingly terrify all the staff. I will keep tiger balm well away from my eyes. More importantly I have discovered that the world is a friendlier place than it is frequently portrayed or perceived.

Before entering Albania for example my head was full of negative imaginings; a lawless place of landmines, terrorists, mafia and bandits. When I crossed the border if felt like a homecoming. Albanians working the fields would stop and shout, wave, cheer and even salute. Four times during my trip I have been invited into a stranger’s home to stay the night when spotted rough camping. I have been bought food on many occasions and have felt at times ridiculously unworthy of the hospitality I have received. In Albania I sat with a family who needed and could not afford basic health care, in a house where eight people slept in three rooms, with a beer in hand, full to bursting with food and with the promise of a bed for the night.

Cycling in to the sunset - Steve enjoying some kinder weather in the early stages of his epic cycle

I have also learnt to have patience. Not usually a virtue I am overly familiar with. I have stopped trying to break my top speed on the downhills and now just appreciate the rolling vista. In fact I try to ignore the cycle computer altogether. I camp earlier and look around more. I eat slower. I stop arranging ambitious rendezvous on couchsurfing.com and then rushing to get there. I don’t need deadlines in my life. I always take the route marked out as scenic on the map regardless of altitude or terrain and every so often I cycle somewhere just because it has a funny sounding name on the map.

The Challenges

The challenges too have been robust and varied. Just what I wanted. I have come face to muzzle with menacing mutts many times and in rural Greece. I was attacked by a large group of dogs (read the story). I have had to take down my tent high in the Alps without gloves the morning after the temperature plummeted to -19 degrees C.

Physically the journey has had an obvious impact. The contours of my legs have begun to transform and my new hairy visage has given me a partial resemblance to a Morris Dancer, so I’m told. I have lost ten percent of my body weight in three months despite incorporating a “middle breakfast” into my daily routine. In Montenegro and Italy I have relished the challenge of continuous mountain ascents from sea level to a height above that of Britain’s loftiest peaks. Perhaps more challenging than anything was the sustained snowball attack delivered without mercy by school children across Kent as I cycled out of the UK.

“Choosing to Escape the City was the best decision I ever made”

Along the way I have dealt with these many tribulations as best I can and have made as many sensible decisions as perfunctory ones. My route to Albania for example was decided solely on the basis of the direction of the breeze. But I am in no doubt that choosing to escape the city in the first place was the best decision I ever made and I am learning all the time.

“Decide, Crack on and do it”

I don’t feel particularly qualified to give advice or attempt to motivate others only three months into my trip. I don’t really think people need motivating at all to realise their dreams. Perhaps they need a little inspiration but is it lethargy or laziness that prevent people doing what they aspire to? I don’t think so. I think it’s indecision. You can’t decide what to do so you end up doing nothing at all. So the only advice I can offer is to stop talking about what you might do. Decide, crack on and do it.

Random statistics from my journey so far…

Current location: Thessaloniki, Greece.
Distance cycled: 4200 km
Countries visited: 13
Most amount of Milka consumed in one sitting: 450 grams
Favourite song to sing whilst cycling: “In the Summertime” by Mungo Jerry (particularly good to belt out if cycling through torrential rain, heavy snow or gale force winds).
Most entertaining newspaper headline of an article about my journey: Italy, Ferrara: “The Real Forest Gump”

If you’d like to keep up to date with my progress please visit my blog at http://www.cyclingthe6.blogspot.com. You can become a follower by clicking on the link to the right hand side of the page or via the Network Blogs application on Facebook. There is also more information regarding the journey on my site http://www.cyclingthe6.com/. To sponsor my adventure please go to http://www.justgiving.com/cyclingthe6. Every penny donated goes to the medical aid agency Merlin.

12 Marathons in 12 Months: One Man’s Journey of Self Discovery

Team Esc — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 11:32:42 +0000

Here at ‘Esc’ we know finding your dream job normally doesn’t happen over night (although we are working hard to fix this!). As a result other external focuses are great ways to distract you. Ladies and gentlemen may I introduce Chris Jackson. A city prisoner, inspired by the nightmare of war and conflict witnessed on a recent trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo Chris is aiming to run 12 marathons in 12 months and in doing so he is finding himself on a journey of self discovery.

I live in London, I drink Starbucks, I’m a lobbyist, I don’t like the tube, I constantly tap away on my Blackberry (this article was knocked up on one) and I’m still stuck here in the city – sound familiar!? It isn’t all bad though, I know that things could be much worse.

Last summer, much against everyone’s advice I headed to the Democratic Republic of Congo. The short time I spent there shocked me, it shattered my innocent conception of what poverty and despair really are – I couldn’t have been further removed from my London Lite comfort zone.

I was greeted by gunmen and children; not always different things. I was confronted by casualties from the ongoing conflict, horrified by the tales of sexual abuse in the refugee camps, and overwhelmed by the impact this fleeting visit made on my mind. Nightmares ensued; some real and some in my sleep. With a gun to my head in a hotel car park I promised that I would try and do something to make people aware of this forgotten crisis and help support an organisation that is helping the many vulnerable people in the DRC that have suffered so much from this horrendous conflict.

It took me a while to figure out what this was going look like, but I finally followed through on my commitment and find myself attempting to run 12 marathons in 12 months for Amnesty International. What originally started as an application to the London Marathon has exploded and has drastically shaped 2010, and my life, in a way that I never expected. Everybody says a marathon is hard, but everybody still runs marathons. I wanted to go one better by taking on something tough, lasting and impressive so I decided to try and run one marathon a month throughout the year.

Well what a year it is turning out to be. I realise now I have devoted a year of my life to this challenge. The training required to keep fit enough to do this eats into every waking day. I’ll avoid the blow by blow account of each marathon because it might make you stop reading. To sum it up so far: I’ve lost a lot of toe nails, my legs hurt, I don’t like pasta anymore and I’ve discovered the strength of support I have from friends, family and random people. The 12×12 ‘journey’ is only three marathons old but already I realise that the Chris who lined up on a chilly Gloucester morning in January, to begin the first of 12 marathons, has changed. I’ve finally uncovered a part of me which I always knew existed, but never knew how to embrace.

I’m an angry, stubborn, cocky and a belligerent person. Not always admirable attributes but this slice of personality emerges when I’m running and training. I’ve learnt to love it because it never lets me forget why I am running and it sets me free from urban sprawl.

My confidence has grown no end during this challenge and I now know for sure that I can do anything if I set my mind and body to it. I completed my first Ultra marathon in February, running for over four and a half hours covering a distance of over 32 miles. When I’m not running, I’m now working closely with a number of friends to develop a unique venture called the Madhatters Challenge.

This is an open invitation for everyone who has an idea or challenge to go and do it under the banner of the Madhatters and raise money for Leukemia research. So not content with 12 marathons I’ve now got roped into taking on on two triathlons this year, cycling the battlefields of WWII and running the length of Hadrian’s wall in 24 hours (85 miles long) – there might be a world record in it somewhere.

From my darkest moments in DRC to my decision to run 12 marathons in 12 months, something has snapped in me which now fuels my energy and sense of adventure. It is as if a mental block has been removed; nothing is too far, too hard or even impossible. That is my cocky side coming through again but I feel invincible and free. When you can feel your body screaming at you to stop running, see blood oozing through your trainers and you can ignore that and carry on running, then you can draw on untold reserves of strength and confidence. When you feel that anything is achievable then you are no longer shackled by the constraints of day to day life. The knowledge that no challenge is too tough means that I no longer feel suffocated by city life, because ultimately I know that if I want too I have the strength of character and determination to take on a new challenge anywhere in the world – however hard it might prove to be.

Finding Inspiration The Hard Way

Team Esc — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 20:04:29 +0000

Curled up in a foetal position, sleeping bag sealed off overhead, helplessly shaking from the cold, I drift in and out of sleep, longing for daylight to arrive. An eternity goes by before the occasional bird tweets and the slowly brightening tent walls signal the arrival of a new day.

I scramble around, layer up and poke my head out into the morning chill.

Frigid in a tent

The frozen lake and snowy mountains are still there, everything is frosted over…a perfect silence shrouds the valley. My mood is somewhat blemished by my stove deciding to abandon me in my hour of need, but coffee or no coffee, it’s time to set out on another epic. Bag on back, I begin the slow ascent of the day’s first mountain.

“The way to get good ideas is to get lots of ideas, and throw the bad ones away” Dr Linus Pauling

Body aching, lungs heaving, the mind races around, trying to find subjects to keep you distracted from the repetitive, strenuous task at hand. I tend to head straight for the gossip column in my head, analysing all sorts of experiences, some from way back. There may be negative thoughts, anxieties that need addressing, but they all fade away as endorphins increasingly invade the brain, opening up a new section of the mind…the one with the crazy ideas. Spurred on by stunning scenery and solitude, the ideas get wilder, abandoned ambitions are reconsidered and the magnitude of the surroundings puts everything back into perspective. All doubts and pessimistic views are expelled as a surge of motivation and enthusiasm takes over. Moments like these are essential and don’t need to be few and far between. You don’t need to be climbing Kilimanjaro or sailing an ocean to find inspiration, it’s all possible in your own backyard.

Exploring the UK

A long weekend in Snowdonia or the Lake District will do the trick. A playground of mountains and home to cute, little villages, you can scare yourself on steep rocky faces and reward yourself with fish and chips and a pint in the evening. If you live in London and the five hour drive puts you off, then the Brecon Beacons or Peak District are a tamer but equally stunning option, and only 3 and a half hours away by car. Camping isn’t technically allowed in any of these places, but maps and Google Earth will show you little areas, away from farms and houses, where you can get away with pitching a tent, so long as you leave your patch as you found it.

How do I start?

The weather can be rough and the land disorientating, so you might consider a course to get you started, for example with Plas y Brenin in Snowdonia. Or you can just get out there on a sunny day and learn through trial and error. For those looking to take their skills to the next level, you can do a Mountain Leader training course, which sets you up nicely for undertaking more ambitious objectives. It could also make you a little cash working as a guide in the summer.

So next time you need ideas or inspiration, head for the hills, exhaust yourself and maybe even pick a line up a rocky face and scare yourself. I’ve got one lined up for the next trip (see below), go out there and find yours!

Charles Montier