In between

Between November 2007 and now, time has passed quickly and step by step I got more informed about what we would do. The expedition will be a trip by foot from the 89th degree up to the 90th, somewhere March-April 2010. I will have to prepare intensively and train for that, both mentally and physically, gather and save money - it's an expensive thing - and I will have to leave my two kids behind for three weeks. I will encounter aggressive polar bears, face cold temperatures up to -45 degrees C, possibly swim in ice cold water, but somehow at this point I cannot imagine what that will be. In the meantime I also met some of my fellow "expeditionists" - although the group is not officialized - and it's a diversity of people. Only one thing that appears a bit awkward: I'm the only female in the group! The only concern I have is that it makes me a bit insecure. How come that only men want to do this? OK, they are all 40-ers, but I refuse to link this to the so called midlife crisis where an average male goes through around this age. I'm really wondering why no other woman can be found for such an adventure... Maybe I'm just too ambitious.

How it all started

It must have been somewhere in November 2007. I was sitting in a wine restaurant, dining with a bunch of good friends, when one of them came up with the idea of going on an expedition to the North Pole. He already had contact with an expedition leader and was looking for people that were interested in joining him on this extraordinary journey. Being quite adventurous - and and that time not knowing what it really meant - I told him I was interested in doing such a thing. Before I knew, I was on a list of "potential expeditionists", not aware of how cold it could be, potential dangers of polar bears, and even not knowing the route that we would take... Totally unaware of what I really committed myself to.