Suggestions for the e-Course

by Wojtek
(Warsaw, Poland)

In your e-course concerning hints and tips on becoming a successful adventurer, traveler, gold prospector, etc., before you delve into some more "technical" issues, I would gladly see subjects concerning "humble" beginnings.

In particular, I would like to see the following questions/issues covered:

1. What does it take, apart from intention/dream, to be successful in this "profession"? I can hardly call it a profession, it is more passion than anything else.

2. Sources of financing of first trips/expeditions. Before you were successful enough to be able to publish your books (e-books) and e-courses, and sell other stuff related to your travels, adventures and finds, how did you cope with funding your expeditions? How did you fund your VERY FIRST expedition?

Any hints for adventurers, travelers, seekers who dream of their own expedition? Would you say that amassing enough wealth to cover all expedition costs is a painstaking process of many years, or are there ways of doing it relatively quickly?

3. Travels/expeditions and the family/significant others. You may have read about Nina, Colonel Percy H Fawcett's wife.

Or you may have heard about how the girlfriend/fiancee of a South African, Riaan Manser, waited patiently for him first when he was circumnavigating Africa on a bike (which took him in excess of two years), and later when he was circumnavigating Madagascar on a kayak (which took him less than one year).

We hear now and then of stories of women who "allowed" their boyfriends/fiances/husbands/sons to fulfil their great dream of good, complete life.

But then there are also other women (as well as men) among the family or friend circles who, to put it very mildly, not only are against any lengthy expeditions (longer, than, say, a month to two), but will try to find a way of "convincing". How does a potential or current traveller/discoverer/prospector cope with that?

Are conflicts of interest unavoidable? Are those who succeed in exploration and discovery necessarily doomed to loneliness as extensive travels put their own financial, physical, spiritual, mental demands and expectations, whereas family members (who may be in need of you) put their own demands and expectations?

Best Regards
Wojtek, Poland

Stan's response: Its great to hear from you Wojtek. It has been a while. I love your questions. I think they get right to the heart of the matter. I will be sure to cover all of these points in the e-course. As we progress, always feel free to add more questions and issues into our discussion.

May 27, 2010

Comments to your comment
by: Wojtek

Dear Stan,

I'm glad you liked my questions. Obviously, they are not all issues, but I think they are most important, because when you have financial backing or freedom on the one hand and the "green light" (i.e. moral and other freedom) to pursue exactly the kind of career and path you want to and break away from being stuck in the rut of everyday routine, then I'd say you can call yourself a full, complete person, and that makes you also happier with or towards other people, including the closest ones.

Having said that, there are also certain limitations which way both ways in a negative way (perhaps this may be another topic for discussion/e-training): AGE. When you are at a certain age, it is no longer as easy to achieve certain tasks and/or venture to some hardly accessible places as when you are 20 or even 30. My age is 43 which certainly is not old, but it is not young either. Unless you're a seasoned traveller/climber/trekker/swimmer/cyclist etc. etc. - it is harder to work the strength and stamina you need.

But age like my own is (or at least is thought and said to be) the very last moment for settling down and setting up a family. Going for long expeditions (and I must admit that one of them that I am dreaming of would take anything between four and seven months) is not exactly inductive for marriage/parenthood, but marriage/parenthood is certainly not inductive for ANY kind of expeditions, no matter if seven-month or seven-day long.

That is why I asked my previous question about family matters. Another blocker in my case is that I feel sufficiently responsible for my seriously ill mother (who, on top of that, gets a ridiculously small old-age pension) to have second thoughts.

The question that almost made a zombie out of me because I keep thinking of it day and night is: how much of yourself should you devote to your passion, your life-path, your self-development, your inner feeling of well-being, your feeling of achievement - and, potentially, also to earning relatively (or very) good money on it, and how much family matters should be taken into account, or prevail. Could I, for instance, go somewhere closer for my first, planned, dreamed, expedition (the sanswer is that in general I could, but not before I am through with this one area of the world), or could I go for a shorter period (the answer is that in the case of many other expeditions I could, but this one is simply too slow in preparation and making due to the peoples, their customs and taboos, dangerous animals, the weather, landscape, etc. to take a month or two and it needs four to seven months).

So, as you see, my blockage is less the lack of funding (although that is also one of key factors, so ANY remarks, hints and tips on that will be more than welcome!), and more family matters.

Best regards

Wojtek

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