Oh how the months slip by in life.
151 days until we set off from Hong Kong bound for Australia. Everything is now starting to feel different. The expedition planning is in full-swing. I’m pulling 16 hour days trying to get my arms around this massive undertaking.
Things are progressing well on many fronts:
Charities: we are very close to deciding the remaining three charities for Wheel2Wheel to support – in China, Malaysia and Timor-Leste. So many pressing issues and so many wonderful organisations to consider. Its so hard picking one charity to highlight in a whole country when there are literally dozens doing amazing work with little recognition. I guess that’s why Wheel2Wheel will continue on after this first expedition is completed. Clearly there is a job to be done in opening the world’s eyes to the valuable work being done in the field.
Sponsors: in order to make an awesome television series (yes, for those who don’t know, we will have a film crew following us all the way to Australia!) and reach a massive regional audience to tell the ten charities’ stories, we need sponsors. So we are now out in the market talking to all sorts of cool companies about helping us finance this unique combination of entertainment, tourism, reality and charity all rolled up into a 10 part documentary series. Stay tuned.
Training: the physical preparation is ramping up and I’m loving it. I’m finding my way to Pure gym (our wonderful fitness sponsor) pretty much every day for a couple of hours. I’m focusing on strength and endurance training and particularly in all those areas that are under duress whilst riding a big motorbike 100 days straight … so basically every part of my body. I haven’t worked out how to train to stop my butt getting sore!
Website: we are in the midst of another overhaul of our website to make it more user-friendly. We have recruited Manolis Perrakis (www.manorius.com) who is terrific artist and website designer. We will be creating totally new sections within the site, plus integrating an e-commerce mechanism to enable credit card payments when donating. Look out for these improvements throughout October.
Social media: I’m a novice when it comes to this world, but one thing that’s clear is it power. The undeniable truth is the world is changing fast. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are the main agents of change. Wheel2Wheel has boarded the social media train and we’re thrilled about it. PRDA (www.prda.asia) is now helping Wheel2Wheel to provide the best-possible online interaction as things build up towards our 1 March departure date. During the 100 day expedition we will be keeping all our supporters entertained with photos, blogs and video clips everyday.
Press: a big part of creating systemic support for our ten selected charities is raising awareness of their very existence. To get the ball rolling, Wheel2Wheel has appointed Grebstad Hicks Communications (www.ghcasia.com) in Hong Kong to help spread the word. So look out for Wheel2Wheel on television, in newspapers, magazines and even on the radio.
Donations: we know its a while before we start the journey and even longer until the television series shows people exactly what’s happening at our ten charities. Nonetheless, now is a great time to start giving! We have been receiving some donations over the last few months, but there is still a long way to go before we can really make a difference – so anything people can afford, no matter how small, absolutely matters. Remember EVERY CENT OF EVERY DOLLAR you donate goes directly to the charities. Today we received a generous donation where the donor specifically instructed us to allocate his funds to individual organisations among our selected group. Its your choice, so check out the seven charities listed so far, by clicking on the links on our website – and then you decide what to do.
Trip logistics: having people on the ground in all the countries we pass through is critical. I’d like to report we have all that sorted out, but we don’t. We are making some progress in some countries, but others are still black spots. We may end having to work things out as we go, its pretty much impossible to have every detail covered in advance. I guess that will make it unpredictable and spontaneous – which is what life is all about!
Subscribe to our Youtube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/Wheel2Wheelchannel
Join us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/wheel2wheel
Follow us on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/wheel2wheelteam