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A trip to the North of Scandinavia is not complete without a trip to the Ice Hotel.  Although expensive to stay, a walk around the village is free and a tour is not too expensive either.  It is an amazing and truly unusual place.  With hundreds of sculptures and a giant hotel that can house hundreds of visitors each night…a truly impressive feat that is built over and over again each winter.

Artists from all over the world come each year to show off their skills by creating individual themes for each room.  The process of building the hotel takes months and has become a mecca for tourists around the world.  So enjoy the photos although 6 months overdue:)

www.icehotel.com

Flickr Gallery

I saw the news earlier today.  I imagine that the vast majority of the people reading this blog at least know who he is.  Many of you likely have your opinions of the guy good or bad, as he shot from the hip without filter the majority of his career as a comedian.  One of my favorite parts about his humor was his criticism of modern governments and the problems of the world.  So in tribute to one of my favorite comedians I have embedded this video of one of my favorite peices of his comedy.  This segment only rings more true as we make our way around the globe and see all of the things that are renamed in a politically correct way.

Often we get cheers from people about our courage to take on such a big project with such little resources.  Many tell us that we are crazy, jaws often drop when Steve Bouey tells them that he cashed out his whole retirement fund to put into this dream.  I have put a great deal of my savings on the line and dug a nice little black hole of credit as well.

When the project first started we went back and forth on the idea of starting TWBR as a non-profit so that we could have an easier time raising money. This was based on the idea that our objective was to work with schools when we return educating youth about what is really happening in the world and inspire them to follow after their dreams like we have.  Again, the majority of people are very supportive of us and these goals.  We don’t expect to change the world, but we certainly hope to change as many minds as we can about what is happening out there.  This is why we ultimately decided to not make this whole thing about a cause like everyone is doing these days.  Many races, expeditions, and adventures are about raising money for something, we did not want to make this about that.

Since both of us decided to pour our entire lives and financial security on the line for this project, it seemed reasonable to at least have the option at the end of this of turning a profit and maybe actually getting paid for the risks we have taken.  Still there are those few out there that take offense to this, as though we are selfish people.  Perhaps someday some of these angry people out there can realize that just because someone is trying to make money, doesn’t mean they cannot also be helping someone.  The most recent and anonymous comment on the blog writes as such:

“Let’s see…..there are hundreds of thousands of children starving, abused, homeless, uneducated, orphaned and generally unhappy every day. 30,000 USD would change the lives of an entire village. I could help them, or help this group put more gas in their SUVs drive around the world. Hmmmmmmmm……….”

This fine anonymous reader of the blog is from Milton, Queensland in Australia based on the IP address.  My question to him/her and anyone who feels the same way is, “What did we ever do to you?”  We are a couple of guys that believe just throwing money at poor, less fortunate people does not solve problems.  As we state in our mission statement and all the info on the site explaining what we are doing- Only 20% of Americans hold valid passports and an even smaller amount of them actually using them in a given year (some years less than 5% of Americans leave the country).  The statistics are very similar in most developed countries.  Although the statistics may be a little better in other countries, not many people who donate money to the Red Cross or the countless other organizations out there trying to help people have even been to the countries where the money is going.  From what we have seen, a majority of this money is misused or never even makes it to the people it was meant to help.

Man on his Soapbox - Courtesy of Wikipedia

There are still many upstanding organizations out there helping people, but saying that giving money to a village is more important than educating youth is crazy in my opinion.  If we can fill the world with more young people that are truly aware of world issues, then we will more quickly solve problems like starvation, illiteracy, corruption, disease, pollution and more.  The majority of people I have met on this journey, American or not, do not know where half of the countries in our route lie on a map.   Before we all fill ourselves with guilt because we are privileged or stand on our soapboxes about sending money abroad, remember that education and understanding are our most important tools to creating real change in the world.  Between Europe, the USA, and the other developed countries pouring billions of dollars each year into foreign aid and influencing countless decisions of other countries governments, it should be our duty as citizens of these countries to make sure that those dollars are spent responsibly and the decisions are made well.  Without ever even getting near these places, who are any of us to say where the money is best spent or whether the decisions being made are responsible?

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PS. Anonymous, if you are looking for a village that has a really great program helping locals, The ETC in KhaoLak, Thailand is a place I would recommend.  Our friend Reid Ridgeway runs the program and it is a place that makes an unbelievable difference in the lives of Thai people and helps to preserve their environment at the same time.  Also, if you were interested we also filmed with AUSAid in Indonesia, and your Australian dollars are being well spent there building schools.

Of the many options with the expensive prices of gas in Europe, we opted for the route towards North Cape starting on a ferry from Germany to Denmark, followed by a series of bridges to get to Sweden.  The dash up to the Ice Hotel led us across the Arctic Circle and introduced all of us to the eerie feeling of Polar Night, the time of year when the sun never makes it above the horizon when you are so far North.  The light and the feeling you get up here is nothing like I have ever experienced before.  The twilight and color of the sky give you energy and make you depressed at the same time.

It seems like a dark and lonely trip, but even up until now, it is one of my favorite points on the whole expedition, this trip North.  So enjoy the photos.

Some people in Bavaria consider themselves Bavarians, not Germans. Many of the Germans we met outside of Bavaria, could not stand the place. TWBR on the other hand could not get enough. Bavaria is a place that for all practical purposes is a separate country from Germany. The beer halls and beer gardens are full of silly music, guys in Lederhosen doing silly dances with silly hats, and beer chugging masses. The locals talk about beer like the French talk about wine. In fact we all went to a beer drinking course two times while in the region that would rival any wine tasting in Bordeaux (maybe because you are encouraged to drink the whole beer instead of just a sip like with wine).

No one takes things too seriously in Bavaria. It is a land where beer flows like water, people are focused on a good time, and the citizens hold on to their culture stronger than many places we have been in the world. I will continue to be confused for the rest of my life why anyone would not love it here, but I guess it just takes a good sense of humor to enjoy all that Munich and the area have to offer. Like most places we visited in Germany, this is on the must return to list. So for all of you too hot to trot fancy pantsies, I will be happy to enjoy a glass of wine with you and talk about the wonders of aging expensive cheeses, but your cries about the unruliness of the Bavarians will fall on deaf ears…I love those guys.