Overcoming Barriers
This blog could have had many titles; The best laid plans of mice and men or perhaps; My pack of cards is looking distinctly shaky, maybe the much simpler: Really!?, or that old classic: FFS!! (Though I clearly wouldn’t use that last one, because it is rude.) However, I decided to call it Overcoming barriers, because at the end of the day, it’s all you can do. Whatever the latest problem, or barrier is (or in this case ‘barriers’) it can only be faced head on. It may leave you utterly stunned but, when you have finally removed your head from your hands, it will still have to be dealt with.
There is of course always the option of just giving up. Thinking, “Oh, I just can’t do this.” and staying at home, but with so much invested, that is not an option.
“What, pray tell, went wrong?” I hear you ask. Well, get a chair, this is a long story.
You may not be suprised to hear that this relates to my plan to ski the length of Norway over 4 months starting in January 2022, the Norge på Langs. If you have no idea what I am talking about I suggest you take a quick look here [Norge på Langs 2022] and catch up before you read any further.
3,000 km (1,900 miles) on skis - No chair lifts!!!!
Mrs P and I had been due to fly to Norway on Thursday 9th December for a week. Part recce, part holiday, but mostly to collect some kit, practice my non-existent skiing skills and drop off a large amount of food. Then barrier number 1 reared its ugly head in the form of the latest version of Covid. What are they calling it now? The Omicron version? The Delta version? Who cares what it’s called, it’s the bloomin’ annoying version.
Anyway, as a result of this new version, new regulations were quickly imposed meaning that, prior to our return to the UK we would have needed to take a Covid test. If we tested positive (a low chance admittedly) we would then need to go into a quarantine hotel for 10 days in Norway. Norway, the most expensive country in the world! It would also mean we ran the risk of missing Christmas in the UK which would be very bad because Mrs P’s family are getting together for the first time in 3 1/2 years. But, it’s a small chance right? Then, Trond, my Norwegian friend, who we were due to stay with, contracted Covid.
Mrs P and I sat with our heads in our hands. What to do? Eventually and with heavy hearts we cancelled the whole trip. Bugger! The right decision though. The family get together is absolutely the most important thing and the risk was too great. Move on.
This however left me with another logistical issue relating to the 4 month expedition with regards our food supplies that we have spent rather a large amount of money on. I have always been unhappy with our plan to just carry it in excess baggage when we fly and this cancellation gave me the excuse to look more closely at the issue. I didn’t find any good news. I discovered, quite quickly, that our plan would have failed at the first hurdle. We would never have got the food through customs and it would all have been seized and we could also have been heavily fined.
Just a few of the things that you simply cannot export to Norway
Suddenly I needed to find a solution and quickly. How to ship 100kg of expedition food to Norway? Long story short, I spoke to a company that specialise in shipping goods to Norway and they said…
“It is possible, but..”
“It’s possible? That’s great!” I said
They said; “You didn’t hear the ‘but’ did you?”
I replied: “I did, yes, but I’m a positive kind of guy, so mostly I heard the ‘it is possible’ part.”
They said; “This is not a positive kind of ‘but’”
“Oh dear” said I.
They explained that, because it wasn’t a business to business export it would need its own dedicated shipment. It would also require a huge amount of paperwork, permissions and certifications etc. In short it would cost thousands of pounds. Way more than it would cost to take a hit on what we have spent so far and instead buy the very expensive version of the same food in Norway.
This salutory lesson in not trying to cut corners means that I have spent the last few days, with the help of the utterly marvellous Trond in Norway, organising 100 kgs of food supplies at short notice. We, (when I say ‘we’ I mean mostly Trond) have managed to source the whole lot from one Norwegian supplier thereby saving quite a lot of money. However, Norway being Norway, that saving is still more than we would’ve paid in the UK, but nowhere near as much more as we had anticipated and probably less than we paid in excess baggage in the first place.
More than £700 of food will now be staying in the UK (David will use it on his next expedition) and I will be staying out of jail. That’s a result I think. Don’t you?
So, my advice to you all is this; do your research well. Don’t try to cut corners to save a few pounds and always face barriers head on. They may seem insurmountable, but every problem has a solution. Oh, and DON’T VOTE FOR BREXIT!!! Too late!
So, the expedition is still going ahead. Despite the latest issues. Or, at least it is as long as they don’t start shutting borders because of variant Z (or whatever) before we leave for Norway on 29th December.
In the next few days I hope to be sharing a few images and videos of the kit I am taking with me. Look forward to me dressed in silly hats and posing in sleeping bags.
You lucky people you.
