When we were hunting for the next Freezing Omanis we had so many people ask us what it takes.
It wasn't an easy explanation....
The main thing that I got from the last expedition is time.....its not really that easy to keep a balance between your normal life and what you have to do to get to Antarctica, its one amazing journey but it takes a lot of work to get there!
You have your normal life where you study, work, socialize...but then you need to work on getting there and raising the funds, which is the hardest part. The expedition costs 11,000 OMR per person which means that you need to start talking to countless companies to try and get them to help you out.
Corporate sponsorship for such expeditions in Oman is relatively new so many people hesitate to even think about being involved, and other companies have policies that restrict them from sponsoring individuals (they can only sponsor established and registered organizations)
For me.....Antarctica was a priority, so I had to sacrifice any free time I had, which meant less time with family and friends, less time to relax and basically....work on something or the other 24/7
I thought that it was just me being a perfectionist, but now that im spending more time with the new Freezing Omanis I see that this is what it takes!
'Glacier' comes to our meetings looking like a zombie that hasn't slept in days!
'Seal' hasn't been able to spend as much time with his kids and he even stopped writing his book! (yes he is writing a book)
Even our energetic 'Blizzard' is caught between studies and the Freezing Omanis and missing enough family time :(
And me.....well, it feels like im back to logistics and planning just like last year! I remember just how it was stressing out about getting sponsors and not knowing where and what gear to get!
But I also remember how it is to read and watch everything about Antarctica just like these girls (and guy) are doing now! and I see how excited they are and how they tend to always start a sentence with "when were in Antarctica we will...."
But till they get there, its the hard part......now we look for they right people to partner up with! and I have high hopes that this time, people already know and support what these brilliant Freezing Omanis want to do!
It wasn't an easy explanation....
The main thing that I got from the last expedition is time.....its not really that easy to keep a balance between your normal life and what you have to do to get to Antarctica, its one amazing journey but it takes a lot of work to get there!
You have your normal life where you study, work, socialize...but then you need to work on getting there and raising the funds, which is the hardest part. The expedition costs 11,000 OMR per person which means that you need to start talking to countless companies to try and get them to help you out.
Corporate sponsorship for such expeditions in Oman is relatively new so many people hesitate to even think about being involved, and other companies have policies that restrict them from sponsoring individuals (they can only sponsor established and registered organizations)
For me.....Antarctica was a priority, so I had to sacrifice any free time I had, which meant less time with family and friends, less time to relax and basically....work on something or the other 24/7
I thought that it was just me being a perfectionist, but now that im spending more time with the new Freezing Omanis I see that this is what it takes!
'Glacier' comes to our meetings looking like a zombie that hasn't slept in days!
'Seal' hasn't been able to spend as much time with his kids and he even stopped writing his book! (yes he is writing a book)
Even our energetic 'Blizzard' is caught between studies and the Freezing Omanis and missing enough family time :(
And me.....well, it feels like im back to logistics and planning just like last year! I remember just how it was stressing out about getting sponsors and not knowing where and what gear to get!
But I also remember how it is to read and watch everything about Antarctica just like these girls (and guy) are doing now! and I see how excited they are and how they tend to always start a sentence with "when were in Antarctica we will...."
But till they get there, its the hard part......now we look for they right people to partner up with! and I have high hopes that this time, people already know and support what these brilliant Freezing Omanis want to do!
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