Results All Round!

Well, what a manic time for 'The test'. But everyone has come up with the goods, as I have come to expect!

One of the hardest things about heading back to Nepal on an impromptu visit like that was the stuff I was going to have to miss out on.

Just before I went away I was able to announce that ITV London Tonight were going to send a journalist, Mark Jordan, to cover our expedition. That was an amazing scoop. Captive Minds were a big help on that one too. Alex Rayner and I had planned an ITV News Tonight feature whereby I would present to a school with James Butler and get them to make prayer flags that we would take up to Everest with us. They were to write their own prayers, hopes and wishes on these. In the end I had to miss out on this and let Glen and Wes take over. I also missed the table cricket with the Lord's Taverners and the disabled children. I also missed out on a big team weekend down in Cornwall. These things were pretty gutting to miss out on, but particularly the school as that was my creative idea and I really was looking forward to it.

Possibly harder than that was missing out on closing the Nokia deal! All the work I put in trying to find us a sponsor and I couldn't even be there to seal the deal. Still, at least we have a sponsor!! It's not as much as I'd have liked, or we may end up needing, but it'll mean we cna definitely do this thing so long as we are shrewd with spending! Massive thanks to Gerorge Powell and Vicks for managing this. Also to Wes for stepping back up whilst I was away.

My trip was also a success. At one point we were staring down some obnoxiously large demands from the Government there. It wasn't looking pretty, that's for sure! However, I'm starting to understand Nepal and its politics a little better now, and started palying this game properly.

First up I spent my evenings networking like a beast. It's all about who you know out there! Through a great guy call Aamir, I got to meet the CEO of a massive TV station out there called Avenues. He agreed to put together a promotional video campaign out on national TV for me. This suddenly started putting them in a corner. I also changed up the website homepage to include the Nepal Tourist Board logo prominently placed. This CEO also had some words in the right places. all this serves is to heap up the potential embarasment factor for the Government if permission was not to be granted.

Thanks to Nir's amazing tenacity, a few words from the right people and me losing my rag a bit, I am pleased to say that I have come away with full permissions and we should have no further problems. What an amazing feeling!