Age: 38
Occupation: Foreign (English) Language Lecturer in South Korea, China
Hometown: Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Favorite sports/hobbies: #1. Cycling #2. Camping #3. Outdoor adventures #4. Photography #5. Reading/writing and blogging #6. Exploring new countries while learning about cultures.
I began traveling and camping with my family right after birth (from photos and parents descriptions…I had a great time!). Inspired by the journeys together as a family, I eventually had the chance to test my legs with endurance cycling. I began to take cycling more seriously about 20 years ago. Finally in 2001, I had already crossed the United States solo 7 times, and took up surfing, mountain biking and meditation in California before turning to East Asia in the winter of 2001 where I became an English teacher and met my wife at the same time! Some say that I have had a colorful life, and I would have to agree with them. I have enjoyed recreational cycling in Canada, America, Japan, China and South Korea. My plans for future expeditions are spurred to reach to distant parts of the world.
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- What is your most memorable moment of your career?
Drinking directly out of naturally clean and protected fresh water lakes in Ontario, Canada's Quetico Provincial Park. Experiencing the awesomeness of human powered travel in canoes through a pure wilderness reserve in Canada was definitely one the greatest highlights of my entire career. Working as an adventure guide at 20 years, tested my sense of direction, leadership as a canoe guide, objectivity to keep my wits together and all team members on task and safely moving in the right direction, either paddling or carrying everything over many a portage.
What is your favourite part of the world to explore and why?
Open geographical spaces. From the boundary waters of Quetico Park to the empty, open highway crossings of North America to rural farming roads cutting between rice fields in Korea, I enjoy the freedom of travel and the adventure of experiencing it with my own energy.
- What do you like best about Education Through Expeditions?
ETE offers explorers and students a unique opportunity to meet outside the classroom in a world of expeditions, another world where we are living, breathing, and dreaming and finally planning the next adventure beyond the routines of our ordinary daily lives. On expeditions, we enter a world where we encounter immediate dangers and personal challenges and learn techniques and skills to handle them and succeed in our missions. We are all encountering expeditions in our daily lives growing up in our communities –we should not forget that every experience in life is about facing something seemingly impossible on first glance, and spending more time trying to understand, of course we learn and persistence, we can succeed. Personally, I go on expeditions to challenge what I know about the world-to grow and to share experience with others. Therefore, I would like to say that Education Through Expeditions offers everyone something truly unique in enabling Explorers, teachers and students a medium to share in unique adventures while respecting one another and the Earth and it's habitats and learning to discover exploration alongside promoting important global issues affecting our communities around the world. Exploring the world starts with you, so let it be!
- Where in the world do you want to travel next and why?
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Western China and the Tibetan autonomous region. Places where political boundaries have now blended into a plurality of distinct cultures are now occupying the same politically demarked geographical space. Cultures are diverse in this area - that of the Tibetan culture and the Chinese culture which now inhabit adjacent geographical regions within the People's Republic of China. For reference, please review the Cultural Revolution (see references for further information, ask your teacher to discuss cultures and boundaries as an introduction to more understanding of this region of the world). The vast landscapes and empty spaces, cultures, languages and ways of nomadic life are all of special interest (in preserving, restoring and protecting cultural heritage and history) and this region of the world is abundant in ancient discoveries to explore.
- What do you miss most when doing field research or when on expedition?
- I experience a "home away from home on expeditions" -as expeditions offer unique perspectives of the world at eye-level without boundaries or walls which exist in our ordinary lives. Expeditions can change you, they have the power to open your mind to the world of possibilities, and they allow you to experience the dream that would never be possible before setting out on your own two feet. The journey is the destination, it happens over the period of our entire lives, but much more can happen when we begin to notice -and that's why I love exploring the world because it's the way I choose to live and learn while doing amazing things.
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Having studied engineering, Eric McNair-Landry is a tech guru and web-designer; however his true passion is being out on expeditions. He is one of the youngest to ski unsupported to the South Pole, has kite-skied over 8000km on expeditions and has crossed the Greenland Icecap 6 times. He currently holds the record for the longest kite-skiing distance in 24 hours at 595 km! His dog sledding skills led him to embark on a two-month dog sledding expedition in the high arctic with legendary explorer Will Steger, and recently he has crossed the Gobi desert via a kite propelled buggy. To add to the impressive list, he was nominated for National Geographic's prestigious Adventurer of the Year 2007 Award and received the Outdoor Idol Award in 2007. 
Sarah grew up with the Arctic Ocean and a team of dogs in her back yard. No stranger to the cold, she is the youngest to travel to both the North and South Pole, has traversed the Greenland Ice Cap five times, has ventured into the Gobi desert, and has recently guided an expedition to both the South and North Pole. Along with her older brother and teamate Eric, she was nominated for National Geographic's prestigious Adventurer of the Year 2007 Award and received the Outdoor Idol Award in 2007. When she is not in the cold, she spends her time working in film. After taking digital film making courses at the NY Film Academy, she has documented all of her expeditions and recently directed a documentary on waste management issues in northern Canada that was produced by the National Film Board of Canada.
In August 2009, Sarah Outen became the first woman and youngest person in the world to row solo across the Indian Ocean and in April 2011, she will embark on her second expedition in April 2011 - London to London: via the World - a circumnavigation of the globe which will see Sarah rowing, cycling and canoeing on the 30 000 mile journey. Sarah is Three times Guinness World Record Holder: First woman and youngest person to row solo across the Indian Ocean (Perth, WA to Mauritius 124 days, 2009) and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. In February 2011, her book 'A Dip in the Ocean' was published - a salty tale of courage and endurance which inspires the taste of adventure. 
I'm a geologist who holds a chair in Geoscience Communication in the School of Geography, Earth & Environment at Plymouth University. It all started back in 1986 when I graduated with a degree in Geography & Geology from Strathclyde University, Glasgow, and then in 1990 completed a PhD in geology at Bristol University. After that I lectured Earth Sciences at Brunel University in west London for twelve years, then packed it in and left academic for two years to leaving to develop television projects on geoscience. In 2004 I joined Plymouth University as a lecturer in geology, and have juggled teaching, research and filming ever since.
Originally from England, Chris, 38 years old, has been moving steadily north since childhood. In the course of his BA in Outdoor Education studies at Strathclyde University, Chris finally visited the Arctic, learning to be a sled dog handler in Alta, Norway. This was the start of a polar obsession.
I am currently in my 4th year at the University of Oxford, studying for a Masters in Earth Sciences. I love my degree, as it allows me to understand the processes going on around me that form the stunning environments that are perfect for expeditions!
Edward Morgan is a Human Geography student at the University of St Andrews and Vice-President of the St Andrews University Expedition Society.