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Part I of III: Hannah McKeand, from the desert to the ice to the sea
Jul 21, 2004 12: 00 EST
Quite a few people live the same day of life over and over again. Wake up, go to work, go home, go to bed – “Lather, Rinse, Repeat.” Every once in a while though, one of those people says, f#%! it. Somewhere in the back of the brain there’s that unfulfilled dream that can no longer remain docile. While Hannah McKeand’s life might not exactly consist of getting dressed up in a pantsuit every day to go to work, her story is definitely a source of inspiration for those that do, but yearn for something else.
31 years old, the UK woman has decided to drop everything, mortgage the house, and go for it. And it’s not just a one-off expedition. Hannah is about to embark on a yearlong triple-threat that will take her from the deserts of Afghanistan, to the ice of the Antarctic, and then on a race around the world – literally.
ExWeb: So Hannah, a lot of people talk about dropping everything and getting out there, but never actually do it. What made you go for it?
Hannah: When I first started, back in 2001, I have to admit it was a sort of pig-headed, kicking out at the world; an announcement of my independence. I’d just come out of a seven-year relationship in which I’d felt quite stifled and I felt the need to go way over the line the other way just to right myself again, you know, regain some balance. So that’s when I headed out to the Western Desert for the first time. It was only meant to be a one-off, once in a lifetime thing, but when I got back I just couldn’t get all that space out of my head. I actually felt homesick for it and within a month I’d booked myself to go back on the next expedition and I’ve been going twice a year since.
What I’ve learnt is simple to say, but hard to really live and believe. The world is a really small place and with the wondrous options we have available to us with regards to modern travel, there is no reason not to get out there and see it. A few weeks ago a friend rang me on a Friday to say he was playing polo in Malta and after work I jumped on a plane and went out for the weekend to watch him, with as little thought as I would give to jumping on a train and going into the city. It cost me £30. Anyone can do this; it’s just a matter of changing your preconceptions about travel.
My problem is that having absorbed that kind of traveling into my day to day routine, I find myself looking for more and more outlandish options to be the really special things. The trouble is, the more outlandish things become the more time and effort they take and eventually you reach a point where you have to decide how important they are to you and if they are worth sacrificing other things for.
ExWeb: You've got Afghanistan, the South Pole, and an around the world sailing race all lined up for the next year - how are you affording all of this?
Hannah: I was really lucky in that I was left my house, so I’ve mortgaged it. I rent it out when I’m away and I have lodgers even when I’m home, that keeps things ticking over. And of course I work, I run the touring department of a theatre in the town where I live, I do it as a freelance and I’m very lucky in that I can get a lot done in advance to clear my desk for when I’m away. And then there are always credit cards! I will have to do some creative fundraising if I get a place on the Clipper.
ExWeb: What do your friends and family think about all this?
Hannah: People are amazing; just so supportive. They all get so excited for me, which is lovely, but always surprises me, I spend my life warning people to avoid the subject of deserts or the South Pole unless they want me to bore them to death, but they really do seem interested; either that or they are all just incredibly polite. I draw the line at making them look at 500 pictures of rocks and sand when I come back though, there are limits to people’s patience!
My parents are wonderful, I know they must worry about me, but they never show it or try to stop me.
ExWeb: What were you like as a kid? Does your spirit of adventure have early roots?
Hannah: I think I was much more timid as a kid, it was only when I turned about 15 that I realized that fear was a thing that could be rationalized and conquered. I was always quite dogged I suppose, I’d ride my horse for three hours just to get to a sandy beach where we could have a good gallop in the sea before riding three hours home again, that sort of thing. But when I was 15 I was staying with some cousins in Italy in a villa on a headland of the bay that Monaco is in. The headland on the far side of the bay was called La Mortala and the boys in the family used to swim the two miles across to it as a sort of right of passage. My younger cousin Harry was being teased by his older brothers because he hadn’t done it and I was joining in, when he rounded on me and said I was a fine one to talk as I wouldn’t even paddle I was so afraid of the sea (which is still true to this day I might add). So the next day, I got up, dragged him out of bed, marched him into the water, fixed my eyes on La Mortala and started swimming. All the way across I couldn’t speak with terror, but as I approached the land the terror was replaced with elation and I knew that there was nothing in the world I couldn’t make myself do. I’d found my inner reserve.
Tomorrow in Part II of III, Hannah and ExplorersWeb talk about the first of her three expeditions, Afghanistan.
Hannah plans on leaving next month for Afghanistan, and then will go for the South Pole this fall, and will then finish up the trifecta by hopefully competing in an around the world sailing race.
Image of Hannah courtesy of Hannah McKeand.
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