Today it`s his seventh day. Yesterday the Norwegian made 9 kilometres in 7 hours. The sun is shining and the weather is hot - only -3 Celsius and no wind. As he reports, his sledge is still heavy and the terrain is steep, but he keeps the spirit up for walking The Long March.

This is a big paradox: how could this happen in a country with such friendly and hospitable inhabitants? Jordanians are genuine, peaceful and hard working people putting their strongest efforts to build their country and attract tourists to their beautiful country. They have really something to be proud of. We in Travel Explorations express our deepest sympathy to the people in Jordan and tourists who have been stroke by the explosions. I had a wonderful journey in Jordan this summer (2005), and everywhere I met nice people. Many invited me into their private homes for tea and I really enjoyed being with these people.

Readers of Wanderlust, Britain's leading magazine for real travellers, have updated the millennia-old list for the 21st century. Overall, 3,569 travellers' votes were counted in the largest survey of its kind ever. The results reveal what today's travellers view to be the most extraordinary sights on the planet.The clear voters' favourite is the lost Inca city of Machu Picchu, Peru, which received 52% more votes than its nearest rival, the vast temple complex of Angkor, Cambodia. The Great Pyramid of Giza, the only one of the 7 Wonders of the World still standing, has been relegated to eighth place in the definitive updated list.

The expedition is called the Longest March. The Norwegian Rune Gjeldnes` aim is to become the first person in the world to cross the Arctic Ocean and Antarctica without re-supplies. Børge Ousland - Borge Ousland, who is also from Norway, was the first to do it, but he did it with re-supplies. Rune is 34 year, and still eager to set new records. He will the coming 3 months be alone in the ice landscape. With 500 songs in his MP3 player, he finds inspiration to walk the whole distance reaching circa 4600 kilometres.

From 17th - 28th February next year you can enjoy hundreds of entertainment opportunities at the traditional Venice Carnival. It's a party with no barriers or borders, and it's arranged in one of the most amazing and famous historic city in the world. For more than 200 years, Venice has been a wonderful place for fancy-dress parties, jokes and sneers. And for over 20 years, Venice has been welcoming masqueraders, visitors and tourists who want to join the carnival and have fun in the late winter.

So this morning on Oct 8th (2005) I wake up and I notice my bed is moving. Weird, I check and it's moving alright. I think neighbours shagging, but the vibration is not coming from the wall so then I think large mammal under the bed. I jump up and shout 'what the fuck'. I get off bed, cross the room and look beneath gingerly, nothing there. After a few minutes it stops.....

The World's Best Award winners are selected each year through an extensive survey conducted by Travel + Leisure Magazine. Tens of thousands of questionnaires are sent to the Magazine`s readership world wide. In Travel + Leisure Magazine`s 10th annual poll this year (2005), the result from their readers vote for the best in travel is now avaible. The 15 best tour operators and safari outfitters on the list are: Micato Safaris, Tauck World Discovery, Wilderness Safaris, Lindblad Expeditions, Butterfield & Robinson, Travcoa, Backroads, International Expeditions, Geographic Expeditions, Intrav, Odysseys Unlimited, Big Five Tours & Expeditions, Overseas Adventure Travel, Abercrombie & Kent, and CIE Tours. So what are the qualifications for these travel companies to be awarded?

Bolivia is full of wonderful og mysterious archaeological sites. In the late afternoon July 2002, I was determinded to explore one of Bolivia`s greatest wonders near Puno, the Sillustani. Inspired from exploring another prehistoric site on my tour called Tiwanaku, I went out in the Bolivian highland and arrived just in time to experience the sunset. It gave the mysterious site an even more strange atmosphere. Viewing the ruines from the old Chullpas culture, with the clear blue Lake Umayo in the background, was an unforgettable moment that really turned me on.

The next year is the Peer Gynt Year. Then it`s hundred year after the famous Norwegian author Henrik Ibsen died. Announced in a press release on 14 October this year (2005), the Ministry of Culture and Church Affairs, informed that it has suggested for the National commitee to give 12,7 million Norwegian kroner extra in grant for celebrating Norway's big son. All together this Ministry intend to contribute with 19 million kroner. It`s also proposed to spend 8 millions kroner from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs` budget dedicated to the finale big show in Egypt.

The celebration will be marked with over 300 arrangements around the world. The finale arrangement will as mentioned be in Cairo, Egypt, at the Great Pyramid of Giza. The scene play will be accompanied by music from another famous Norwegian, Edvard Grieg. It will be dance, theatre and music based on Ibsen`s poem about the great adventurer Peer Gynt, inspired from a true person from Vinstra. As dramatically told about in the poem, Peer Gynt talks to the Sphinx in Cairo. It's a travel tale beyond all imaginations.

What is hiding below the surface of Lake Titicaca? The AKAKOR team has searched in this expedition for traces after the dawn of civilization in the Andes. They wanted to prove the Akakor theory about that Lake Titicaca for 5,000 and 8,000 years ago was shallower, and also in some areas was dry and habitable. Already on an expedition in 2000 the AKAKOR team made some discoveries backing up their theory. Due to the more incredible finds the history has to be rewritten about pre-Incas civilizations.

Teotihuacán's mythological builders in Mexico's have so far managed to hide the secrets. By using advanced equipment archaeologists have revealed more of amazing Teotihuacán's history, the first major metropolis of the Americas. Teotihuacán was built by an unknown people almost 2,000 years ago. The site sits about 25 miles (40 kilometres) north of present-day Mexico City. Temples, palaces, and some of the largest pyramids on Earth line its ancient main street. The probably biggest unanswered questions about Teotihuacán concern is why the city was abandoned around A.D. 650?

How long will the Bushmen manage to retain their cultural heritage? Survivel International reported 8 October 2005 that dozens of Bushmen were evicted yesterday from their ancestral land in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in Botswana. Police carried out the removals at gunpoint and then set fire to the Bushmen's huts.

The mysteries related to Stonehenge goes on, and even recent discoveries make it bigger. It`s probablably the most famous of all English Heritage Properties. Archaeologists discovered in May 2003 six more bodies near the grave of the so called King of Stonehenge.

The remains of four adults and two children were found at a site in Amesbury, close to where the Amesbury Archer was discovered the year before.

Ten o'clock Thursday night (20 October 2005), Kath my Aussie travelling companion has gone to bed. I walk toward the bridge over to Hanuman Ghat on Lake Pichola in Udaipur. This is the Venice of Rajasthan, an alluring, seductive city built by the Maharajas.

I am not ready for bed and I want some hard liquor to help me kill my cold. I wait for the first auto rickshaw to come along and I hail it.

During my tour in Jordan in July this year (2005), I talked to several Bedouins about Lawrence of Arabia, his lifestyle, preparation and attack on Aqaba. Who was he really? Is the movie about him telling the truth? His full name was Thomas Edward Lawrence, who lived from 1888 to 1935. He wrote the self biography Seven Pillars, but what think the Bedouins about him?