C'mon(s)! I How I found inspiration at Westminster

I'm excited about this trip for so many reasons, some selfish, but many to do with the educational and inspirational benefits to young people. What's tricky is judging whether the wider community buys in to my views on the benefits.

Every now and then things happen that make me believe I have wider support  (inspired companies like Teaching Expertise sponsoring me) and then something will happen that makes me doubt my views (school not being able to contribute any money).

Yesterday was the best day so far at making me feel really good about what I'm doing.

All the expedition teachers and guides were invited to the House of Commons by Tom Levitt MP. We were given an incredible tour by Swedish Penny; I've never been keen on history due to the amount of dates to remember, but stories of Charles I charging into Parliament with 400 swordsmen outisde, the Queen processing down corridors to open Parliament, how Westminster Hall embodies our unwritten constitution and why Queen Victoria is always pictured with a footstool (she was short) fascinated me.

After the tour we had a meeting and photocall with Jim Knight (Schools Minister). He seemed genuinely interested in the expedition and grateful for what we were doing. Hopefully he went away with the message that schools and government need to make time and money for teachers to do things like this, in order to fire up education.

After the House of Commons it was off to the Royal Geographical Society for an evening of lectures on Antarctica and Sir Vivian Fuchs, culminating in us being introduced to the audience. We spoke about our hopes for what we would achieve – I want simply to create an amazing story that gets children to think about the story they want to write for themselves.

We then headed off to schmooze, drink red wine and eat sandwiches which had the crusts cut off. Everyone I spoke to seemed excited, amazed and interested in what we were doing; their enthusiasm has fired me up and today I'm feeling really good about this expedition and my involvement.