'Enjoy the Adventure of Being Alive'

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One day in the scorching summer of 2018, our office in London received a rather unusual email. Jens from Gothenburg in Sweden had kept and been referring to one of our magazine advertisements from 1988(!). Reminiscing how the advertisement had inspired him for the last 30 years, read on to find out how it travelled around the world and helped Jens to ‘enjoy the adventure of being alive’.

I spent a year in Asia backpacking when I had a break from University in 1984-85 (I'm 55 years old today). Among other things I flew from Chengdu in China to Lhasa and then travelled over the Himalayas to Kathmandu. I hitch-hiked, rented a car and walked...... for three weeks. At that point in time this part of the world was completely ‘off the beaten track’. I had a map that covered Siberia to Singapore, which meant that Tibet was not well documented and for sure Lonely Planet had not been there yet. I took a lot of pictures during these travels and in the course of the years, have given numerous presentations on Tibet, outdoor adventures, and inspirational speeches on life in general.

In 1986 I started my business career and based myself in London where I worked as a Strategy and Management Consultant. After a few years, in approximately 1988, I came across and advert from World Expeditions with a fantastic picture.
Being pre-internet times, I sent the World Expeditions team a letter and received a brilliant travel brochure from them. The brochure has now unfortunately been lost in one of my many relocations.

The World Expeditions advertisement from a 1988 magazine

My business career was hectic and as I had my three kids, I never really had time for another similar travel around the world again. BUT, I always kept the World Expeditions advertisement in my briefcase so that I could, every now and then, sit on an international flight and be reminded of what life is really about. After a while I started using the advert when giving business presentations as a final slide and the slogan ‘Enjoy the adventure of being alive’ is something that has been like a motto for me, professionally as well as privately – for example when raising my kids. So by now, thousands of Volvo Group employees around the world have seen the advert and heard our shared motto in life.
I even made T-shirts with the imprint of the advert on the chest.....! To me the advert has been a treasured travel companion on all continents and approximately 35 countries over the last 30 years.

This autumn I am bringing my 25-year-old son (a photographer) to India and Nepal for two weeks.