MY Life

My Story of Emotion

Everyone, at least once in life, feels the desire to leave everything behind, to go far away, to live something extraordinary.
The difference between those who dream and those who make it happen lies in a simple gesture: taking the first step.

I took that step.

I was born in Norway, raised in Africa, graduated in Denmark, and spent most of my life working as a diplomat in Italy. A full, intense life—but inside, I felt something was missing: a boundary to cross, a limit to break, something that would allow me to go… beyond.

“Beyond” is not just the name of an expedition.
It’s a way of life.
It’s the decision not to settle, to go searching for what we do not yet know about ourselves.

For me, it all started with a question:
“What if I tried to retrace the routes of my great-uncle, Roald Amundsen?”
The man who first reached the South Pole, the North Pole, and the Northwest Passage.
No one had ever attempted to travel, overland with wheeled vehicles, the same icy routes he had taken.

And so my adventure was born.

I gathered an international team, bringing together people who didn’t know each other and spoke different languages. We built a common method, learned to trust each other, and realized that success never belongs to a single person—it belongs to the group that walks together.

We left Milan on December 13, 2008, heading for the Siberian Arctic.
Big dream, well-prepared equipment, courage on board.
But once you set out on such a journey, the first thing you learn is this:

Nature gives no concessions.

Temperatures of –40°C. Total darkness. Invisible roads.
Water and snow where there should have been only ice.
Accidents, delays, obstacles.
And then the ultimate stop: the Urals. The limit that held us back.

In that moment, I saw my goal slip away:
the Bering Strait, the symbolic destination of my dream.

Yet, you know what?
I did not feel defeated.

Because when you chase a dream, it’s not the destination that defines you:
it’s the path you have the courage to take.

It’s in the darkness of the tent, when the frost grips you and panic brushes past, that you learn who you truly are.
It’s there you understand that nature does not want to be challenged: it wants to be respected.
And to move forward, you must have discipline, clarity, vision.

I live in my dreams.
My life is a dream, and I dream in order to live.

And from one dream was born an expedition that brought together countries, people, skills, cultures.
An expedition that showed what happens when humans decide to go beyond their limits, beyond fear, beyond what others consider possible.

And today, I want to leave you with a simple message:

No dream is too big.
There is only the courage to start it.

My dream is unfinished, it’s true.
The Bering Strait still awaits me.

And I will reach it.

But now it’s your turn.
Each of us has our own “Bering Strait”: a goal, a change, a challenge, a desire that seems unreachable.
No matter how far it is:

Take the first step.
Go beyond.

Thank you.