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North Pole Balloon Flight
THE LUNATICS ABANDON THE ASYLUM
 A few issues ago, we ran Ivan Trifonov's account of his pioneering trip to the North Pole. So enthralled was he, he set up a Balloon Meet. This was to be no ordinary package with subsidised gas and pilot packs. Only the adventurous need apply! Mike Green decided this was definitely one for the logbook and headed down to Marks and Sparks to buy some thermals. Needing crew, and someone who could do joined up writing, he told his girlfriend, Ali Yates, that he'd booked a holiday for them both! Looking somewhat out of place in Bermuda shorts, she did manage to scribble a few lines before her biro froze. Why do they call their dog Biro?
Its all Chris Dunkley's fault, this North Pole business! When he found out we didn't subscribe to his magazine, he sent us a copy (an old copy, I must add) and there it was in the Events listing. "Balloon Teams from all over the world invited to take part in a Fiesta on the North Pole in memory of Salomon August Andree who attempted to fly across it 100 years ago". We were a month past the registration date but contacted the organiser in Austria and were welcomed with open arms. We only had three weeks to go, with clothing to buy, flights to book, Visas to get, a kennel to find for the dog, fitness training to begin, press and radio interviews to do and Wills to write!
By the second week something had to go, so we crossed off the fitness training (which we hadn't got round to starting) and by the third week we were ignoring the press calls.
 April 12 1997
Arrived in Moscow and behaved like over-excited puppies when we saw it was snowing. Our excitement soon dissolved when we arrived at our "three star hotel in the City". We were taken to a rest home for the elderly, promptly nicknamed "The Asylum", an hour from Moscow and a 15 minute bus ride from the nearest Metro Station. We were fed with greasy oatmeal accompanied by a small lump of meat and semolina. Mike and Ali took First Choice Foods for their North Pole Adventure.
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