How does being an explorer affect your relationships and personal life?

How does being an explorer affect your relationships and personal life?

Benedict Allen (Explorer) gives expert video advice on: What are your top tips for survival on an expedition?; What are the three most important things you must take with you on an expedition?; How does being an explorer affect your relationships and personal life? and more...

I think being an adventurer-explorer is devastating to your personal life. I suppose one of the biggest sacrifices I've had to make is my social life - that has ruined relationships, I suppose, through the years. And I suppose I like to think that people I've gotten to know have wanted to be with me because I'm the sort of person I am. But the problem is that the sort of person I am is somebody who wants to go off alone and understand about the world. For me personally, it wouldn't work taking a girlfriend on an expedition, though there are different ways of adapting your expedition to try and incorporate a girlfriend or a boyfriend. But, I'm very, very single minded and I think it's hard for me to think of taking a partner along. I think I'd compromise my objectives. And however willing that person might be to put up with long absences, it's very difficult to commit to someone who is going to be disappearing for six months. It's hard for them, the person left behind, because often early in a relationship, how do you know if you really like the person enough to wait for six months wondering if they're going to survive or not, come back or not. It's very hard. It's hard also for the person going, someone like me, thinking should I really ask this person to wait for me. It's an enormous thing to ask anyone to wait around, say six months. Bear in mind I don't take a satellite phone generally. It's such a big, big thing and it's stopped me really settling down with anyone till very recently. And now I suppose I've lost a lot of the burning desire to go. It's more, I'm more fascinated by these places than driven to go to these places. And so perhaps I've opened myself up and allowed myself to get close to someone.