Today I’ve been sitting in the office in Lincoln poring over departmental budgets for the year ahead. Next week I’ll likely be out and about in the East Midlands looking at farmland and discussing how best to buy and sell it on behalf of our clients. Soon I’ll be in Times Square dining with Apollo astronauts.

My forthcoming trip to the US comes on the back of past journeys  – to the North and South Pole, Greenland and the first winter ascents of the Arctic’s highest peaks (below), South Georgia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Lut Desert in Iran (above), home to the NASA-named Pole of Heat on Earth.

When not busy with my day job as a Savills farm sales agent, I’m lucky enough to be exploring some of the most fascinating and challenging places in the world. So much so that this year I have been granted membership of the New York-based Explorers Club, an organisation which promotes the scientific exploration of land, sea, air, and space by supporting research and education in the physical, natural and biological world.

Over the decades, the club has embraced such illustrious names as Roald Amundsen, Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay as well as Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins who planted the club’s flag when they landed on the Moon 50 years ago.

One of the highlights of joining is the invitation to attend the 115th annual dinner – a once-in-a-lifetime experience dedicated to toasting and meeting all those living Apollo moonwalkers, astronauts and engineers.

I was put forward for membership as a result of my expeditions and the work I do talking to people, including schoolchildren, about the world of exploration. So what got me started and what have I learned?

Some people trace their first forays into the world back to reading epic or heroic real-life tales. For me it started in childhood with my favourite story – Little Grey Rabbit goes to the North Pole. A seed was planted.

I thought that once I’d got to the North Pole – slamming my ski pole into the top of the world – I would stop. But I inevitably found myself asking: what’s next?

My adventures have always been a hook for fundraising, latterly for the Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance of which I am a trustee.

For me exploration is about walking where no one else has walked. In crossing the Lut Desert we struck a new route; every human footprint in the sand was the first to be formed. It’s also about the like-minded people you meet who are chasing the same dream. And it’s about believing in yourself and your team in order to achieve a common goal. Success means doing all the small things well.

The worlds of farm sales and exploration are very different but there are parallels. It’s the team, not the individual, that gets you where you want to be.

Further information

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