What a hectic week. Planning, buying, fixing... all the things that you do before a major production trip. But we're excited. The countdown is on. We leave in exactly one week. On the up side, the Peru visas came through fine. We're still struggling with the Indian visa though. Seems it's very tough to get a journalist's visa. What's incredible is that we really want to put the country in the forefront in a positive light considering all the great work they are doing. I'm hoping it all works out otherwise it will be a great deception and a logistics nightmare. Today I interviewed Dr. Luc Hessel of Sanofi-Pasteur MSD. Great interview. In fact, all of them have been. I'm getting the feeling that this film is going to be very substantial.

Still ahead before we leave for Brazil, our first round the world stop, is our intro sequence which I will be filming in front of a clinic in Annecy. They have graciously offered to let us film there though they want their name left anonymous. That's a rarity these days. Most people want to be highly visible, with them it's the opposite. Oh, and great filming sequence at IARC on Tuesday. Thanks again to Peter, Caroline and all the wonderful people there. They're making this film much easier to produce.

Good morning from Tirana, Albania. Back after 12 years. This country has changed dramatically. The airport is new, really new, as is the road from the airport to downtown. We are currently at the hotel waiting for the health ministry to come pick us up. We look forward to a few good interviews including a visit to the PACT site at the Mother Teresa hospital.

The weather is grey and ominous. This will definitely mean indoor filming today unless I can find a really nice terrace with an overhang.

Travelling by air was ok. This was our first 'air' leg of the film. We were overweight (arghh). And the tripod had to be checked in after being wrapped in plastic. Not happy about that. I've asked Gilles to figure something out so that we can, at least, protect it.

Anne has been a great crew member as Gilles stayed back in France. He and Sophie went to Paris to secure their Peruvian visa. I'll be going in a couple of days.

That's it for now. Will probably revert with news of the filming later.

Overall a good day today though it started and ended with lots of traffic and a couple of 'wrong turns'. I won't point fingers; instead I'll let Gilles plead guilty in person when he sees each and every one of you.

On the more serious side, we had a great interview with Prof. David Kerr. He is obviously passionate about his work and the new labs at Oxford are quite impressive. As you will see in the film, his work on colorectal cancer is extensive and his search for new drugs is impressive as well.

Rushing out of Oxford we could find nothing healthy to eat so we defaulted to a Domino's Pizza takeout. Then it was off to Folkestone to catch the Eurotunnel. Incredible traffic. Not sure why but there was a line up of trucks several miles long.

Tonight we'll be sleeping in Brussels at a way too expensive hotel but that's all we could find at this late stage downtown which is where we have to be early in the morning for an interview hastily arranged by one of our great guardian angels Caroline G. We were slated to interview Dr. Adamou, but he cancelled out at the last minute for health reasons.

Hope we are not boring you with our trip blog. If you are receiving this by email and wish to be taken off please do so immediately; no hard feelings. If you're reading it on our website, then it's easier, just tune us out (sniff).

I'll close by saying this. I think by the end of the trip, my greatest frustration will be twofold. First will be that I wish I could interview each person for ten times as long. They are fascinating and committed. Secondly, how am I going to edit this film down into a 52 minute piece when every little bit of interview is so captivating?

One last thing. I liked this... in our hotel last night, there was a no smoking sign, but check out the fine! Expensive cigarette; I hope it makes people think twice.

Had a great day today. Very good interview with Prof. Margaret Stanley at Cambridge. She is a leading authority on infectious agents. She was also very eloquent and structured which made for an excellent interview. We then braved UK weather, and wow was it severe, to make it to London. The high note of the drive was my Shell station onion bahjees. Indeed, I found some vegan onion bahjees at a gas station! I was in vegan heaven.
Anyway, we finally made it to London. We went to interview Simon Davies the CEO of Teenage Cancer Trust. Very interesting work being done for teenagers with cancer. The low point of the afternoon was, however, trying to park the van in this tiny underground parking lot. Kudos to Gilles for getting it in and out of the elevator! That's right, we put the van in an elevator.
Rounded off the night by having a quick, but tasty, Indian meal in Thame near Oxford. Tuesday we are in Oxford to interview Professor Kerr and then we're off to... actually not sure. Dr. Adamou (MEP) had to cancel our Strasbourg interview so we're trying to find an alternate for Wednesday before going on to Warsaw for our Thursday interview.

Day one of Cancer is... filming. I picked up Gilles at 5:30 and we went to the studio to pick up the equipment. The first few days of any shoot are always a little scary. You have to dive into the new topic. Make certain all the equipment is working flawlessly. Every detail counts. Admittedly, this is how I feel right now, a little nervous. As most of my friends, clients and stakeholders know, I'm a little bit 'extra' nervous on this one because I really want to do a good job for all my friends and family, notably mom, who have known cancer's wrath. This is really a film that I am making from the heart.
The trip was fine. Left the studio at 6:15 AM and headed North through the mountain roads to join the A41 highway. The weather was beautiful with the sunrise coming just as we joined the highway. Northbound we went through Dijon, Reims and Calais before getting on the Eurotunnel where the Kangoo we are driving did not, we thought, make it through the car section so we went over to the truck section. In fact, we did clear the height; it was just the antenna. The guys at Eurotunnel were cool though and let us on without paying the height penalty. The trip across the Channel has really become uneventful. Drive on to the train, listen to the emergency announcements in English and French and off you go. I remember taking the 'Chunnel' when it first opened and there was an air of excitement. No more.
Perhaps soon we'll be able to say this about cancer. Maybe a cure will be found and we will someday consider cancer a concern of the past. That's what we're going to try to find out.
Travelwise, the big event of the day was being hit by two stones. As we were driving out of Reims, after a quick visit of its unique cathedral, we were getting a little hungry and ready for a sit down meal so we started looking for a restaurant. Little did we know that we would be driving right past a gypsy camp with three kids engaging in David rock throwing target practice. Sure enough, Gilles says to me: "looks like we are about to get hit by some rocks." At this point I had not seen the kids but when the two stones hit the Kangoo roof, there was no doubt that these kids spent more time doing stone throwing practice than studying math. Obviously, with all our film equipment and a sense of innate calm, it was useless to get into an argument we could not win. We knew full well that we would accomplish nothing by confronting the kids and a camp full of testy men. So on we went looking for our restaurant which, by the way, we never found. Gilles ended up eating a burger — not very healthy, we know — and I postponed my vegan eating.
A closing note to do with omens. I am not superstitious but my mom was and for her the first crescent moon was the sign of luck for the month. And the clearer it was, the better. As it happens, as we were driving into the Cambridge area, where we have our first interview tomorrow, sure enough there was a majestic, crystal clear, first crescent. Proof that it was a sign that the production will go well: we missed what I thought to be the hotel exit. Well, believe it or not, after the additional ten miles of complaining that we had missed the right exit, when we got off, at the next exit, what do we find? The hotel was right there, at the 'wrong' exit. Had mom's moon guided us here?