The Happy Wanderer

Review - The Long Way Round DVD - Ewan McGregor

If you enjoy motorcycles, or you like watching others roughing it, The Long Way Round is the travel show for you.

In this two disc series, Ewan McGregor and his friend, Charlie Boorman, ride motorcycles from England, across Europe, up into the remotest parts of Russia, and then through Alaska, Canada, and finally end up in New York City.  If it sounds exhausting, then you have a small sense of the scope of this adventure.  It's a bold, dangerous, and often muddy trek around the world.

I loved these two DVD's.  They demonstrate all the nuances of travel, the expectations, the glitches, the wonder and much more.  The first hour shows Ewan and Charlie preparing for the trip, from a rigorous exercise routine, to choosing a brand of bike, to receiving their required bloody inoculations. Their months of preparation foreshadow just  how difficult the journey will be.

Then they're off.  Europe is like a jaunt in the park, and the filmmakers gloss over it quickly.  Charlie and Ewan want to get to the off-road biking in Mongolia and Russia.

During parts of this documentary, I kept thinking, why are they making themselves suffer so hard?  I can tell you that you will rarely see me without roads and buses and plumbing.  I'm a safe traveler.  I want to get back home with all my fingers and toes and my stomach full of lovely food.  So while watching these guys motoring through mud up to their knees, knowing they could have been seriously injured, my emotions were torn.  I'm glad I wasn't the one making the trip.  But I have to admit, it was interesting to watch them risk everything.

Related Links: A View from the Couch - Review of Michael Palin DVDs

A View from the Couch

Let's face it, there are days when walking or riding anywhere sounds like a chore.  Yes, I'm a huge fan of getting yourself out on the street and seeing what there is to be seen.  But you don't always have to leave your living room to travel.

Travel is a state of mind.  It is the desire to explore new things. With that definition, there are plenty of documentaries and books that take you to places you simply can't go on an average vacation budget. From time to time, I will review the best of these.

I'll start with Michael Palin.  A member of the British comedy troupe, Monty Python, Michael Palin cheesed it up for a long time in front of the entire world.  Then in his mid-forties, he started traveling the world and presenting his journeys on the BBC.

I've watched as many of Michael Palin's travel series as I can get my hands on through Netflix. He's immensely likable and comfortable.  He's not afraid to cross countries with rebel forces hiding out in the hills, different cultures interest him without him gushing over or judging them, and his voice overs make me smile without ever feeling like he's trying too hard to entertain me.  I truly felt like I was a travel partner on his long saunters through vast ranges of civilization.

Michael Palin has literally circled the globe several times.  If you can't get out of your house today to explore the neighborhood down the street, I highly recommend you let this delightful English gentleman take you to the Sahara, New Europe, or Around the World in Eighty Days.