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Michael Palin undertakes a journey by the most direct route possible with the most land to cross from the North Pole to the South Pole.

Michael Palin embarks on another epic journey of exploration and adventure, this time 15,000 miles through 18 countries around the Pacific rim.

Despite being unable to reach Antarctica via the Agulhas, all is not lost for Palin. A travel adventure company is able to take Palin to the South Pole from their base in Chile. This means Palin must abandon the 30 degrees east meridian.

Palin begins at the North Pole, flying there on a small aeroplane fitted with skis. From there, he heads to Greenland, then the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen, where the towns of Ny Alesund and Longyearbyen are located. He travels from Norway to Finland, meeting locals along the way.

In the old Ethiopian capital of Gondar Palin visits the former home of Emperor Haile Selassie, as well as his pet lion. After a couple of hitchhiking rides he arrives at the Kenya border. In Nairobi he prepares himself for a safari, where he later takes time out to chat with some hippopotamuses.

In Zambia Palin meets a witch doctor who tells him that he has an "evil shadow" and bad things lie ahead for him. Palin then moves on to Victoria Falls on the Zambezi River, where he goes whitewater rafting. In Johannesburg he receives some bad news: the Agulhas, a scientific research ship they were scheduled to take to Antarctica has no space for them.

Arriving by ferry to Istanbul, Turkey, Palin stays at the Pera Palas, where Agatha Christie wrote Murder on the Orient Express and experiences a turkish bath, getting the full treatment from a large staff member. He then takes a train through western Turkey to Marmaris and catches ferries to first Rhodes, Greece then to Cyprus. Palin then visits the British military base at Akrotiri and attends a huge Cypriot wedding. From Limassol, Palin heads for North Africa, his home for the next few months. Catching a boat up the Nile River, he checks out ancient Egyptian ruins with tourists from Sheffield. From Aswan, he catches a ferry bound for Wadi Halfa and braces himself for what appears to be a rough road ahead.

Palin meets up with a Vladimir Lenin impersonator, witnesses a Russian Orthodox baptism ceremony, visits the cemetery where the likes of Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky are buried, visits the town of Chernobyl, Ukraine, and then travels to Kiev and Odessa.

Arriving in Wadi Halfa, Sudan, Palin boards a train bound for Khartoum, the capital. There he receives some bad news: he will be unable to journey further south into Sudan due to the ongoing conflict in the southern region of the nation. Seeking an alternative, he finds Eritreans willing to drive him to the border with Ethiopia.

In Kenya Palin takes a hot-air balloon ride. On the ground he observes a lioness and her cubs up close. Then it is on to Tanzania, where he fulfills a lifelong dream by visiting the Ngorongoro Crater. In Dodoma he catches a train bound for the town of Kigoma. Palin then catches what is believed to be the world's oldest operating ferry - the MV Liemba down Lake Tanganyika to Mpulungu in Zambia.

From Diomede Island to Alaska then across to Kamchatka peninsula which is one of the scenic highlights of this series. From there to Vladivostok.

Michael starts in Darwin and then on to Katherine, Alice Springs, Adelaide, Sydney and then on to New Zealand.

Michael visits Lake Titicaca and then into Peru, visiting Cuzco and Machu Picchu and then into the jungle for a multi-day canoe journey.

Michael picks up in South America at Cape Horn and then as he travels up the coast of Chile, visits some islands off the coast and on into the Atacama Desert and by a very interesting train to Bolivia.

Palin travels through China and visits Qingtao, Shanghai, and a trip along the Yangtze. Finally, he reaches Vietnam.

Michael spends his time in Japan including visiting the Kodo Drummers, and Korea, including the border area with North Korea.

Michael goes by ship to Borneo and then on into Malaysia, visiting native villages inland and then to Indonesia where he travels the length of Java and runs into some trouble.

Michael starts in Mexico City, looks at the Mexico/US border from both sides and then visits LA and San Francisco before heading into Canada and hitting a final disappointment.

Michael journeys on into the Amazon Basin, and then grabs a plane and boat into Colombia before arriving in Bogota and taking a first hand look at the drug issues.

Michael sees Hanoi, Da Nang, Hue, the Mekong Delta, Saigon and then on to the Philippines including Manila, Zamboanga and faith healers.