Long Way Down: Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman Complete Africa

by Justin Glow on

The news came in over the weekend: Ewan and Charley have finished their motorcycle trek through Africa. It took them just 85 days to travel over 15,000 miles through 14 countries, from Scotland down to Cape Town, South Africa. And that’s including almost a week’s time spent at border crossings alone.

“We feel fantastic, and absolutely brilliant,” Charley told BBC Breakfast news. “It’s been a long, long ride, which has been the fun part, but getting here and arriving in Cape Town is just fantastic. And the thought of sitting on a motorbike in Scotland, and then arriving here is wonderful.”

I for one cannot wait for the television series to begin. Long Way ‘Round was — as Charley would say — absolutely brilliant. I’ve seen the entire thing at least a few times, and plan on watching it once more before I head off to Eastern Europe in October.

Thanks goes to Jaunted for the tip.

Genesis II: Inflatable Space Hotel

by Justin Glow on

The Genesis II, an inflatable space module recently sent into orbit via a Russian rocket, is the starting point to what hopes to become a “full-scale space hotel.” Bigelow Aerospace, the company behind the project, plans to launch another module later this year that will link up with the Genisis II, and hopefully become the world’s highest (and most expensive, I’m sure) hotel room.

Don’t count on booking a trip anytime soon, however. “[E]xperts say the costs of commercial space travel need to come down before it can be a success,” says the BBC. “As a result, Mr Bigelow is offering a $50m prize to anyone who can design a craft capable of carrying five people to a height of 400km (250 miles) before 2010.”

Cool.

[Via Engadget]

Long Way Down: Through Europe and Africa by Motorcycle

by Justin Glow on

A few years back I happened to stumbled upon a book called Long Way Round, by movie star friends Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman. It was the personal account of their east-bound trip around the world, from London to New York, by motorcycle. I bought the book to give as a gift to my brother who has a passion for both travel and motorcycles — it seemed like a perfect fit. Before his birthday rolled around, I sat down to read the book first (like any self-respecting cheapskate would do). Long Way Round started off solid: discussing their route, planning the trip, working out the visas, but then they decided to bring along a camera crew and document the trip.

Great, I thought. A couple more movie stars traveling the world with video cameras. The idea sounded lame, but I pressed on and finished the book. The story turned out to be pretty good, and definitely compelling, though I couldn’t escape the fact that Ewan and Charley’s “adventure” seem spoiled by a trailing camera crew. I wondered how much of an adventure it really could be with camera men, producers, directors, and whoever else following them around. And the fact they were movie stars made me think they used their money to make the trip a lot easier than it would be for the average Joe.

It didn’t occur to me until about a year later that — hey! — since there was a camera crew following them, I could probably watch the book. I did some research and found that Long Way Round (the show) aired on Britain’s Sky One in 2004, and went to DVD in 2005. I ordered the DVD from Amazon, and was blown away when I sat down to watch. This was easily the most interesting, compelling, funny, adventure-inspiring show I had ever watched. And you know what? Ewan and Charlie really did do all the hard work. They pot-marked roads didn’t treat them like celebrities; remote Mongolian farmers didn’t know who they were. They struggled, they endured the pain and homesickness, and traveled like the best of them. I was truly impressed.

This is why I was so excited yesterday to find out that Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman are teaming up again for another adventure. This month the two will set out — camera crew in-tow once again — from John O’Groats, Scotland and ride their BMW R 1200 GS Adventure motorcycles to the southernmost tip of Africa, Cape Agulhas. The show, dubbed Long Way Down, will premiere on BBC in Autumn/Winter 2007, but those of us outside of Britain (or without fancy satellite television systems) might have to wait for the DVD release.

You can sign up for email alerts on LongWayDown.com, as well as view some video of Ewan and Charlie talking about the upcoming trip.

Related: Talking Travel with Lois Pryce (she roder her motorcycle from the northern tip of Alaska to the southern most point of Argentina — 20,000 miles in 10 months, passing through 14 different countries)

Boeing 737 Stuck on Busy Mumbai Road

by Justin Glow on

Just when you thought Mumbai couldn’t get any more hectic, someone comes along and leaves a Boeing 737 sitting in the middle of a busy road. BBC reports, “The decommissioned aircraft was being driven through the city at the weekend when the driver got lost and then abandoned the plane.”

Is this for real? Seriously, how can you put one person in charge of transporting a 737? Never mind the fact that he didn’t know his way around the city very well. It’s no wonder Road Junky listed Bombay as one of the 10 worst cities to visit (even though I completely disagree, Bombay is great — even with the lost plane). Bizarre, but true.

[Via WorldHum]

100 Interesting Things You Didn't Know Last Year

by Erik Olsen on

Gotta love the BBC for pulling together this superb list of 100 things we didn’t know last year.
What a brilliant idea. I read the headline and tried to make my own list before I read the piece. I came up way short
of 100 things. But then I read the list and giggled at some of the "things" we didn’t know. The facts range
across a wonderfully wide spectrum of life:

For example, here’s a bit on culture:
35. The
name Lego came from two Danish words "leg godt", meaning "play well". It also means
"I put together" in Latin.

And celebrity:
5. Nicole Kidman is scared of
butterflies. "I jump out of planes, I could be covered in cockroaches, I do all sorts of things, but I just don’t
like the feel of butterflies’ bodies," she says.

Or a bit of science:%uFFFD 29. When faced
with danger, the octopus can wrap six of its legs around its head to disguise itself as a fallen coconut shell
and escape by walking backwards on the other two legs, scientists discovered.

And yet more science:
14. It’s possible for a human to blow up balloons via the ear. A 55-year-old factory worker from China
reportedly discovered 20 years ago that air leaked from his ears, and he can now inflate balloons and blow out candles.

Who knew!?

The list goes on, and is utterly worth a look…as are the many articles that
sometimes follow the facts. I’ve already sent this around to some buddies, but I figured folks here would enjoy it too.