By Ewan McGregor

Status:
Completed

Rating:
5 Stars – It inspired my own trip up the long way

Editors Foreword:

It started as a daydream. Poring over a map of the world at home one quiet Saturday afternoon, Ewan McGregor — acclaimed actor and self-confessed bike nut — noticed that it was possible to ride all the way round the world, with just one short hop across the Bering Strait from Russia to Alaska. It was a revelation he couldn’t get out of his head. So he picked up the phone and called his fellow actor-slash-biker friend Charley Boorman and told him it was time to hit the road….
Long Way Round
Beginning in London, Ewan and Charley chased their shadows through Europe, the Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and Russia; across the Pacific to Alaska; then down through Canada all the way to New York. Long Way Round is the result of their four-month, 20,000-mile joyride. Featuring original diary entries, travel maps, mileage charts, and dozens of photographs, this is a freewheeling, fully charged, and uproariously entertaining book about two world-famous individuals who chose the road not taken…and made the journey worthwhile.

Quotes & Highlights

“Maybe the fact of living in a big city like London made me suspicious of strangers, a habit I wanted to lose.”

“I looked at the photo of my daughter taped to the inside of the windshield and thought about my family. I had been away for only four weeks, but I missed her terribly and I wanted to have her with me right now. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like for a person to have to leave their children to look for a better life without knowing if they would ever see them again.”

“This is an adventure, not a vacation package. And adventures aren’t adventures if there isn’t a certain degree of danger and uncertainty.”

“It was hard not to compare that region with Mongolia. Like the Mongolian herders, the Redskin tribes of the Great Plains had been nomads, living in tents and following the buffalo herds to find pastures for their animals. The only difference was that this lifestyle still exists in Mongolia whereas here the whites had prevented the Indians from doing it.”

“It seemed like nothing was done in Mongolia without a vodka toast. Of all the Russian traditions that the Soviets had exported to their satellites, it was shameful that the prevailing one was vodka which, in the past, was not even part of their culture.”

“After the media attention and police escorts, that isolation and serenity were a blessing. It didn’t matter that we hadn’t showered for a few days. To tell you the truth, there was a boyish part of me that was all excited about it. I’ve never felt so good about being all dirty.”

“They pointed at the screen and then at us. We nodded. They didn’t look at it as strangely as I thought. It even seemed quite natural to them. We went around the world, we were at their house and we appeared on television. It was as simple as that.”

“He had suggested that we all go to a sauna and I thought that must be what Ukrainians used to do after work, but other thoughts came to my mind. If it was just a sauna, I wouldn’t have any problems. But it could mean so much more and I didn’t want to find myself in such a situation. No way.”

“I was so down that I had lost confidence and was already feeling my stomach churning at the prospect of roads in Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Siberia. As for me, these three names represented the fundamental part of our adventure and we could only breathe a sigh of relief again when we had passed it.”

“They didn’t know us from anywhere, but they offered us and our four friends a hearty dinner and a place to sleep. If someone came to me like that unexpectedly at home, I would certainly not welcome him in the same way.”

“Making movies is a fantastic experience, but the technical details are deadly boring. It’s a dullness peppered with vibrant moments.”