Pole to Pole With Michael Palin: North to South by Camel, River Raft, and Balloon (Companion to the Pbs Series)

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Summary: An unique Travelogue
Review: An unique journey from the North Pole to the South. Along the 30 degree East line of the longitude. Palin recorded all his exciting encounters and experiences in this remarkable travelogue.Provided great entertainment for arm-chair travellers.

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Summary: It's like I was there, but in book form!
Review: I actually purchased the book before seeing the series, noting the name Michael Palin on the cover, and remembering his adventures around the world in 80 days. The fact that I did not see the show somehow made the book more enjoyable to read. Palin has a very descriptive, yet easy-to-follow writing style, which helped me vividly imagine the exotic locales & various personalities. Of course, the photos by Basil Pao helped a lot. All in all, great work, so much so that it doesn't feel like a TV companion, but a travelogue that can stand strongly on its own.

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Summary: An arm-chair travellers delight!
Review: Michael Palin's Pole to Pole manages to bring the viewer parts of the world that he or she would never dream of visiting. This unique journey from the North to the South Pole is filled with adventure, humor, and excitement that at times makes you want to call your travel agent and book a holiday to Tromso, Novgorad, Khartoum and Punta Arenas. If you have always wanted to do something "different" for a vacation just watch this video. No doubt the ideas will start coming to you.

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Summary: Outstanding Travelouge
Review: This book, a follow-up on the BBC TV Special, is truly outstanding. After streaking across the globe in "Around the World in 80 Days", Palin takes a bit more time in this adventure, allowing the reader to absorb more of the cultures and societies he travels through. If you enjoy serious traveling, whether "real-life" or vicariously, this is a must read. Packed with entertaining photography through-out.

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Summary: They should have called it a day after "80 days"!
Review: This is another of those programmes that has, and will be, repeated ad nauseam on UK TV, but why, I can only put down to the popularity of Michael Palin and the fact that there's a lot of air time to fill, so repeats are a cheap alternative to new programmes! Following the success of "Aroung the world in 80 days" they decided to send Palin on another gimmick travelogue on celluloid. Unfortunately, "Pole to Pole" pales by comparison. Although it sets out rather well, when Palin gets to Africa - and there is an awful lot of Africa in "Pole to Pole", things get very dull, and you get the feeling that Palin is also bored by the experience a little too. Once you have crossed the deserts of North Africa, from there down, everything looks pretty much the same. One mud hut looks like another; one smiling black face looks like any other smiling black face; you've seen one elephant and you've seen them all and when the jeeps get stuck in the mud yet again, you can but roll your eyes and look at the clock to see when the net programme begins!
Finally, to cap it all, "Pole" ends with an anticlimax, much as "80 days" did, with Palin not being able to finish his journey at the Reform Club in London. This time, however, Palin is no where near the South Pole, as someone at the BBC did not make sure that the supply boat which only sails once a year from the Cape to the South Pole had room for the expedition team! It just ends with the feeling that there should be one more episode - Palin sits on the dock with his back to the camera and just says something on the lines of "That's all folks". I expected more. I mean, couldn't they have layed on a jet or something, even just to complete the journey. They could have lied, even, and said that he had made the boat aafter all. We wouldn't have minded, would we?
This expedition was poorly planned by the BBC and incompleted as it was, it should not have been aired in the first place!

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Summary: Palin-esque at it's best
Review: This is probably the best of the Palin travel series - excellent and highly recommended. It's a shame it seems to be so difficult to find!

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Summary: Best of the series
Review: This time, avoiding the obvious too-much-time-at-sea problems of "Around the World in 80 days", Palin's team becomes a marvel of light travel and problem-solving in this somewhat dangerous, honest and good-natured tour of 1990 Eastern Europe and Africa. The music's better too. The best of his series, without a doubt, and possibly the best of this genre of travelogue.