If anybody is stuck for something to watch on tv - BBC IPlayer - Race around the world.

Pairs get £2,500 to travel to Singapore from London in a race against each other with the winners getting £20,000.

It would cost that much to fly there for 2 people a season the furthers point from the UK by road/rail.

The catch is that they cannot use their phones and cannot catch any flights.... great viewing and shows some truly stunning parts of the world.

It has been on every Sunday night for a few weeks now with the penultimate episode on last night so it’s a great time for anybody who hasn’t watched it to watch a few episodes and see the finale this Sunday.

Agree wholeheartedly, I've thoroughly enjoyed it, particularly the ebb and flow of the relationship between the father and son team.

Very good viewing

The thing that struck me like a hammer to the head was change , now China looks like a different planet to the country I saw 25 years ago .

Absolutely fell off the chair when the woman said to her husband about her bottom being pummeled for an hour

Good viewing and some spectacular sights.

Wouldn,t mind pummeling the Asian girls bottom for an hour or so !!.

Caballo wrote:Agree wholeheartedly, I've thoroughly enjoyed it, particularly the ebb and flow of the relationship between the father and son team.

Absolutely agree. I like Darren (the dad). Has a great outlook and has really bonded with and toughened his lad up on this trip. The lad is a totally different person to when they set out and 'Budapest was the worse day of his life'.

TBH I like them all. They all have character. And fair play to the old couple for working as hard as they have, putting up with what they have and catching up the lead!

Would love to compete in something like this. Must be a real challenge balancing budget, comfort, experiences and time!

Wouldn't mind any of them winning. Probably out of all of them would like Darren and Alex or the two girls to win. But suspect it would be the young lads. On the last leg when speed matters I suspect they will be the most experienced and capable.

Just starting the first episode now.

No spoilers please

GodIsADeeJay81 wrote:Just starting the first episode now.

No spoilers please

No need. The one thing that irritates me is at the end of each episode it shows teasers of the next show

so usually turn it off at the end!

Just watched upto Baku for now. Pretty decent so far.

I’ve always wonder why people treat traveling as such a chore whilst away. Take trains, buses, etc it’s by far the greatest part.

Just done the first episode.
That young lad did have me swearing at the TV, but he seemed more up for it by the end.

It's been interesting to see the different approaches to it so far.

cricketfieldclarets wrote:No need. The one thing that irritates me is at the end of each episode it shows teasers of the next show

so usually turn it off at the end!

I've turned it off before the teasers

Dyched wrote:Just watched upto Baku for now. Pretty decent so far.

I’ve always wonder why people treat traveling as such a chore whilst away. Take trains, buses, etc it’s by far the greatest part.

absolutely. Some of the best trips I have been done have been overland and I often fly to a different destination to where we intend to go when flying.

After an issue with a plane a couple of years ago, the mrs and I decided to come back from Lithuania overland. While we were still limited by time (work - and Liverpool away ) it was still an incredible adventure and one we will never forget.

But done plenty where we had chose to do such routes and always had a great time.

Course, 24 hour trains arent for everyone!

GodIsADeeJay81 wrote:I've turned it off before the teasers

I do that with all programs.

re Race around the world
Good telly.
Hope the girls win. Natalie my fave. Top girl!

cricketfieldclarets wrote:absolutely. Some of the best trips I have been done have been overland and I often fly to a different destination to where we intend to go when flying.

After an issue with a plane a couple of years ago, the mrs and I decided to come back from Lithuania overland. While we were still limited by time (work - and Liverpool away ) it was still an incredible adventure and one we will never forget.

But done plenty where we had chose to do such routes and always had a great time.

Course, 24 hour trains arent for everyone!

100%. You meet people you just wouldn’t meet overwise too. I remember you posting about getting to one of the qualifers via a lengthy bus if I remember correctly?

After watching a few episodes i’ve been looking into taking the train across the US. I did one route 2 yeaes ago and it was superb.

Dyched wrote:100%. You meet people you just wouldn’t meet overwise too. I remember you posting about getting to one of the qualifers via a lengthy bus if I remember correctly?

After watching a few episodes i’ve been looking into taking the train across the US. I did one route 2 yeaes ago and it was superb.

Yeah. In fact the bus route we took from Greece to Turkey is on the first episode of this program. From Thessaloniki to Istanbul.

Memories we will never forget. Not always all good... but experiences all the same.

Last episode tonight, if you are into travel and travel shows give it a watch.
Its been excellent.

Also really enjoyed it. Chose some good participants.

My money is on the father and son winning.

I've enjoyed watching this programme, told the wife that if I ever get made redundant, we'll leave enough in the bank to cover the mortgage and other bills then go travelling with the rest. The world is too big and nicer place to experience when you only get one life.

Cant remember where it was but the train coming down the street was brilliant !
Yep agree NNN the world IS a big place, we try to see somewhere different when we holiday.

Aclaret wrote:Cant remember where it was but the train coming down the street was brilliant !
Yep agree NNN the world IS a big place, we try to see somewhere different when we holiday.

As do we, only place we return to is tenerife, a cheap week with guaranteed sun in our winter. The 'big' holiday is always somewhere different. Vietnam last year, Bangkok and Thailand this year. Funnily enough, this race around the world has given me a few ideas for next year.

It's been entertaining, informative and educational. Brilliant program.
Oh and inspirational too. I'm sure that more people will see the journey to be the adventure, rather than simply arriving via a 747

people must have too much time on their hands to watch dross like this.

Aclaret wrote:Cant remember where it was but the train coming down the street was brilliant !
Yep agree NNN the world IS a big place, we try to see somewhere different when we holiday.

Went somewhere exactly like that in Thailand, but this may have been a different place.

Im on eps 3. Good watch

pushpinpussy wrote:people must have too much time on their hands to watch dross like this.

Thanks for your constructive input.....

pushpinpussy wrote:people must have too much time on their hands to watch dross like this.

Says pushpinpussy, who spends all his spare time posting crap on this messageboard.

pushpinpussy wrote:people must have too much time on their hands to watch dross like this.

Watch it. You may be inspired.

Brilliant finale. Shows how every second (and penny) counted, even on a 51 day long race.

Wont spoil it for those who havent seen it yet. Wouldnt begrudge the winners winning a fantastic effort although I wouldve preferred second place to have won.

Great series. Would love to do it. Competition or otherwise.

I would absolutely love to do this, the missus couldn't think of anything worse. She lost the plot doing Istanbul away and we were already on holiday in Turkey to start with, a mere 27 hours awake!!!

Great series and realistic real insight into how people live and work in the countries visited. I hope though they don't do a celebrity one with non descript big brother wannabes moaning about a lack of fake tan in Bahrain.

Just finished watching the final ...

What a race and what a finish .... something I would LOVE to do. Even not as a race but just as a trip would be phenomenal.

Amazing how they won by that margin. Every second counted from start to finish.

One thing that amazed me and don't know if it was coincidence or planned. But how so many of them ended up bumping into each other so often. Even when they set off days apart on different routes.

I think if I was to do it there would have bene points where I would have looked to team up with others. To save budget and time earlier in the race.

There were lots of times where teams were setting off together earlier on in more expensive / inaccessible routes and teaming up would have actually benefitted you.

cricketfieldclarets wrote:One thing that amazed me and don't know if it was coincidence or planned. But how so many of them ended up bumping into each other so often. Even when they set off days apart on dif routes.

I think if I was to do it there would have bene points where I sharinwould have looked to team up with others. To save budget and time earlier in the race.

There were lots of times where teams were setting off together earlier on in more expensive / inaccessible routes and teaming up would have actually benefitted you.

I was thinking the same but I’m guessing there were rules about sharing taxis etc ... to make it more about individual spends...

I also thought about how they spent so much on certain activities which must have been in the rules that they had to do bits en route.

What shocked me was how much money some teams saved when they seemed to spend more frivolously.

Thought dad n lad would win. Gutted

I only saw the final episode yesterday and thought it was decent. Was funny how the editing made it look like 1st and 2nd were close to each other at the end, yet when you looked in the book the time stamps were 3 hours apart.

Daz has been a good mate of mine for the last fifteen years. He’s really into travelling (cycled from Norway to Malta a few years back) so this was a great opportunity for him and Alex, especially after they grew apart and Alex stayed with his Mum.

Heard a few interesting, behind the scenes, stories about the trip. It wouldn’t be one for me, 36 hours on a cramped train - my arse aches too much after four hours on Jet2 - but I’ll definitely be looking to visit some of the places on the show.

It’ll be interesting to see what offers they get on the back of it. I know that a couple of clothing brands have been in touch but who knows, perhaps a bit more tele - not that he’s really a limelight sort of person.

No Ney Never wrote:As do we, only place we return to is tenerife, a cheap week with guaranteed sun in our winter. The 'big' holiday is always somewhere different. Vietnam last year, Bangkok and Thailand this year. Funnily enough, this race around the world has given me a few ideas for next year.

'Visit Uzbekistan'

bfccrazy wrote:I was thinking the same but I’m guessing there were rules about sharing taxis etc ... to make it more about individual spends...

I also thought about how they spent so much on certain activities which must have been in the rules that they had to do bits en route.

What shocked me was how much money some teams saved when they seemed to spend more frivolously.

The budgets didn’t add up to me

FactualFrank wrote:I only saw the final episode yesterday and thought it was decent. Was funny how the editing made it look like 1st and 2nd were close to each other at the end, yet when you looked in the book the time stamps were 3 hours apart.

Didnt get that as they were in the hotel at the same time

theroyaldyche wrote:Didnt get that as they were in the hotel at the same time

I think they edited that to give it some suspense and they actually weren’t there together to start with as the other had signed in, cracked open some champers, drank it and were still relaxing by the time the 2nd lot came in.

The winners were there over 2 hours before the runners up even though it was edited to give the impression they were in a foot race. The signing in book had the time in one of the columns.

JohnMac wrote:The winners were there over 2 hours before the runners up even though it was edited to give the impression they were in a foot race. The signing in book had the time in one of the columns.

Well spotted!!!

JohnMac wrote:The winners were there over 2 hours before the runners up even though it was edited to give the impression they were in a foot race. The signing in book had the time in one of the columns.

I am not sure that was the case. But even if it was, it was still bloody close!

They were behind them on the bridge. And could see one another. But they then had to change their money when they got to the desk and none had signapore money. So I suspect that it took Darron and Alex a bit of time to get their money changed that's all?!

What a fantastic series. Really well made, and gave a great insight into various cultures (well, as good as you can on a programme like this). Great contestants too, who weren't just on it for their 15 minutes.

Very surprised by the winners, but fair play - their scrimping and saving in the episode a few weeks back must have paid dividends.

Really good stuff and hopefully there's something similar on next year.

FactualFrank wrote:I only saw the final episode yesterday and thought it was decent. Was funny how the editing made it look like 1st and 2nd were close to each other at the end, yet when you looked in the book the time stamps were 3 hours apart.

theroyaldyche wrote:Didnt get that as they were in the hotel at the same time

bfccrazy wrote:I think they edited that to give it some suspense and they actually weren’t there together to start with as the other had signed in, cracked open some champers, drank it and were still relaxing by the time the 2nd lot came in.

Yep, as bfccrazy says, it's been edited. Also, the difference between 3rd and 4th was even longer - 5 hours if I remember correctly. Although those two teams arrived the following day.

I haven’t seen this program, but agree with posters that overland is the best kind of travel. Only thing is you need time. I’d love to circumnavigate, using freighters for the oceanic legs.

AndrewJB wrote:I haven’t seen this program, but agree with posters that overland is the best kind of travel. Only thing is you need time. I’d love to circumnavigate, using freighters for the oceanic legs.

Absolutely