> 2004 • Origin of the project.

Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman explain what led them to take this trip. They were planning to take a motorcycle road trip together to Spain when, calling Charley one evening, Ewan floated the idea of ​​a trip starting in London with New York as the final destination, crossing Europe, Asia, Alaska to continue to the East Coast of the United States.
The trip would also be an opportunity to attract the attention of UNICEF's humanitarian efforts. During the trip, Ewan and Charley took the time to stop to see and film some of UNICEF's work. The projects visited were: an orphanage in Ukraine which welcomed children affected by the Chernobyl disaster, a climbing wall in Kazakhstan, and a project concerning street children living in the heating system of surrounding buildings in Ulaanbaatar, in Mongolia.

> Preparation and materials.

Before leaving London, Ewan and Charley received special training in several disciplines. Thus, the training preparing for dangerous and hostile environments was provided by a former SAS major. They also took courses in off-road driving, Russian, and motorcycle maintenance before departure.
While Ewan wants to use BMWs, Charley preferred KTMs. However, the Austrian brand declined the offer after learning of the route, because it believed it had a significant risk of failure.
Thus, BMW supplies R 1150 GS Adventure equipped with a personalized GPS with special navigation points mapped in Mongolia and Siberia, in regions without roads or indicators.

> Journey.

From April to July 2004, Ewan and Charley traveled from London to New York via Western Europe, Central Europe, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Siberia and Canada, on a cumulative distance of 30,395 km.
The team crossed 12 states: starting in the United Kingdom, then passing through France, Belgium, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, the United States United and Canada to end in New York.

> Accidents.

The trip was not without incident. Ewan got gasoline in the eye twice while he was refueling. In Kazakhstan, severe mosquito bites on several parts of his body threatened the continuation of the adventure.
Charley severely strained his left shoulder muscles in Siberia and was unable to ride his motorcycle for several days.
Outside of Calgary, a young driver slammed into the back of Ewan's motorcycle. The hard saddlebags absorbed some of the shock which could have been more serious in their absence.

> Motorcycle breakdowns.

The motorcycles did not complete the journey without experiencing some technical problems. Thus, the frame of one of the motorcycles broke after a bad fall in Mongolia and only a "repair" from Charley allowed the motorcycle to reach the next city where the frame could be welded. After this mishap, which would recur later, they discovered that the ABS was no longer working.
Crossing the most remote parts of Mongolia and Siberia and passing swollen rivers was one of the most difficult sections of the journey. One of Ewan's biggest fears was water getting into his engine. This happened twice while crossing the Siberian rivers. He pumped the water out of the engine and exhaust and the bike started.
The motorcycles suffered several other shocks, scrapes, not to mention punctures, but survived the trip.

> Other projects.

Ewan and Charley undertook a second journey from John O' Groats in the north of Scotland to Cape Town in South Africa, in 2007. 23,000 km traveled across 18 countries in Europe and Africa, in less than 100 days , riding the BMW R 1200 GS Adventure.
Finally, in the same spirit, Charley undertook a solo journey from Ireland to Sydney and from Sydney to Tokyo.