feeling listless

Travel The full text of Michael Palin's 'Sahara' is online; although it was a cut above other travel shows on television it lacked the urgency of previous adventures. There was an excitement to the first series, 'Around the World in Eighty Days' -- was he going to beat Fogg? In 'Pole to Pole' and 'Hemmingway' there was at least a path to follow, the game being how close he could stay to the path laid out. In 'Sahara' he just seemed to be pottering about trying to go everywhere he could. The only episode with resonance was the last, as he revisited the buildings from 'The Life of Brian' -- for a few moments the story became personal again. Reading the following though, I did feel someone had cancelled Christmas:

Sahara was filmed between February 2001 and February 2002. For various reasons, it was impossible to shoot it as one continuous journey. Summer heat and all-year-round bureaucracy forced a number of breaks upon us. The diary days in the text represent days at work, give or take the very rare day off, and not time spent travelling out to the desert.

Not a journey any longer ...