“We were struck by how beautiful the island of Møn is. Absolutely stunning houses and countryside. It reminded me a little bit of where I grew up in Ireland. We went in the bar and met this incredible guy. As he was showing us around, two girls with horses came up, got off the horses, and just brought the horses inside, which is apparently a thing they do. And there was this big bucket of apples behind the bar. So they were feeding the horses apples and making gin and tonics at the same time.”

“I grew up with my father, who always celebrates the winter solstice and the summer solstice. We arrived on this beach and there was this massive fire. People were swimming, surfing, diving into the sea, and going back to the sauna. Being far up north, it’s dark for a very long time. So the idea of having this ritual on the longest day of the year becomes very important. It represents the summer and that freedom.”

“We went up to the incredible Nordenskiöld Glacier by this cabin. And every time you wanted to go outside to the bathroom, you had to have someone with you with a rifle to protect you from bears. So you’re trying to relieve yourself, and you’ve got someone standing there with a gun, and the thought that a polar bear is going to come around the corner and attack you! But it’s a stunning place and not many people get to go, so it was a real honor. To canoe up to the glacier was extraordinary.”

“This drag racing is a real family affair here. One girl was 12 or 13 years old, and she was in a mini car, and she was ready to go down the drag strip! And it’s the parents funding this crazy obsession. You could see people were bringing just their normal car as well, and taking it down the drag strip. It was lovely. Everybody sitting down eating lunch together, you know, waiting for their slot.”

“This is where we ate some extraordinary seal meat and seal liver pâté. In all the places we’ve traveled, we’ve eaten a lot of very strange food. But that seal liver pâté was probably the worst thing I think we’ve ever eaten. And Ewan did take a big scoop of it without realizing. Oh, it was quite funny to see his face! But it was lovely. We ended up having dinner with this family of musicians, and they got their guitars and their instruments out, and we sort of played into the night.”

“This beautiful castle looks like a fairy tale. The first time we went, 20 years ago on the Long Way Round, they were remodeling, so they threw us out. This time, they were really delighted to have us back! We had a lovely tour of the place—you can watch it in the TV show.”

“We arrived from Hungary, and as we came up towards this castle—just this stunning place that loomed upon us—you think about how it was such a long time ago that they built this. And the fact that it’s staying completely solid, still upright? We can barely make a skyscraper these days! Everything was done by hand. It’s a real testimony to craftsmanship. It’s just a nice place to go and have a little bit of peace in the chaos of life. (And there’s a great little sandwich shop around the corner.)

“There’s a place called Hotel Warszawa in Poland that they say is the phoenix of Europe, raised from the ashes. It was occupied by Germany in WWII, and as Germany was pulling out, they destroyed the place. Someone famously took a photo of the whole thing exploding. It’s been made into the most stunning hotel, and they’ve kept bits of raw concrete that had graffiti on it from the Second World War. And they’ve rebuilt it along with the rest of the city. Absolutely worth going to.”

“This is where they play motorcycle soccer, basically. The teams are on motorcycles. The goalies are on foot. And you’re not allowed to ride the motorcycle inside the goalie’s area. But he does have to stop this enormous ball, and sometimes that thing is flying towards him. It’s a bit like a cross between soccer and polo, you know? It was crazy. It’s dangerous. Throughout the whole TV show, we met these extraordinary people doing extraordinary things.”