Editing Michael Palin (section)

===Travel===
[[File:PalinCadogan051022 (7 of 12) (52408590540).jpg|thumb|Michael Palin at Cadogan Hall in 2022]] 
Palin's first travel documentary was episode 4 of the 1980 [[BBC Television]] series ''[[Great Railway Journeys of the World]]'', entitled "Confessions of a Trainspotter". Throughout the hour-long show, Palin humorously reminisces about his childhood hobby of [[train spotting]] while he travels throughout the UK by train from London to the [[Kyle of Lochalsh]], via [[Manchester]], [[York]], [[Newcastle upon Tyne]], Edinburgh and [[Inverness]]. He rides vintage railway lines and trains including the ''[[LNER Class A3 4472 Flying Scotsman|Flying Scotsman]]''. At the Kyle of Lochalsh, Palin bought the station's long metal platform sign and is seen lugging it back to London with him.

In 1994, Palin travelled through Ireland for the same series, entitled "Derry to Kerry". In a quest for family roots, he attempted to trace his great-grandmother&nbsp;– Brita Gallagher&nbsp;– who had set sail from Ireland 150 years earlier during the [[Great Irish Famine|Great Famine (1845–1849)]], bound for a new life in [[Burlington, New Jersey|Burlington]], New Jersey. The series is a trip along the Palin family line.

Between 1989 and 2012, Palin appeared as a presenter in a series of travel programmes made for the BBC. It was after the veteran TV globetrotter [[Alan Whicker]] and journalist [[Miles Kington]] turned down presenting the first of these, ''[[Around the World in 80 Days with Michael Palin]]'', that gave Palin the opportunity to present his first and subsequent travel shows.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3724/is_200508/ai_n14903488/pg_1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130601220419/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3724/is_200508/ai_n14903488/pg_1 |url-status=dead |archive-date=1 June 2013 |title=Watching over Whicker |publisher=Findarticles.com |date=6 August 2005 |access-date=25 October 2008 | first=Michael | last=Vestey}}</ref> In 2018, he was hired by ITN Productions to present travel documentaries commissioned by Channel 5, with journeys to North Korea and Iraq completed by 2022.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.itn.co.uk/press-releases/michael-palin-into-iraq-series-commissioned-by-channel-5/ | title='Michael Palin: Into Iraq' series commissioned by Channel 5 | access-date=20 January 2023 | archive-date=21 July 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220721183422/https://www.itn.co.uk/press-releases/michael-palin-into-iraq-series-commissioned-by-channel-5/ | url-status=dead }}</ref> 

* ''[[Around the World in 80 Days with Michael Palin]]'' (travel 1988; programme release 1989): travelling as closely as possible the path described in the famous [[Jules Verne]] story without using aircraft.
* ''[[Pole to Pole with Michael Palin]]'' (travel 1991; programme release 1992): travelling from the [[North Pole]] to the [[South Pole]], following as closely as possible the [[30th meridian east|30-degree line of longitude]], over as much land as possible, i.e., through Europe and Africa.
* ''[[Full Circle with Michael Palin]]'' (travel 1995/96; programme release 1997): in which he circumnavigated the lands around the Pacific Ocean anti-clockwise; a journey of almost {{convert|50000|mi|km}} starting on [[Little Diomede]] Island in the [[Bering Strait]] and taking him through Asia, Oceania and the Americas.
* ''[[Michael Palin's Hemingway Adventure]]'' (1999): retracing the footsteps of [[Ernest Hemingway]] through the United States, Europe, Africa and the [[Caribbean]].
* ''[[Sahara with Michael Palin]]'' (travel 2001/02; programme release 2002): in which he trekked around and through the world's [[Sahara|largest desert]].
* ''[[Himalaya with Michael Palin]]'' (travel 2003/04; programme release 2004): in which he travels through the [[Himalaya|Himalaya region]].
* ''[[Michael Palin's New Europe]]'' (travel 2006/07; programme release 2007): in which he travels through [[Central Europe|Central]] and Eastern Europe.
* ''[[Brazil with Michael Palin]]'' (2012) in which he travels through [[Brazil]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2018/aug/06/michael-palin-geography-force-broadening-mind-gcse-alevel-entries-rise|title=Geography a force for broadening the mind, says Michael Palin|last=Grierson|first=Jamie|date=5 August 2018|work=The Guardian|access-date=5 September 2018}}</ref>
* ''[[Michael Palin in North Korea]]'' on [[Channel 5 (British TV channel)|Channel 5]] (2018, this ITN production was released in the US as ''North Korea from the Inside with Michael Palin'') in which he visits [[North Korea]] at the time of the [[April 2018 inter-Korean summit]].<ref name=irish>{{cite news|url=https://www.irishnews.com/lifestyle/2018/09/13/news/michael-palin-on-north-korea-you-can-t-condemn-a-whole-nation-for-their-leaders-1429065/|title=Michael Palin on North Korea: You can't condemn a whole nation for their leaders|last=Dunn|first=Gemma|newspaper=The Irish Times|date=13 September 2018|access-date=13 September 2018|archive-date=13 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180913024643/https://www.irishnews.com/lifestyle/2018/09/13/news/michael-palin-on-north-korea-you-can-t-condemn-a-whole-nation-for-their-leaders-1429065/|url-status=live}}</ref>
* ''[[Michael Palin: Into Iraq]]'' on [[Channel 5 (British TV channel)|Channel 5]] (2022).<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.tvzoneuk.com/post/michaelpaliniraq-c5pt2 | title=Michael Palin Travels to Iraq for Channel 5 Series | date=15 August 2022 | access-date=15 August 2022 | archive-date=15 August 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220815162106/https://www.tvzoneuk.com/post/michaelpaliniraq-c5pt2 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.themichaelpalin.com/news/into-iraq-coming-15th-september-2022/ | title=Into Iraq – Coming 15th September 2022 | access-date=15 August 2022 | archive-date=15 August 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220815160604/https://www.themichaelpalin.com/news/into-iraq-coming-15th-september-2022/ | url-status=live }}</ref>
* ''[[Michael Palin in Nigeria]]'' on [[Channel 5 (British TV channel)|Channel 5]] (2024).<ref>{{cite news |date=9 April 2024 |title=Michael Palin tells David Attenborough where he found snails 'the size of steaks' |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/michael-palin-david-attenborough-nigeria-b2525227.html |newspaper=[[The Independent]] |first=Tabitha |last=Wilson |access-date=17 April 2024 |archive-date=17 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240417065656/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/michael-palin-david-attenborough-nigeria-b2525227.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
* ''[[Michael Palin in Venezuela]]'' on [[Channel 5 (British TV channel)|Channel 5]] (2025).<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.tvzoneuk.com/post/michaelpalin-venezuela-5ann1 | title=Michael Palin Explores Venezuela for Latest Travel Series on 5 | date=12 March 2025 | access-date=2 April 2025 }}</ref>

Following each trip, Palin wrote a book about his travels, providing information and insights not included in the TV programme. Each book is illustrated with photographs by [[Basil Pao]], the stills photographer who was on the team. (Exception: the first book, ''Around the World in 80 Days'', contains some pictures by Pao but most are by other photographers.)

All seven of these books were also made available as audiobooks, and all of them are read by Palin himself. ''Around the World in 80 Days'' and ''Hemingway Adventure'' are unabridged, while the other four books were made in both abridged and unabridged versions.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/mediamonkeyblog/2014/mar/14/bbc-michael-palin-monty-python-around-the-world-80-days|title=BBC accountants' shallow pockets gave Michael Palin a global hit {{!}} Media Monkey|last=Monkey|date=14 March 2014|work=The Guardian|access-date=5 September 2018}}</ref>

For four of the trips, a photography book was made by Pao, each with an introduction written by Palin. These are large coffee-table-style books with pictures printed on glossy paper. The majority of the pictures are of various people encountered on the trip, as informal portraits or showing them engaged in some interesting activity. Some of the landscape photos are displayed as two-page spreads.

Palin's travel programmes are responsible for a phenomenon called the "Palin effect", referring to areas of the world that he has visited suddenly become popular tourist attractions&nbsp;– for example, the significant increase in the number of tourists interested in [[Peru]] after Palin visited [[Machu Picchu]].<ref>{{cite news | first=Ben | last=Webster | title=Globetrotter Palin brought down to earth by eco-lobby|date=14 January 2005 | url =https://www.thetimes.com/article/globetrotter-palin-brought-down-to-earth-by-eco-lobby-vltnwjg6kbd | work=The Times | access-date =14 August 2006 | location=London | url-access=subscription}}</ref> In a 2006 survey of "15 of the world's top travel writers" by ''[[The Observer]]'', Palin named Peru's [[Pongo de Mainique]] (canyon below the Machu Picchu) his "favourite place in the world".<ref>{{cite news | last=Wilkinson | first=Carl | date=8 January 2006 | title=My favourite place in the world |work=The Observer |location=UK | url=https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2006/jan/08/observerescapesection5
 | access-date=18 August 2007 }}</ref>

Palin notes in his book of ''Around the World in 80 Days'' that the final leg of his journey could originally have taken him and his crew on one of the trains involved in the [[Clapham Junction rail crash]], but they arrived ahead of schedule and caught an earlier train.