Much of the journey mainly used trains, buses and ferries to move between locations and countries, with hire cars, private travel companies and supply ships used for stretches where other arrangements could not be made; a plane ride was also needed to get between the North Pole and the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen.

From journey's start, he visits the remotely inhabited island of Spitsbergen, as he heads for Tromsø, the "Paris of the North".

Finally, he moves on to Estonia and the city of Tallinn, understanding its culture and desires for the future, before heading onwards to Russia.

Heading southwards to Novgorod, Palin befriends a local Russian film director, and partakes in a ceremony on behalf of the British city of Watford.

Reaching Ukraine, Palin visits Chernobyl following the 1986 nuclear disaster, explores the capital of Kyiv, and receives an unusual mud bath treatment in Odesa, before catching a ferry to Turkey.