I think the comment made by chopendoz from Australia shows they missed the point of this show entirely. As the show title suggests, this is as much about the methods used travelling from Ireland to Sydney as it is about the countries themselves. If called "Wandering for a year without a map" then perhaps...Being a TV show they did not have the luxury to spend weeks at a time in each location. The basic premise was to plan out a journey that was not only as safe as they could make it, but also highlight the cultural differences of each country they passed through, all the while avoiding wherever possible the modern method of the commercial airline.The vehicles used were often unheard of, frequently bizarre (and occasionally unreliable!), and it was through using these vehicles they were able to meet and greet the usually friendly and open locals who use such methods of transport on a daily basis.For those expecting a full on "Holiday" style travel show you're looking in the wrong place, but for those with an interest in far away places with strange sounding names and how the people there live and get about (presented by a very likable trio of travellers), then you could do a lot worse than give this a look!

The most exciting part of travelling is the wandering out into the unknown and finding your way. Ringing head office to get them to sort out your visa is not so exhilarating.I'd recommend this for people who have really done no travelling and like to see a quick glimpse of a few places, but as for a travelling documentary there really is more Charley Boorman than interesting shots. They should have let Mungo out there, just him and a camera following him, he wouldn't be so big into performing for the camera.And other than carry boxes, what exactly did they do for UNICEF?? Also, their budget must have been incredible. If they got rid of all the people at base helping them and had a certain amount of money to get them from Ireland to Australia it would have been a whole lot better.

First of all I have to say that I missed the first few episodes, I'm not sure how their journey starts but I still got hooked quite fast, despite it being broadcasted at times as late as 0:30 or 1:30 in the UK. They could easily get rid of shows like Big Brother and all those "soaps" and change them for more cultural, light hearted, and undoubtedly much more INTERESTING things like By Any Means, I'm sure some people would appreciate it.And now I will comment on the program.The first thing I remember thinking when I first tuned in was something like "Man, Charley Boorman is on drugs 24/7!", I think that's why I continued watching it for a while until I really started enjoying it.I like the way you see them travel, for me it makes it more real than people just popping up at places, I was also amazed at how Charley seemed to "enjoy" every single bit of the journey (like...the very long journeys, the things that almost went wrong, or even the most dirty poor and unhygienic locations), and how he seemed to get along with almost everyone he met, despite being a bit random at times, he comes across as a friendly and simple fellow with a big appetite for adventure.I'll say, despite not having gone to all the coolest places and done all the coolest stuff they could of done, that "Ireland to Sidney By Any Means" is the best traveling program I have seen, and It's how I'd like all of them to be, not like when you see this 60 something year old guy go somewhere and start talking with someone about the history of a place for about 10 minutes and then take a "Business Class" plane to his next location, these guys go there as normal people, they have fun, and then go somewhere else to keep having fun, with no "glittery" additions. Just the real thing! It's made me think about doing something like that someday.I'd recommend it to anyone.

I was interested in this series being just one of the many hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people who traveled the overland trail from the UK to Australia from the late 70's onwards. Most of us did it without a map or guide book, little money or backup. The attitude of Charlie and his crew commenting on the 'primitive' conditions were laughable to those of us with a lot more experience of the Third World. This series would be interesting to armchair travelers but after a while it seemed that the actual traveling took precedence over the places visited. Some interesting locations were only worth a minute or so while shots of Charlie mugging for the camera quickly became boring. Overall, an interesting idea but it came across as simply a piece of self indulgence.