Long Way To Go - Starting Mid 2010 - Confirmed by Ewan McGregor

You are definitely right about Ewan saying a break was needed (but obviously not Charley since he's done two series of "By Any Mean," since Long Way Down) but Ewan and Charley both said they wanted to return for a third installment. Long Way Down finished filming back in early August, 2007. So it would be about a 3 year break before Long Way To Go started filming, which is also about the same amount of time between Long Way Round and Long Way Down.

My father is a vice presedent at a major film production and distribution company. Generally he has always worked in the international area, like home entertainment (dvd', etc), Promotion, and currently he has been involved as what most would call a "line producer," but he tends to more act as a manager or decision maker for international line producers and production managers that actually work in the field or "on set."

Now the connection comes because my dad is a race enthusiast. Back when we lived in Portugal and actually before I was born, my dad used to rally race in an old red Citroen (but new back then). In the last ten years he has raced in a few "celebrity races." They aren't anything special, I think the best car he got to drive was a Dodge coupe of some kind. Usually they are just for fund raisers. Not sure why I am telling you all this, but basically what it comes down to is related to the scheduling of a future project that McGregor is in. Obviously he would need to be available to do another "Long Way" project and my dad would be directly involved in scheduling production around the motorcycle trip since the film project is around the same time. To make an already long story short, during a meeting or phone call about Ewan's availability, he was told about the time Ewan would need to have available to do a personal project. Not sure if my dad asked what it was or if they told him, but once he found out that it was another Long Way series (my dad and I both being huge fans), he asked a few more questions... like location, etc. I guess all they told him (or all my dad would tell me) is that it would take place in South America, involve the Pan-America highway, and it will be called, "Long Way To Go."

The limited details could simply be because details haven't all been decided.

I forget what show or dvd it was, but I know Ewan had said they would try to do a new project and maybe call it, "Long Way Up." We live south of Los Angeles in the states, so even watching Long Way Round or Long Way Down wasn't easy sometimes. Thank God for the internet!

Personally I wish they chose another location to do... like Australia (maybe too much like Africa?). South America has never been too interesting to me, but neither was Africa and I ended up really liking it. Plus there are only so many places in the world you can do a motorcycle journey until you eventual run out. Maybe one day they will do Long Way Antarctica...

Until next year I highly recommend you check this out...

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/tstories/mccarthy/000061.php

It's a journal / blog about a British couple that decided to take their BMW motorcycle from Manchester to Japan and back in 2002/2003. It is a similar journey to Long Way Round but without North America. Their route is also a little different and better in my opinion. It takes them through Georgia, Azerbaijan, most of the "stans" like Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, south eastern Asia, and the trans-Siberian railway/road. They sell a more detailed story in a book, but the free online version is really great too. Since they don't have a support crew and they are alone it is much more intimate and realistic. They would break down and have to next day parts to remote locations, spend time with locals, camp on the road side, and just so much more.

Read it if you want... I'd love to hear what you think.

"On the Late Show with David Letterman (17 February 2010), Ewan said he's not planning another trip at the moment, because it's difficult to stay away from his family for the long time it takes to do a Long Way trip. He also mentioned still wanting to do a trip from South to North America."

2015 and still nothing planned, the boys adventures might be over