Excess Baggage - 18/04/2009

Sandi Toksvig explores the adventures, frustrations and joys of travel. Kazakhstan is the world's ninth biggest country and in 2008 Alex Meredith cycled 4,000 kilometres across it from west to east. On the way he saw some of the oldest nomadic peoples and the most modern archtiecture, met Kazakh Hell's Angels, spent the night on a former Soviet missile base and discovered why his journey was worth an orange but not a water melon. He also the discovered the real meaning of the word 'bonking'. Trevor Watson is Director General of the Caravan Club, which has been looking out for caravanners' interests since 1907. With site bookings 40 per cent up on last year, Trevor explains why caravans are proving popular both in a recession and in better times and 20-year-old Jonathan Gray reveals the attraction of caravanning for the younger genration.