Michael Portillo uses his 1913 Bradshaw's Continental Railway guide to complete his journey through Switzerland. En route, he is caught up in a war zone with the Red Cross, takes to the skies in a vintage bi-plane and tries his hand at watchmaking, James Bond style. Fortified by railway wine and Swiss fondue, Michael makes his way to the capital, Bern, where in a 1930s bi-plane, he follows in the slipstream of the Swiss pilot Oskar Bider, first to fly across the Alps. At Biel or Bienne, Michael tries his hand at watchmaking and learns how a timekeeping innovation by Omega became indispensable in the trenches of the First World War. Arriving in Geneva, Michael is thrust into tense conflict training at a military checkpoint as he explores the city's famously international character, beginning with the International Committee for the Red Cross.