Travel Shows on TV to Satisfy Your Travel Lust
While it’s important to explore our own backyards, some of us have – dare I say – an addiction to roam farther and wider.
With the cost of travel soaring, it might take longer to fill your savings jar with pennies. In the meantime, here are some excellent (and untraditional) travel shows on TV that might help satisfy your travel lust – for now. The following series are armchair travel at its best.
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Table of Contents
- Jack Whitehall: Travels With My Father
- Conan Without Borders
- World’s Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji
- Dark Tourist
- The Grand Tour Presents: Seamen
- James May: Our Man in Japan
- Instant Hotel
Jack Whitehall: Travels With My Father
Seasons: 5
Countries: Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam (Season 1, 2017), Germany, Hungary, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, Turkey (Season 2, 2018), United States (Season 3, 2019), Australia (Season 4, 2020), UK (Season 5, 2021)
Without doubt, my personal favorite show on this list is Jack Whitehall: Travels With My Father. There are countless travel shows on TV, however this one is particularly endearing, entertaining and, at times, laugh-until-you-cry hilarious.
Hoping to build memories, English comedian/actor Jack Whitehall enlists his father, Michael (Mr. Whitehall), as his travel partner. Mr. Whitehall’s deadpan sarcasm and Jack’s quick wit are fantastic.
More often than not, Mr. Whitehall tolerates Jack’s juvenile (and purposely) boyish behavior throughout their different cultural adventures.
If you want more of Jack and his father, they also have a Christmas special on Netflix – Jack Whitehall: Christmas with My Father.
Conan Without Borders
Seasons: 2
Countries: Armenia, Qatar, Australia, Berlin, Ghana, Mexico, Israel, Haiti, Italy, Japan, Greenland, Cuba, South Korea
Travel series can sometimes be educational, monotonous, and (occasionally) a teeny bit boring – but if so, you’re clearly watching the wrong travel shows on TV!
Add to the equation a tall, redheaded American comedian and the entire atmosphere of said show changes.
Peppered with Conanisms and jokes, each episode of Conan Without Borders follows Conan O’Brien (and his cheeky reactions) as he explores several diverse countries.
The late-night talk show host is a witty and clever conversationalist. Despite this (and perhaps because of this), locals don’t always have a clue how to react to this rowdy American. His energy, wisecracks, and attention-seeking ways cast a somewhat different look at each place and its people.
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World’s Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji
Seasons: 1
Countries: Fiji
The World’s Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji is an 11 day gritty, physical, and intimidating challenge. This series in not about arriving in Fiji for a relaxing holiday, rather it follows 66 teams on a race across the country.
Captivating footage sails you over the ocean and deep into the heart of wild Fiji, revealing places most tourists never see nor step foot in.
Then there’s the madness of the race itself. The top teams are undaunted and almost superhuman in their determination to push through. Take for example their ability to endure sleep deprivation while performing strenuous feats such as swimming through 8 kilometers of ice cold water!
While the World’s Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji demonstrates what the human body and soul can endure, it also showcases a striking country using cinematography that provides oodles of visual candy.
Dark Tourist
Seasons: 1
Countries: Columbia, Mexico, Japan, United States, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Cyprus, Cambodia, Myanmar, Indonesia, Benin, South Africa
Ordinarily, travel shows on TV tend to focus on popular tourist destinations. But not Dark Tourist!
Journalist David Farrier takes it a step further by exploring dark tourism. He dives into the unusual and at times macabre customs across several cultures.
Although some moments can be disturbing, most of the series is quite interesting. Farrier also checks out certain countries we don’t hear much about, such as Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan.
Dark Tourist often touches upon the taboo. It’s not your traditional, glossy tourist program, but it will open your eyes to things you may never have heard of before.
The Grand Tour Presents: Seamen
Seasons: 5
Countries: Cambodia, Vietnam
Although The Grand Tour has multiple seasons, I want to specifically point to the very first episode of season 4, The Grand Tour Presents: Seamen.
In this episode the three English hosts navigate the Mekong Delta captaining individual boats – essentially a Southeast Asian road trip on water navigating areas little seen on travel shows on TV.
With three carefully chosen but unconventional watercraft, the facetious men attempt to ferry their way between Cambodia and Vietnam.
Watching the villages, locals and landscape along the way is rewarding in itself, and the antics of these grown men attempting to pass along the waterways is amusing to say the least.
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James May: Our Man in…
Seasons: 3
Countries: Japan, Italy, India
In Our Man in…, James May takes a break from his Grand Tour partners and ventures off alone.
In the first season, May’s love for Japan is evident as he explores the country in depth over six episodes.
In season two, May visits Italy with stops in popular locales such as the Amalfi Coast, Rome and Sicily. Season three finds him in India, celebrating Holi, flying kites, and sampling street food, among other things.
May respectfully displays the essence of each culture, injecting his dry British humor every now and then.
Instant Hotel
Seasons: 2
Countries: Australia
Instant Hotel takes on the world of vacation rentals, pitting owners against owners as each owner becomes a guest at another owner’s property. Both seasons take viewers across Australia, flaunting the distinctive geography that Australia is famous for.
From the far north in Darwin to the south near Melbourne, the series truly takes you on a cross-country road trip in Aussie style.
The show also provides a peek into some amazing and creative vacation properties that are indeed real rentals.
Instant Hotel does a solid job of showcasing Australia, with a little competition thrown in to find the best vacation rental in the country.
Laughter & Travel Shows Are the Best Medicine
Hopefully these shows will pacify those of you dreaming of adventure and faraway places, or leave you curious, laughing and feeling good. Maybe they’ll make you reflect on where you’ve been, where you’d like to return to, and where you’d like to go next!
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