''Globe Trekker'' (sometimes called ''Pilot Guides'' in Australia and

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

, and originally broadcast as ''Lonely Planet'') was a British

adventure tourism Adventure travel is a type of niche tourism, involving exploration or travel with a certain degree of risk (real or perceived), and which may require special skills and physical exertion. In the United States, adventure tourism has grown in r ...

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed be ...

produced by Pilot Productions. The

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

series was inspired by the

Lonely Planet Lonely Planet is a travel guide book publisher. Founded in Australia in 1973, the company has printed over 150 million books. History Early years Lonely Planet was founded by married couple Maureen and Tony Wheeler. In 1972, they embarke ...

travelbooks and began airing in 1994. ''Globe Trekker'' is broadcast in over 40 countries across six continents. The programme won over 20 international awards, including six American

Cable Ace The CableACE Award (earlier known as the ACE Awards; ACE was an acronym for "Award for Cable Excellence") is a defunct award that was given by what was then the National Cable Television Association from 1978 to 1997 to honor excellence in Ame ...

awards.

Program synopsis

Each episode features a host, called a ''traveller'', who travels with a

camera crew A film crew is a group of people, hired by a production company, for the purpose of producing a film or motion picture. The crew is distinguished from the cast, as the cast are understood to be the actors who appear in front of the camera o ...

to a country/major city and experiences the sights, sounds, and culture that the location has to offer. Special episodes feature in-depth

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc sh ...

ape Apes (collectively Hominoidea ) are a clade of Old World simians native to sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia (though they were more widespread in Africa, most of Asia, and as well as Europe in prehistory), which together with its sister g ...

nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are ...

, road trip,

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...

slave trade Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

historic site A historic site or heritage site is an official location where pieces of political, military, cultural, or social history have been preserved due to their cultural heritage value. Historic sites are usually protected by law, and many have been rec ...

pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

animal Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Kingdom (biology), biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals Heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, are Motilit ...

, dive,

volcano A volcano is a rupture in the Crust (geology), crust of a Planet#Planetary-mass objects, planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and volcanic gas, gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Ear ...

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

shopping Shopping is an activity in which a customer browses the available goods or services presented by one or more retailers with the potential intent to purchase a suitable selection of them. A typology of shopper types has been developed by scho ...

journey Journey or journeying may refer to: * Travel, the movement of people between distant geographical locations ** Day's journey, a measurement of distance ** Road trip, a long-distance journey on the road Animals * Journey (horse), a thoroughbred ra ...

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

festival A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival ...

, and food guides. The show often goes far beyond popular tourist destinations in order to give viewers a more authentic look at local culture. Presenters usually participate in different aspects of regional life, such as attending a traditional wedding or visiting a mining community. They address the viewer directly, acting as tourists-turned-tour guides, but are also filmed interacting with locals and discovering interesting locations in (mostly) unrehearsed sequences. ''Globe Trekker'' also sometimes includes brief interviews with backpackers who share tips on independent travel in that particular country or city.

Production details

It usually takes 12 to 15 weeks to complete an

episode An episode is a narrative unit within a larger dramatic work or documentary production, such as a series intended for radio, television or streaming consumption. The noun ''episode'' is derived from the Greek term ''epeisodion'' (), meaning th ...

of the show from start to finish, including at least four weeks of

research Research is " creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness ...

, three weeks of planning and preparation (speaking to tourist boards, making travel arrangements), two to three weeks of actual filming, and three weeks of

editing Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, o ...

and post-production. The traveller is often accompanied by five or six members of camera and production crew, who almost never appear on camera. Specifically, the crew consists of a camera operator and a sound technician, plus a producer and a

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

, who scout locations two weeks before filming. A driver,

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

, or other type of facilitator is often hired locally. A traveller and crew almost never spend more than three nights in one particular area.

Theme music

The series is known for its distinctive theme and background music, which consists largely of

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to inst ...

downtempo Downtempo (or downbeat) is a broad label for electronic music that features an atmospheric sound and slower beats than would typically be found in dance music. Closely related to ambient music but with greater emphasis on rhythm, the style may b ...

, electronic dance compositions containing

global Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to: Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989 * ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015 * Bruno ...

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

elements. Most of the music is written for the show by Ian Ritchie, Michael Conn, Colin Winston-Fletcher, with additional music from Makoto Sakamoto, Nainita Desai & Malcolm Laws,

Nomad A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the po ...

, Jesper Mattsson,

The Insects Startled Insects, later known as The Insects, are an instrumental English pop-jazz band. History Startled Insects began around 1983 in Bristol, England, as a collective of three producers/multi-instrumentalists, Tim Norfolk, Bob Locke and Rich ...

, The West India Company, Stephen Luscombe, and

Pandit Dinesh Pandit Dinesh (born 29 May 1955) is a music composer and percussionist specializing in Indian rhythms. He uses the tabla, conga drums, and more. Dinesh is known for his collaborations with West India Company, Dizrhythmia, The Pax Trio, and Blanc ...

. Several collection of tracks from the show have been released as albums, including ''Globe Trekker: Ambient Journeys'', ''Globe Trekker: Earth Journeys'' (volumes 1 and 2), ''Globe Trekker: Music From The TV Series'' (volumes 1 and 2), ''Globe Trekker: Asian Journeys'', ''Globe Trekker: Latin American Journeys'', and ''Globe Trekker: World Jam''.

Presenters

Pilot Productions employs several presenters for its variety of programs which include ''Planet Food'', ''Bazaar'', ''World Cafe'', and ''Treks in a Wild World''. This list of presenters is limited to those appearing in ''Globe Trekker''. * Jonathan Atherton * Danielle Baker * Brianna Barnes * Estelle Bingham * Christina Chang * Bobby Chinn * KT Comer *

Bradley Cooper Bradley Charles Cooper (born January 5, 1975) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a British Academy Film Award and two Grammy Awards, in addition to nominations for nine Academy Awards, si ...

, who hosted a number of episodes in the early 2000s before achieving success as a Hollywood actor * Mark Crowdy * Zoe D’Amato *

Andrew Daddo Andrew Dugald Daddo (born 18 February 1967) is an Australian actor, author and television and radio personality. Early life Daddo was born in Melbourne on 18 February 1967. He began his education at Mt Eliza Primary School and in year seven mo ...

Tyler Florence Tyler Florence (born March 3, 1971) is a chef and television host of several Food Network shows. He graduated from the College of Culinary Arts at the Charleston, South Carolina, campus of Johnson & Wales University in 1991. He was later given a ...

* Neil Gibson * Nikki Grosse *

Zay Harding Zavan Kerr "Zay" Harding (born November 1, 1974, Lihue, Hawaii) is an American television personality and actor, who may be best known as "Jeff Northcutt" on the MTV television serial, ''Spyder Games'', and as a host of the adventure travel tel ...

* Katy Haswell * Judith Jones *

Padma Lakshmi Padma Parvati Lakshmi (; born September 1, 1970) is an Indian-born American author, activist, actress, model, philanthropist, and television host. She has hosted the cooking competition program ''Top Chef'' on Bravo continuously since season 2 ...

, who would go on to host major productions such as ''

Top Chef ''Top Chef'' is an American reality competition television series which premiered on Bravo on March 8, 2006. The show features chefs competing against each other in culinary challenges. The contestants are judged by a panel of professional ch ...

'' * Megan McCormick * Shilpa Mehta * Holly Morris * Eils Nevitt * Zoe Palmer *

Merrilees Parker Merrilees Claire Parker (born 11 August 1971 in Westminster, London) is a British celebrity chef and television presenter. She is mainly known for presenting television programmes combining food and travel (''Planet Food'' and ''Full on Food'') ...

Alex Riley Kevin Robert Kiley Jr. (born April 28, 1981) is an American professional wrestler and commentator best known for his time with WWE under the ring name Alex Riley. He was a participant in the second season of ''NXT''. Professional wrestling ...

* Sami Sabiti *

Justine Shapiro Justine Shapiro (born March 20, 1963) is a South African-born American actress, filmmaker, writer, hostess and producer, who was one of several main hosts of the Pilot Productions travel/adventure series '' Globe Trekker'' (also called ''Pilot Gu ...

* Lavinia Tan * Adela Úcar * Lucille Whitney *

Ian Wright Ian Edward Wright (born 3 November 1963) is an English television and radio personality and former professional footballer. He works as a pundit for BBC Sport and ITV Sport. Wright enjoyed success with London clubs Crystal Palace and Arsenal ...

* Matt Young * Judith Jones

Reception

In 2020

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

listed the show, as hosted on the

Vudu Vudu is an American digital video store and streaming service owned by Fandango Media, a joint-venture between NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. Discovery. The company offers transactional video on demand rentals and digital purchases of film ...

video streaming service, as one of the best adventure travel television shows.

Episodes

Season 1 (1994)

Season 2 (1995)

Season 3 (1996)

Season 4 (1997)

Season 5 (1998)

Season 6 (1999)

Season 7 (2000)

Season 8 (2001)

Season 9 (2002)

Season 10 (2003)

Season 11 (2004)

Season 12 (2005)

Season 13 (2006)

Season 14 (2007)

Season 15 (2008)

Season 16 (2009)

''Round The World''

Season 17 (2010)

References

External links

Official website
*{{IMDb title, 0209673, Globe Trekker Adventure reality television series British travel television series American travel television series American adventure television series 1994 American television series debuts 2016 American television series endings 2000s American television series 1994 British television series debuts 2016 British television series endings 1990s British travel television series 2000s British travel television series 2010s British travel television series British adventure television series English-language television shows Channel 4 original programming Adventure travel PBS original programming