''Globe Trekker'' (sometimes called ''Pilot Guides'' in Australia and Thailand, and originally broadcast as ''Lonely Planet'') was a British adventure tourism television series produced by

Pilot Productions 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 ar ...

. The British series was inspired by the Lonely Planet 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 awards.

Program synopsis

Each episode features a host, called a ''traveller'', who travels with a camera crew 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, ape, nature,

road trip A road trip, sometimes spelled roadtrip, is a long-distance journey on the road. Typically, road trips are long distances travelled by automobile. History First road trips by automobile The world's first recorded long-distance road trip by t ...

, pilgrimage, slave trade, historic site, pirate, animal, dive, volcano, war, shopping, journey, history, festival, and

food Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is inge ...

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

post-production Post-production is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording individual program segments. The ...

. 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 A camera operator, or depending on the context cameraman or camerawoman, is a professional operator of a film camera or video camera as part of a film crew. The term "cameraman" does not imply that a male is performing the task. In filmmaking ...

and a sound technician, plus a

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

and a director, who scout locations two weeks before filming. A driver, pilot, 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, downtempo, electronic dance compositions containing global folk music 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, Jesper Mattsson, The Insects, The West India Company,

Stephen Luscombe Blancmange () are an English synth-pop band formed in Harrow, London, in 1979. The band were a duo for much of their career, composed of Neil Arthur (vocals) and Stephen Luscombe (keyboards). They came to prominence in the early 1980s, releasi ...

, and Pandit Dinesh. 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, who hosted a number of episodes in the early 2000s before achieving success as a Hollywood actor * Mark Crowdy * Zoe D’Amato * Andrew Daddo * Tyler Florence * Neil Gibson * Nikki Grosse * Zay Harding * Katy Haswell * Judith Jones * Padma Lakshmi, who would go on to host major productions such as '' Top Chef'' *

Megan McCormick Megan Leah McCormick (born August 8, 1972) is an American TV presenter, who is one of the main hosts of the Pilot Productions travel-adventure series ''Globe Trekker'' (also called ''Pilot Guides'' in Australia, Canada and the United States and or ...

* Shilpa Mehta * Holly Morris * Eils Nevitt * Zoe Palmer * Merrilees Parker * Alex Riley * Sami Sabiti * Justine Shapiro * Lavinia Tan *

Adela Úcar Adela Úcar Innerarity (Bilbao, 1980) is a Spanish journalist, host and producer. She studied Audiovisual Communication at the University of Navarre with a postgraduate course in Documentary Direction at the University of Melbourne (Australia), ...

* Lucille Whitney * Ian Wright * Matt Young * Judith Jones

Reception

In 2020 The Washington Post listed the show, as hosted on the Vudu 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