Who would think that a travel show could last 20 years? Well, I might think so, and I’m glad it has. Globe Trekker started out as Lonely Planet in 1992. Where was I in 1992? Not watching Globe Trekker. I didn’t discovery it until 1999, and it was on The Travel Channel. I instantly liked it. I remember the original Globe Trekkers, Ian Wright and Justine Shapiro. Megan McCormick would come later and then John Atherton, Neil Gibson, Shilpa Mehta, Christina Chang, Estelle Bingham, Lavinia Tan, Zay Harding, Adela Ucar, KT Comer, Sami Sabiti, Holly Morris. I’ve learned to love this show. This show is the essence of what a travel show should be. It should be about traveling, it should be like a documentary. That is what this show should be.
I remember seeing the Central Asia episode in 1999. I don’t know what year it came out (I can’t read Roman numerals after a certain number). However, I remember being in bed seeing it, watching a Kyrgyz woman playing a song, as the men were slaughtering sheep, and then roasting it. Something just made me want to be there. It made me want to travel more.
It bites that this show has not been on The Travel Channel for a long time. Maybe Globe Trekker leaving The Travel Channel could be a microcosm of a much larger change in The Travel Channel itself. The Travel Channel became more about niche markets and less about travel over the years, in my opinion at least. Maybe it was for the best. Perhaps Globe Trekker would like a longer life on a channel like PBS than it would on The Travel Channel.
Seeing such a show like Globe Trekker stand the test of time is a sign of hope.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d0pLO8MFe8http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d0pLO8MFe8
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