Travel TV with your GTG
Greetings globetrotters and welcome to this our hundredth GTG edition! How quickly has this year gone so far? For some of us globetrotters at times when we get busy, there can be nothing more leisurely than to curl up in front of the TV at the end of the day. Co-incidentally there happen to be a large number of programs that deal with the world of travel, especially if you have forked out the bankroll for some kind of pay TV or cable TV. In that case they have whole channels dedicated to such things. This idea of armchair tourism is exactly what your GTG plans to look at this week.
Well they come in all shapes and sizes but travel TV shows have been providing meal-ticket jobs and entertaining the masses since Have gun will travel was released n 1957. The idea seems to be that viewers have the opportunity to experience what a destination has to offer without incurring any of the cost or risk. The most recent development in travel shows are specific themes where the travel becomes almost incidental. Certain shows like man V food, the tattoo hunter, and the 5 million other food travel shows come to mind. It may take a stretch of the imagination to include all the travel shows your GTG is thinking of but the main point to come out of this is that travel is significant for any number of different reasons depending on your personal interests.
In Man Versus Food, as described on the website “Host Adam Richman travels America to sample some iconic regional 
dishes and take on some daunting food challenges, such as attacking a 13-pound pizza in Atlanta, tucking into the Sasquatch Burger in Memphis, Tenn., and the aptly named Atomic Hot Wings platter in Pittsburgh”. Delicious…
In the case of The Tattoo Hunter, anthropologist Lars Krutak visits remote communities where tattoos are part of significant tradition. Sometimes where tradition permits (and sometimes where it doesn’t), Lars will get himself a big ol’ inking of his own. The show is designed to educate people on some ancient traditions with a hint of dramatic flair worthy of Steve Irwin.
At the risk of going out on a limb, your GTG generally believes that the TV shows and the travel industry itself are designed with completely different markets in mind, after all, there is not often a TV handy when you travel (unless of course there is a high profile soccer/football game or sporting match). The difference is in the limit of experience desired. For travellers, simply seeing a place on TV is far from enough, we need to see it for ourselves. Of course we are not all born into the same circumstances to be able to make this happen.
When it comes to the foody shows the choice is fairly limitless. From Luke Nguyen’s fabulous trip down the Mekong to Jamie’s Italy, celebrity chefs and everyday people have got it covered. Many of the other theme travel shows seem to have developed as people travel more and more. The theory here is that people have already seen many places in a more generic capacity and to capture the viewers’ interest producers have adapted to present a destination in a way it hasn’t been seen before.
In some places shows have gone local with names like Sydney weekender and Summertime WA flashing from my memory. Getaway is another example that features the near and far with ideas for a ‘wholesome’ holiday. The trick is many of these shows seem to be sponsored by different travel companies so they come with a bucket-load of bias and not necessarily the best bang for your buck.
Well with quite a few things to think about and a ;lifetime’s worth of TV watching to do, I would like to say a huge thanks to everyone who has been a part of first hundred GTG entries, this is your success too. I now leave you to enjoy the first international Bob Marley day, happy 70th legend! Untill next week.
