This is geting about zero press, but it could be a cool show. The first episode is in Chile and looks gorgeous!

confessionsofatravelwriter.com

Monday, August 10, 9pm on The Travel Channel

I hate these people.

I can't remember anyone's name, but the red-haired dude? It was like he rehearsed all his douche-isms on the flight down to Chile. I'm interested in reading the articles that he wrote for the two magazines because he seemed like he was over everything that Chile had to offer.

Is this a one off-show? If not I hope Charles isn't always the voice-over because he is so douche-tastic everyone else seems sort of mellow except for the hyper-active food blogger.

It seems the show is going to be Charles'.Interview with Charles Runette.

I -did- enjoy seeing only travel writers (and for such different kinds of travel writing) on the trip to Chile. Too bad that any one of them would have made a better narrator than Charles. Also, if he wasn't such a buzz kill, having four other writers along might have been fun. They all seemed up for it.

And, yes, he "loved" Valparaiso, but most of what I remember of the show was him complaining--about his seat in the plane...about the "failings" of other people on the tour...about the "too fancy" molecular gastronomy dinner...about the too small room with a miserable view...about being on time when the bus left an hour late....about rock-climbing....about having to see PENGUINS....)

God. Talk about a spectacular (and free!) experience being wasted on someone. Candor can be a good thing in travel writing for tv--like Bourdain's.

Charles may be a good travel writer (it's hard to imagine, but I don't really know). But as a travel host, he's no Bourdain. In his blog linked above he says "look-out Samantha and Tony". But, really, so far they have nothing to worry about.

On the positive side, I would LOVE the opportunity to go to Santiago...Or visit Penguin Island. Or rock climb. Or eat high end food for free. Or......)

The show REALLY needs to spread the narratoring voice around. I could propably handle Charles in small doses but an entire show from his point of view? Not so fun.

I loved Andrew and the sheep. In fact, I loved Andrew and anything. More Andrew!

Ugh. Is he (Charles) going to be the permanent host, with a rotating group of four other travel writers being featured alongside him? I don't know if I could watch this often if so. The show is great in theory. Hell, it's great in practice because I'm such a sucker for a travel show! But, I don't know with this Charles guy being the permanent host. He has a lot to learn from Anthony Bourdain about being a travel show host. Even when Bourdain has an "Oh, wow. Really?!" attitude, it's more in line with him still being appreciative of the moment or turning the moment into self-deprecating humor.

This quote is from the link that Lisette provided above. It's about Charles pitching this show to a production company:
I mean, I dunno. In this day and age, do you really want to get your shits and giggles from being a jerk to airport security?

This was the most smug and joyless travel show I've ever seen. Who likes seeing travel writer (or one) talking about what a drag it is to have to do his 'job'. Poor baby.

Not going to watch again.

And that about sums it up.

I was so looking forward to this show because I'm a travel geek. But what on earth is up with this Charles guy? He sucks beyond belief.

That quote above about him sarcastically mouthing off to airport security about Dubai is unbelievable. I hope to see this douchebag on a future episode of "Locked Up Abroad".

I actually LOVED this show.

To me, this is not a travel show - there are dozens of shows like that already out there - this is a show about being a travel writer, a journalist. What I took from it, and from Charles, is that being a travel writer isn't necessarily the dream-job most people think it is. That it's work, and work isn't always fun, even when you're doing something amazing.

I enjoyed learning about the pros and cons of press trips. It's great for the writers that the press trips are free, but that means being at the mercy of the tourism board in regards to transportation and activities, and having to work with people whose personalities you may not mesh with and whose goals might not align with yours. For the most part, the writers have already pitched their stories, they know what they need to see, and I can understand them not wanting to waste time on things that won't be of interest to the publications they're working for. Charles had already seen the penguins, knew he couldn't find a story there, and didn't want to waste the time. Also, I can sympathize with his annoyance about waiting around the bus for an hour after they were supposed to meet - that's the tour guide messing up, plain and simple. These people are working, and that hour could have been much better spent in their rooms writing. It's not a perfect relationship, but what work relationship is?

As for any perceived douchiness from Charles, I was happy to see that he recognizes that he can be a bit short at times. I grow weary of "sunshine and puppy dog" personalities incredibly quickly, and it's always nice to see someone on my television who can break out the snark. I found his reactions to the things he liked - the town of Valparaiso and the architecture of that one hotel - to be quite honest and joyful. I'd much rather see realistic, personal reactions like that than watch a host who slobbers with delight during every segment.

So, yes, I liked this show, and I'm eagerly waiting the next installment.

It's sort of like going on vacation with Dr. House. Whether that's good or bad depends on your point of view.

I wanted to like this show. I really did. But for Charles to say near the end of the show (I think when they were kayaking) that he hates when travel writers bitch about their jobs and that if they don't like it, they can do something else? Pot, meet the kettle. For him to say that after I watched about 45 minutes of him bitching was too much for me to take.

In addition, it's pretty difficult for me to feel sorry for him at all when he gets a free trip to Chile, already had at least one story he planned to get out of the trip (so now he's going to MAKE money from going on a free trip), and is being paid to have it all documented for the Travel Channel (which means he is now being paid TWICE to go on this free trip to Chile). Yeah, it's really rough life you lead there.

In theory, I wanted to like him. In the beginning when he was talking about how your companions on a press tour can make or break the trip, I was with him. I mean, you get stuck with a random group of people who might drive you insane, so I can sympathize. Then I remembered hello, that's almost every work environment. And yes, not only have I had to share offices/workspace with people who drive me insane, but I have been forced to travel with my coworkers. And by travel I mean share an airport shuttle, a flight, another airport shuttle, a hotel room, and a rental car so that six of us were joined at the hip for a week straight. The difference is that we got a "fun" trip to a conference in Orlando without time or access to go anywhere but the conference hall and the strip mall hell that our hotel was located on. Oh yeah, and we had to pay for everything ourselves. So Charles complaining about being stuck with people while on a free trip to Chile? My sympathy dried up pretty quickly.

At first I was glad that he was willing to be so candid on camera about his travel mates since he knew that they would end up seeing the footage and what he said about them, but he ended up being such a sourpuss about most of the trip that I found myself waiting for more footage of the other writers.

It was interesting to see how differently each of the writers treated the trip, especially when they had some free time to roam. Obviously they each have a different agenda and area of interest, so it was nice to see them pursue their angles.

THAT'S a travel show I'd like to see! I could even tolerate Charles as the group curmudgeon.

It would be fun to see the same group of travel writers going together to a new place each week and filtering it through their own personalities, interests, and writing assignments. I -could- like the mix of these people (arrogant, douchey low-budget Travel Channel host....hot young female blogger....young well built Asian article writer....writer-photographer on assignment for National Geographic) as the cast of a weekly reality show "The REAL Travel Writers of the U.S." (but with a better title).

Interacting with the culture from different perspectives and with each other (seemed like Charles was not beloved by his fellow travel-mates, at least from a few of his asides. And I could see why--although in smaller doses, his ascerbic personality might come across as "refreshingly candid" rather than "annoyingly negative").

But, unfortunately, that won't be -this- show. If Charles isn't going with a group every week, then I hope he'll realize he's not Bourdain and find some other way to minimize his on-camera time.

It would be interesting to see the same trip edited from the other writers' point of view. In fact, that would be a cheap way to extend the series.

So, was the first episode a one-off? I tuned into the Travel Channel, waiting for Bourdain's No Reservations to come on at 10, and gearing up to watch Confessions... at 9, but NR was on at that hour.

I think this show is dead and gone, but I found Andrew's article he wrote for National Geographic Traveler.

http://traveler.nationalgeographic.com/200...iso-interactive