I'm Hooked On...

Its such a great show.

On one hand it makes you feel like you are right there, bumping along a dusty pothole-ridden road in South Africa, or sky-diving in New Zealand, or eating fried tarantulas in Cambodia...

and on the other, it inspires you to get off your tush, and go experience some of these things for yourself! (I'll pass on the spiders.)

Basically, Departures is about 3 Canadian guys in their 20's who decide to take a year off and travel the world, filming it along the way. They go to some really awesome off-the-beaten-tourist-track places, like Iceland, Sri Lanka, Ascension Island, Libya, Mongolia, Jordan, and Ecuador.
I'm currently halfway through the second season, they've just left Madgascar, and are headed for Chile!

While they are in these places they do some nifty hikes, eat local food, and often stay with the local people if possible. On top of this, they have so many international contacts, it seems like every other episode they are doing something crazy no normal tourist would EVER get the chance to do...it makes it feel like such an authentic travel experience, and its SO interesting!

The cast/crew is made up of Scott (the walking travel encyclopedia and pro navigator), Justin (the class clown, big-talker, and animal whisperer), and Andre (the camera-guy, and the man I will someday marry).

Don't let the fact that it is Canadian-made lead you to believe it is somehow a low-budget show with crappy production value. I swear the cinematography will blow your mind! Every episode just makes me go "WOW!", and realize just how beautiful and diverse our planet it is! My (quickly Googled) research tells me that it has won Best Documentary Series from the Canadian Golden Sheaf Awards (2008), and 2 Gemini awards in 2010 (Best Photography/Best Editing).

Lucky for my addiction, my brother and sister-in-law own all 3 DVD sets, and have kindly lent them to me to devour. For those of you with cable, Mike tells me you can catch it on OLN or city tv. And then there's always icefilms.info for everyone else.

WATCH IT.

Its the Best.