A World Traveler’s View on “An Idiot Abroad”

I must confess, after traveling for such a long time overseas and having never been much of a TV watcher in my down time, I had never heard of the show, “An Idiot Abroad”. When I did first hear about this British comedy, all I could think of was that it was about a typical tourist that travels and expects everything to be just the same as his or her homeland. You know the type… the ones that expect to see everything written in their native language from street signs to restaurant menus. They are astonished to find out there is no similar music, food, celebrations and such that they’d have in their own country. They often get annoyed when things don’t go as planned, when they can’t find something they regularly find at home and when they simply have no desire to meet those of another culture and travel only to ‘see the sights’…

Well, when I first heard about this show (which ironically debuted a few years ago) I had assumed this is what it was about though I had obviously heard it was funny. After months of people telling me to check it out, I finally did (of course, 4 years after the show debuted!) and not only was I wrong about the show (in certain aspects) but since there are so many ways a traveler can relate to ‘Karl’s experiences’ on the show, I think any traveler would appreciate watching it!

If you haven’t seen it before, it may be hard to relate to my thoughts on it here but I can tell you that not only is it pretty hilarious but what’s even better is to truly see what it is like to view the world through someone else’s ‘filter’. Lets be honest, Karl Pilkington, the poor sap that is sent abroad and put into some pretty serious cultural situations that would challenge anyone’s comfort zone levels, has quite an interesting view on life and is quite full of some amazing one liners.

And I can relate well to his personality type as I know plenty of folks back home that would react much the same given the same situations and circumstances. I’m referring to those that are content never leaving their hometown and may never even travel more than 100 miles from where they were born their entire lives just like Karl. Those that have no desire to try different foods, to experience different cultures or to get out of their comfortable surroundings of home life. I think we can all relate to this but Karl really exemplifies this and does a superb job of making it hilarious to watch and experience in the process!

As a budding fan of the show, and having only watched a few episodes so far, I’m looking forward to catching much more of it. True, they have cancelled out new shows for now but it will still be amazing to continue to view the world through Karl’s unique perspective on life. Has travel changed this man? Ever wondered how someone you know would react in the same crazy or cultural situations you found yourself in while traveling? I know I have and this is what gives me so much appreciation for this show and its creativeness. The show is ridiculous I know, but as a world traveler, its been extremely entertaining! Rock on Karl…