Around the world in 80 days with Michael Palin.

No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain.

Through the backdoor with Rick Steves.

An Idiot Abroad with Karl Pilkington?

In a list of some of the most famous travel presenters to ever exist, surely Pilkington must be joke?

It was.

In An Idiot Abroad, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, the first people to share Pilkington with the world by airing his obsene, yet hilarious comments on their XFM show, send Pilkington, followed by a camera crew, to see the seven wonders of the world.

While most people would kill for the opportunity, Gervais and Merchant know that what they call “the typical little Englander” in Pilkington will cringe at the thought of leaving the safety of home to be put out of his comfort zone.

Their scheme worked. 

Back against the wall, Pilkington eats testicles in Egypt, rides a camel for hours in the deserts of Jordan, even takes on a bull in Mexico, well for a few seconds. The more each moment abroad chips away at the non-traveler, the funnier his rants and reactions become.

Driving camels across the desert in Jordan. Photo from webtvwire.com

But is the show comedy or travel?

Having seen an interview with Pilkington on the special features of Gervais’s Politics, I went into Pilkington’s first show expecting mainly to laugh, but also see some interesting things. However, by the end of season one I found myself enjoying the show more for the Northerner’s journey than his jokes.

People can say what they want about Pilkington, he’s rude, close-minded and ungrateful, but that puts an interesting spin on travel that I’ve never watched before. After all the laughs, An Idiot Abroad actually turned out to be a good travel show for three reasons.

1.) It shows the less glorious side of travel.

Watch most travel shows and I guarantee they’ll lead you to believe it’s easy life. Flash hotels, no lines, no crowds, clean public transportation and private beaches. The truth is, most people without a camera crew will never travel like that.

Traveling is not always easy. That’s not meant to scare people off, but make them aware before they form their expectations for a trip.

Part of Gervais and Merchant’s plan was to make Pilkington as uncomfortable as possible. But they really just put him on the average backpacker’s path. Being hassled to buy things on the streets of Egypt, noisy hostel dorms in Brazil, crowded attractions in Mexico.

It’s not good or bad, it’s just part of travel.

2.) The itinerary is great. 

An Idiot Abroad is only based around visiting the seven wonders of the world. Along the way Pilkington sees and takes part in a lot of other great things.

In Rio he dresses up and dances in Carnival and visits a nudist beach. In Mexico he eats the worm from a bottle of tequila, visits a Mayan town and almost gets killed on Easter Sunday trying to escape what I can only explain as a fireworks-and-burning-paper-mache parade. He even hikes to visit a part of the Great Wall of China most tourists don’t get to see.

Pilkington visits the pyramids in Egypt. Photo courtesy of Entertainthing.com

But my favorite is his border crossing between Israel and Palestine. I haven’t seen a lot of travel shows focused on Israel and have never seen any about Palestine. He crosses the border to see the spot where people believe Jesus was born. Along the way the way he sees the separation barrier, which is a massive concrete wall, between Israel and Palestine.

After visiting Jesus’ supposed birthplace, Pilkington says it didn’t really affect him. In fact, the wall had more of an affect on him. Seeing the barrier in the show, I can see how.

3.) Pilkington’s moments of enlightenment are more meaningful.

The last type of person an agency would use to sell their country, attraction or sight is Karl Pilkington. He went into every destination and wonder expecting the worst, which made his moments of enlightenment that much more meaningful.

I think the average person can relate to him more than any adventurous person willing to try anything. If Pilkington could have one amazing moment on his travels, then most people can have twenty.

I found myself genuinely happy for the guy after he spent the day with a swamiji in India. Pilkington went swimming in the “like minus five” Ganges River with the holy man and spent the night at his house. Watching him smile and dance there, it was clear he was enjoying the adventure.

While Pilkington will most likely continue his rants and pessimistic lead ups to destinations in season two, I’m sure deep down he enjoys it. He’s told stories of the world to his friends back home and as much as he wants to deny it, he’s a traveler.

Have you watched An Idiot Abroad? What are your thoughts on the show?