Globe Trekker (sometimes called Pilot Guides in Australia and Thailand, and originally broadcast as Lonely Planet) was a British adventure tourism television series produced by Pilot Productions. The British series was inspired by the Lonely Planet travelbooks and began airing in 1994. Globe Trekker is broadcast in over 40 countries across six continents. The programme won over 20 international awards, including six American Cable Ace awards. Program synopsis Each episode features a host, called a traveller, who travels with a camera crew to a country/major city and experiences the sights, sounds, and culture that the location has to offer. Special episodes feature in-depth city, beach, ape, nature, road trip, pilgrimage, slave trade, historic site, pirate, animal, dive, volcano, war, shopping, journey, history, festival, and food guides. The show often goes far beyond popular tourist destinations in order to give viewers a more authentic look at local culture. Presenters usually participate in different aspects of regional life, such as attending a traditional wedding or visiting a mining community. They address the viewer directly, acting as tourists-turned-tour guides, but are also filmed interacting with locals and discovering interesting locations in (mostly) unrehearsed sequences. Globe Trekker also sometimes includes brief interviews with backpackers who share tips on independent travel in that particular country or city. Production details It usually takes 12 to 15 weeks to complete an episode of the show from start to finish, including at least four weeks of research, three weeks of planning and preparation (speaking to tourist boards, making travel arrangements), two to three weeks of actual filming, and three weeks of editing and post-production. The traveller is often accompanied by five or six members of camera and production crew, who almost never appear on camera. Specifically, the crew consists of a camera operator and a sound technician, plus a producer and a director, who scout locations two weeks before filming. A driver, pilot, or other type of facilitator is often hired locally. A traveller and crew almost never spend more than three nights in one particular area. Theme music The series is known for its distinctive theme and background music, which consists largely of instrumental, downtempo, electronic dance compositions containing global folk music elements. Most of the music is written for the show by Ian Ritchie, Michael Conn, Colin Winston-Fletcher, with additional music from Makoto Sakamoto, Nainita Desai & Malcolm Laws, Nomad, Jesper Mattsson, The Insects, The West