Episode Guide
Best of Bali American Adventure Boats ‘N Floats Bizarre B&Bs Private Islands Gourmet Stays Trees ‘N Zzzzs Aloha, Hawaii Travel has been a nightmare this past year. For the travel industry it’s been an incredibly testing and difficult time and even now, more than a year on, traveling is still restricted in many regions. However, there is hope. Borders are starting to reopen in some countries as a semblance of normality returns to our lives. So what better time than now for Netflix to bust out the travel docs. This time we’re following The World’s Most Amazing Vacation Rentals. Or – as this show should actually be called – America’s Most Amazing Vacation Rentals (feat. a few other countries around the world.) Given there are around 190 in the world, seeing the United States featuring so prominently through over half this series is a bit of a disappointment. Don’t get me wrong, the States are full of wondrous and incredible locations but the title of this show betrays what’s actually being shown. Europe is featured once. Asia gets one focal episode with Bali and a brief sniff of Japan while Africa and South America don’t even make the cut. For a show boasting the tagline “World’s Most Amazing”, it’s perhaps amusingly ironic that almost the entire globe is off-limits on this show. It’s particularly criminal when an episode about treehouses doesn’t even have the wherewithal to feature any of these beauties. However, the show itself does have promise. Three different hosts, Luis, Megan and Jo, team up together to travel the globe (see: America and a few other countries) looking for different vacation rentals. These are then broken up into different categories, depending on your intention. There’s “Budget” which is exactly that; an upmarket budget accommodation that has all the frills and breathtaking views you’d expect. “Unique” highlights a unique stay while “Luxury” goes all-out to show the top of the range properties available to rent. Interspersed around each of these are different experiences, where the group get stuck in to the local festivities. Given the American emphasis it’s perhaps unsurprising to find the prices given in dollars. Now don’t get me wrong, the premise for this show is actually quite good. I – like many other travel enthusiasts I’m sure – am itching for borders to reopen to resume travel across the globe. A show like this should, in theory, be a good guide to showcasing what’s out there. Instead, it simply reads as an American travel piece, completely betraying the premise of the show. For those interested in traveling to the States and seeing some of the weird and wonderful sights out there, Netflix’s latest travel doc is certainly worth checking out. Those looking for something more wide-spread and actually, y’know, featuring the world, will be left disappointed.
