‘Travel Man’ on Hulu is Subbing in For My Canceled Spring Break

Travel Man isn’t new on Hulu. The delightfully offbeat British comedy series, which follows host Richard Ayoade as he and a funny pal take a weekend trip to a popular tourist destination, has been streaming on Hulu for years. However, the show has taken on a new urgency for me lately. Travel Man is the show that has been helping me cope with life in quarantine. Between the visually stunning footage of far flung European locations to silly jokes about the downsides of tourism to one singular episode that takes me back to my favorite vacation spot on Earth, Travel Man is the show that is subbing in for spring break during quarantine.

Travel Man debuted on the British station Channel 4 in 2015. The structure of each episode is basically the same: comedian Richard Ayoade greets a celebrity friend in a popular Euro-centric vacation hub. Think Vienna, the Cote d’Azur, or Barcelona. Then they check into a local hotel and embark on a frenetic tour of the locale, with an emphasis on offbeat excursions and classic tourist trap fare. Since the show debuted in 2015, there have been 40 episodes (although only the first 30-odd installments are currently streaming on Hulu).

Ayoade’s trademark deadpan often downplays the beauty or intrigue of the place they are visiting, but in a way, that’s what makes Travel Man so addictive. The show isn’t an incessantly upbeat travelogue designed to give you FOMO. It is instead a tease of the holiday destination and an honest representation of the awkwardness of foreign travel. I can’t think of a single avid traveler who can’t talk about at least one embarrassing international encounter or one tourist mecca that left them underwhelmed. Ayoade and his guests embrace these moments.

But what really make Travel Man such a delectable watch is how it does manage to transport you to these amazing locales. Because of this, my favorite episodes are ironically placed in cities I’ve already visited. I can remember the fun of waking through Budapest in the mists or admiring the David in Florence. Most of all, I am obsessed with the Madeira episode in Season 6. Madeira is my all-time favorite place to vacation and I usually stay in a hotel across the street from where Ayoade and his cohort, Robert Webb, crash. Seeing Funchal, Madeira on display, in all its placid, retiree-full glory, is a huge balm to my nerves right now.

I might not be able to board a plane right now and visit my favorite vacation hotspots, but I can vicariously jet-set with Travel Man.

Where to stream Travel Man