Follow Simon Reeve as he travels across North America
Everyone should explore, says Simon Reeve, whose latest travels take him from one end of North America to the other
Claire Webb - 29 October 2019
Simon Reeve isn’t often lost for words, but he was flummoxed by a question from a member of the audience when he toured UK theatres last year. “Somebody shouted out, ‘Have you and Professor Brian Cox had any love children together?’ he recalls. “That was my second event, in Swansea, and they were a really enthusiastic crowd. I’ve been mistaken for Brian Cox.”
Whether it’s his Cox-like floppy hair, adventurous destinations or warts-and-all reporting, Reeve’s BBC2 travelogues have earned him a devoted following. His memoir, Step by Step: the Life in My Journeys, was a bestseller (it’s now out in paperback) and he has just embarked on a second tour, with more dates added in 2020 due to demand (for details visit simonreeve.co.uk).
In the past 15 years he has made his name as Britain’s boldest travel presenter, having begun his career on TV as an expert on al-Qaeda. He hopes to inspire viewers to step out of their comfort zone. “And to get back to what I like to think – pompously no doubt, pretentiously almost certainly – is the real point of travel, which is to learn, discover and challenge yourself,” he says. “It’s something I talk about in the tour – harassing and nudging Brits a little bit to try the funny foreign food and have that weird experience abroad. There’s a risk that we sanitise our lives so much, we don’t push ourselves.”
In his latest series, Reeve travels from the top to the bottom of North America, beginning in the shadow of the continent’s loftiest peak: the 6,190m Mount Denali in Alaska. Denali National Park is larger than the state of New Jersey and has only one road running through it.
“Alaska is a blow-your-mind part of the world. I didn’t realise it was going to be as rugged and awe-inspiring as it is, or that the people would be such wonderful characters. I loved it. We stayed high up in Denali National Park at this ‘Bond villain’ lodge called Sheldon Chalet. Julia Roberts had hired it before us and I’m pretty sure I slept in her bed – they were far too discreet to tell us. It’s an extraordinary ten-star location. I’ll remember that for the rest of my life.”
Equally exhilarating was exploring one of Mexico’s ancient wonders: the ruins of a Mayan city in the far south, which is the focus of this week’s episode. “Yaxchilán is a proper Indiana Jones, boat-through-the-jungle experience, and then you walk through screeching rainforest and emerge at a clearing and your breath – your whole heart – comes to a slight halt because you realise you’re in the presence of something ancient and utterly enormous. We’re only just starting to fully understand the magic and majesty of the civilisation in the Americas before Columbus and Europeans arrived and ruined everything. The Mayans had vast cities in Central America, some of which are only now being uncovered. Only last year, they discovered more than 60,000 ruins of Mayan structures in northern Guatemala by firing laser pulses from planes to penetrate the jungle.”
Reeve doesn’t shy away from showing North America’s problems, too, including a slew of environmental disasters – melting ice in Alaska, Canada’s toxic oil sands, California’s deadly wildfires. How does he justify jetting around the world while talking about climate change?
“I’m finding it much easier to justify my work than my personal travel,” he says thoughtfully. “But I think the joy of travel is something to cling on to. As a species, we have always been on pilgrimages, exploring, travelling across the land. I would say travel is verging on a human right, while pumping infinitely more money into researching more renewable ways of travel. And one day we might well see – please, please – electric planes. I cling to that hope.”
The series ends on a more upbeat note in Costa Rica, recently honoured as Champions of the Earth – the UN’s highest environmental award – for its ambitious policies to decarbonise its economy. “In Costa Rica they’ve massively increased their forest cover, and they’re living in a much more environmentally friendly society. It’s an extraordinary country where in many ways everybody’s green dreams can come true – a bit of paradise.
Whether it’s his Cox-like floppy hair, adventurous destinations or warts-and-all reporting, Reeve’s BBC2 travelogues have earned him a devoted following. His memoir, Step by Step: the Life in My Journeys, was a bestseller (it’s now out in paperback) and he has just embarked on a second tour, with more dates added in 2020 due to demand (for details visit simonreeve.co.uk).
In the past 15 years he has made his name as Britain’s boldest travel presenter, having begun his career on TV as an expert on al-Qaeda. He hopes to inspire viewers to step out of their comfort zone. “And to get back to what I like to think – pompously no doubt, pretentiously almost certainly – is the real point of travel, which is to learn, discover and challenge yourself,” he says. “It’s something I talk about in the tour – harassing and nudging Brits a little bit to try the funny foreign food and have that weird experience abroad. There’s a risk that we sanitise our lives so much, we don’t push ourselves.”
In his latest series, Reeve travels from the top to the bottom of North America, beginning in the shadow of the continent’s loftiest peak: the 6,190m Mount Denali in Alaska. Denali National Park is larger than the state of New Jersey and has only one road running through it.
“Alaska is a blow-your-mind part of the world. I didn’t realise it was going to be as rugged and awe-inspiring as it is, or that the people would be such wonderful characters. I loved it. We stayed high up in Denali National Park at this ‘Bond villain’ lodge called Sheldon Chalet. Julia Roberts had hired it before us and I’m pretty sure I slept in her bed – they were far too discreet to tell us. It’s an extraordinary ten-star location. I’ll remember that for the rest of my life.”
Equally exhilarating was exploring one of Mexico’s ancient wonders: the ruins of a Mayan city in the far south, which is the focus of this week’s episode. “Yaxchilán is a proper Indiana Jones, boat-through-the-jungle experience, and then you walk through screeching rainforest and emerge at a clearing and your breath – your whole heart – comes to a slight halt because you realise you’re in the presence of something ancient and utterly enormous. We’re only just starting to fully understand the magic and majesty of the civilisation in the Americas before Columbus and Europeans arrived and ruined everything. The Mayans had vast cities in Central America, some of which are only now being uncovered. Only last year, they discovered more than 60,000 ruins of Mayan structures in northern Guatemala by firing laser pulses from planes to penetrate the jungle.”
Reeve doesn’t shy away from showing North America’s problems, too, including a slew of environmental disasters – melting ice in Alaska, Canada’s toxic oil sands, California’s deadly wildfires. How does he justify jetting around the world while talking about climate change?
“I’m finding it much easier to justify my work than my personal travel,” he says thoughtfully. “But I think the joy of travel is something to cling on to. As a species, we have always been on pilgrimages, exploring, travelling across the land. I would say travel is verging on a human right, while pumping infinitely more money into researching more renewable ways of travel. And one day we might well see – please, please – electric planes. I cling to that hope.”
The series ends on a more upbeat note in Costa Rica, recently honoured as Champions of the Earth – the UN’s highest environmental award – for its ambitious policies to decarbonise its economy. “In Costa Rica they’ve massively increased their forest cover, and they’re living in a much more environmentally friendly society. It’s an extraordinary country where in many ways everybody’s green dreams can come true – a bit of paradise.