“I suppose in my pathetic British way I am trying to nudge them and inspire them just a little bit to look beyond our own lives at the big wide world out there and the experiences we can have,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean you have to set off for the other side of the planet.
Turn left rather than turning right urges Simon Reeve“It’s all about your mindset and stepping out of your comfort zone and exploring.”
That’s certainly something Simon has done over the years with his adventures taking him to some of the remotest and most dangerous areas of the world. Through his TV work he has visited more than 130 different countries.
“You don’t have to go far,” said Simon. “Even the area around you can feel like you are going somewhere excitingly and dramatically different. It’s perhaps just the joy of turning left where you have always turned right.
“I think we have deflated our own worlds which is an enormous shame
“We might go on holiday to go somewhere specific but we get into the metal box and fly there and don’t experience the journey. Then we don’t really gain any understanding of the people around us.”
Simon, who is bringing his new show to Blackburn this weekend, will certainly be learning more about the UK as he continues his tour around more than 50 venues.
It follows his first one-man show which sold out more than 70 venues.
“That show was more an audience with evening, but I never imagined I’d be able to do it again,” he said. “This show is slightly more focussed and features a number of stories I haven’t told before; there are some I’ve never told anyone but I think that’s important. An audience wants it to be personal.”
Simon has been working on the show for months.
“When it’s quite a way off I’m quite looking forward to it” he said. “Then I look at the dates as they approach and suddenly it becomes more daunting and I start to flap. It’s at that point I realise I’m actually going to have to get up on stage and talk to people.
“It is a bit scary but then it should be. You should never just breeze in without a plan.
“If people have kindly given up their evening they deserve to know that the person on stage has put some work in. The trick is not to make it look too slick or to deliver it too robotically. I don’t have many skills but if I have one it’s that I have learned over the years a degree of ability to deliver preplanned words in a way that appears relatively natural.”
Simon Reeve whose travels take him to Blackburn on SaturdaySimon may be playing down his abilities but on his TV series such as Wilderness and Incredible Journeys he has been the guide to millions of viewers to locations many of us never even knew existed.
“Some of the most humbling encounters I’ve had on tour is people telling me after the show that they can’t travel for a particular reason but I have brought the world to them,” he said. “Some of them don’t even have a passport and that takes me back to my own story.
“I didn’t have passport when I was growing up. We didn’t go on fancy foreign holidays. I didn’t get on a plane until I was an adult. That is a reminder of the privilege of what I’m doing and the responsibility that goes with it. I do take it very seriously and I do think about people who can’t travel when I’m making the programmes.”
At a time when concern for the planet has never been more acute, Simon is well aware of the criticisms which could be levelled at anyone flying around the globe and entering largely unknown parts of the world
“No jumped up telly person should be telling others what to do,” he said, “but yes we are in a climate emergency, we are destabilising the weather system of our only home which is an act of madness.
“But other industries are significantly more responsible than travel and tourism but still that counts. I also think there is a joy and a beauty to travel which you don’t get in other industries and the more sustainably we can travel the better.
“We also need to recognise what a privilege travel is. Your ancestors would have loved to have done some of the journeys we can do now. So one of messages is don’t take it for granted; don’t waste it sitting by a pool when you can be exploring, feeding your heart and your soul.”
Given the thousands of miles he travelled and the many expeditions he has been on, a final question for the intrepid explorer – is he any good at packing?
“Ha” he laughed, “actually I am very good at packing. I have to be although I am a bit of a faffer. Even though I’m a proper grown up I still show everything I’m planning on taking to my wife, asking if I have too many pants and things like that. It is embarrassing really.
“Depending on the trip I may start packing two weeks before, I have a packing list as a reminder of what I’ll need and I build in some time because I’ll pull something out to take and find it’s fallen apart. So I have time to find a replacement.”
Simon Reeve, To The Ends of the Earth, King George’s Hall, Blackburn, Saturday, October 26. Details from www.bwdvenues.com