If you were trying to get from the northernmost point in the U.S. — Utqiagvik, Alaska — to the southernmost point in the U.S. — Key West, Florida — how would you do it? Chances are you’d hop the next flight to Anchorage and then it’s a hop, skip, and jump through Denver, Houston, and Orlando to get to Key West International Airport. A quick $1500 and nineteen-ish hours later, you’ve made it. But what if you turned travel into a game show, split into teams of two, and had to earn your transportation each day by completing a series of competitive challenges? That’s exactly what these foolish internet video geniuses have done.
“Jet Lag” is now in its eighth season, and each trip seems to get more ambitious than the last. If you’ve never watched, I can’t recommend it enough. Past seasons have been a giant game of tag across Europe (they’ve done that one twice), or a giant game of capture the flag across Japan, or a race to visit the most states in five days. Each season features the trio of Adam Chase, Ben Doyle, and Sam Denby, often with a fourth guest star, usually a YouTube star in their own right. This season’s guest is Michelle Khare, a self-proclaimed YouTube daredevil.
Each season the rules are tweaked a little bit to fit the locale and the game in question. This season the teams of two compete for tickets which will get them a flight, a train ride, or a car ride by completing strange challenges, like competitive snowman building, or telling a joke to a moose. Only four episodes of this season have been released so far (five if you’re a Nebula subscriber) and it’s truly the best travel show out there. I never watched “The Amazing Race,” but according to some “Jet Lag” makes it look like a pile of dog shit.
Anyway, here’s the first episode of the current season. Watch it. Or don’t, I’m not your mom.
