Travel Guides: “I’d rather be a snob, than a bogan”

Intrepid travellers Kevin Moloney & Janetta Stones recently finished filming their 7th season of Travel Guides for Nine.

In a joint interview the retired couple spoke with TV Tonight about their time on the hit Nine series, proudly toasting the finer things in life and acknowledging how their reviews provide a perfect contrast to other cast reviews.

How were you cast?

Janetta: I saw an ad on Channel Nine that said, ‘If you can give up three months next year, and you like traveling, apply here.’ We’d just retired at that stage so I said to Kevin we should apply, and he said…

Kevin: ‘What would they want with old things like us?’

Janetta: So that was my cue to go down the track and apply.

Kevin: We didn’t know anything about the show but we saw an episode of the British Travel Guides and we thought, ‘Oh, God, what have we got ourselves into? It looked pretty terrible!’

The Australian version is very different, thankfully. So we were thrilled to get involved in the first series. And then it just grew its own legs, and here we are at Season 7.

How do you feel about the way the show portrays you?

Janetta: We come across exactly as we are in real life. We like the nice things of life.

Kevin: We’re are a bit older, a bit more discerning them than some of the others. In the first season they introduced us as ‘Travel Snobs.’ But we’re fine with that.

Janetta: If it means we don’t like camping, we prefer to go business class, five stars, like fine food and wine, that’s what it is.

I’d rather be a snob than a bogan, but we’re not snobs by any stretch of the imagination. We just know what we like, and what we don’t.

Kevin: Nothing is scripted. No words are put into our mouths. If we don’t like something, we’re free to say we don’t like it. But I think that’s what people can relate to.

Janetta: We have fans in the street quite literally from 8 to 80. People will say that ‘You’re just like my parents,’ or ‘I want to be like you when I get older.’

What have been some of the more memorable things you’ve done on the show?

Kevin: Last year, or the year before, I jumped out of a plane. Now, I would never think of doing that on a holiday. So there are situations you find yourself in and we end up liking some things that we would never have even tried.

Janetta: They juxtapose us against pretty much nearly all of the other groups, which makes makes the show what it is. What we like, they don’t.

Kevin: That’s the magic of the show. ….One of the places we went to was the Arctic Circle. Janetta doesn’t like the cold so somwehere like that wouldn’t really feature on our travels. But we absolutely loved it.

Janetta: It was so memorable, really, really incredible.

Tell us about behind the scenes, and how you shoot the show?

Janetta: We don’t know where we’re going until we actually get to the airport. We only get an email the night before telling us where we have to be, and what sort of clothes to wear. That’s very much against how we are, which is being very organised.

We could be doing anything from FinAir business class, that we did on our last trip, or we could be doing the Perth – London flight, middle seat, third back row in economy.

Kevin: For 17 hours solid. That was pretty close to torture.

Janetta: We quite often will use our points or money to upgrade.

Kevin: The older you get, the more comfort you need.

How much interaction do you have with the other cast?

Kevin: We all travel together. But on camera, we don’t have any interaction whatsoever. They’re doing their thing and we’re doing our thing, and we try not to influence each other.

We don’t talk about the experiences we do together. So if, say the Fren family or the Target boys or Stack & Mel, have a certain opinion on an activity, our opinion might be different. So we don’t want to influence them with our opinion, and they won’t influence us with theirs

What is your essential item to take on aeroplane?

Kevin: Noise cancelling headphones.

Janetta: I have an e-reader with me.

Kevin: It really depends on what class you’re in, and the how long the flight is. Some people take neck pillows, all that sort of rubbish. I try to have the least amount of stuff around me when I’m on an aeroplane. I hate stuff on the floor and all over the place. The less I have the better.

Where do you travel to this season?

Kevin: We did 10 episodes. We went to Europe twice, Africa twice.

Janetta: We only did two episodes in Australia in Melbourne and the Riverina, but also South Africa, Zambia, England, Scotland, Croatia, Helsinki, Borneo, Vanuatu, New Zealand. Pretty much for 4 months we aren’t on any particular timezone.

Kevin: You come back from Europe or the Americas or wherever, and you’re only home for two or three days. There’s no way you get back into your home timezone. So you’re just floating for 4-5 months.

Janetta: Croatia was absolutely beautiful.

Kevin: We saw a different side of Croatia than we had in our last trip, which was our own holiday a few years ago. Travel Guides took us to different places in Croatia, which was sensational. But for me it was probably Lapland (Finland)…..to be knee deep in freshly powdered snow was an experience that I’ll never forget.

Have you ever met narrator Denise Scott?

Kevin: No. I’d like to, I like Denise, she does a great job.

It’s now 7 seasons, how long do you see yourselves doing the show?

Janetta: Each series we get home and we say ‘Never again.’ But I think it must be like childbirth. I’m terrible at the time on that flight home. But once it’s over you forget about it, and you’re ready to go again.

Travel Guides returns 7:30pm Wednesday on Nine.