Travel is the ultimate yin and yang experience.
Let's be real. After all, the bliss of connecting with a new destination isn't possible without the dread of boarding a crowded and maybe even delayed flight.
This isn't a promo for Max or the soon-to-return HBO Maxcan we settle on a name, corporate overlordsbut the streaming service is where you will find a pair of series capable of providing you with the complete travel experience in 2025.
I'm talking specifically about 100 Foot Wavea beloved series that I've written about in the pastand The Rehearsal.
The former continues to showcase some of the best big-wave surfing around the world, taking viewers to some of the most gorgeous swells and breaks on the planet as our cast of beloved characters tries to find meaning in the waves.
Season 3 features the introduction of new dramatic landscapes like Morocco as well as some mesmerizing sequences in places audiences have already been, including Portugal, Hawaii and Ireland, among other stops.
Perhaps the most adrenaline-pumping episode in the third season is Episode 3, when our gang of surfers ventures to the famed Cortes Bank off the coast of Southern California. Unless you're a surfing fanatic, you've likely never heard of this otherworldly destination.
By definition, Cortes Bank is a "seamount" or a large submarine landform that comes just close enough to sea level without being an island. The result is spectacular waves that surreally break in the middle of the ocean, so there's no shore to aim for.
Throughout its 4K bliss, 100 Foot Wave will inspire you to look up plane tickets and hotel rates in exotic locales like Nazare and Maui. However, Season 2 of Nathan Fielder's The Rehearsal might have the opposite effect, driving you to squirm in search of comfort on your couch as you second-guess the person watching with you and generally wonder if it's safe to fly.
As far as the latter is concerned, a slew of fatal incidents and close calls on top of well-documented shortages among air traffic controllers have brought the safety and security of air travel into question.
Air travel remains the safest mode of transportation, as the FAA would like to remind us. But Fielder's latest endeavor couldn't come at a more prescient time, as many travelers grapple with the fear of flying amid more reports of near-misses and incidents that make their way onto our smartphones and TV screens.
Fielder is a comedian by trade, but his curiosity is, by all accounts, genuine (did he actually obtain certification to fly a Boeing 737 in the finale?) and his deadpan but methodical approach to making air travel safer while making us cringe, think, and most importantly laugh, is worth your time.
But maybe don't watch Season 2 of The Rehearsal on a flight.
Like travel, TV has the power to transport us, and these two shows are doing that at the highest and most creative levels this summer.
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