Communiqué
Jeff Wilson details adventures behind “Real Rail Adventures: Swiss International Hubs,” airing, Sunday, Nov. 19 at 3 pm
By: Emily Votaw
Posted on:
Real Rail Adventures: Swiss International Hubs
Sunday, November 19 at 3:oo pm
While watching travel programs on WOUB-TV, it’s easy to think folks like Jeff Wilson, host of Small World Productions and KCTS/Seattle‘s Telly-Award winning and Emmy nominated travel series “Real Rail Adventures,” must live somewhere exotic, since that’s the kind of place he takes us to on television. But Wilson doesn’t.
In fact, he could be your neighbor.
Wilson and his family have called Athens, OH home for over 20 years.
Wilson’s “Real Rail Adventures: Swiss International Hubs,” will air on WOUB-TV this Sunday, November 19 at 3 p.m. The program brings viewers along for a Swiss rail adventure. Swiss rail networks are lauded all around the globe for their beauty, utility, and punctuality. The dense public transportation infrastructure allows riders equal access to both rustic, far-flung mountaintop villages nestled in the Swiss Alps as well as bustling, sprawling cities like Paris or Milan. Wilson and his crew took the trip in September 2019, and it focused on five Swiss rail hub cities (Basel, Bellinzona, Geneva, Interlaken and Zurich).
The breathtaking adventure Wilson and the crew of the hour-long documentary undertook while filming showcases a wide variety of activities – from the adrenaline-pumping experience of rappelling 150 feet into a river chasm at Grimsel Canyon to admiring works by the likes of Van Gogh and Rembrandt in Basel to touring medieval castles in Bellinzona. All throughout, Wilson models how easily one can access international centers throughout Europe all from the Swiss rail system.
Wilson said he and his wife, Sherri James (who has been an active part of Wilson’s career on television, working as a videographer and editor) traveled extensively in their youth, and figured out early on that if they were to establish a “home base,” they wanted it to be in a college town.
“When we had our first daughter, Winter, we decided it might be time to find a place where we wanted to raise our family, so we began actively searching for such a place. We’d spend weekends in prospective towns, usually camping nearby and checking out restaurants, farmers’ markets, and neighborhoods,” Wilson said. “Athens pretty quickly rose to the top of the list.”
Wilson said there are many things about Athens that immediately appealed to his family.
“Athens was just a great ‘fit’ for us. It’s affordable — compared with many other college towns — and beautiful, of course, but it also has a strong sense of community. That helps to build things like the well-supported farmers’ market and the small but vibrant restaurant/brewery community. OU brings the cultural events that you’d normally only find in a bigger town and helps keep the public schools strong. It’s not perfect, but it’s the place where we really feel at home,” said Wilson. “Being in Athens has made building our own, unique life, possible. I’m grateful for that every day.”
When “Real Rail Adventures: Swiss International Hubs” first debuted on air in April 2020, Wilson and his family were here in Athens. It’s worth noting, however, just like so many of us, at that time they were sticking pretty close to home due to shelter in place orders, which had been in place for just a few weeks at the time of the documentary’s broadcast.
“Our daily lives weren’t completely different at first,” said Wilson, referring to those early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Since we’ve worked from home for years, it didn’t seem all that different until a couple of months went by and travel didn’t come back.”
Even in those first few weeks of travel being banned, Wilson worried that folks would not tune into programming such as “Real Rail Adventures: Swiss International Hubs.” After all, those who were able to travel at the time were few and far between. However, Wilson found himself pleasantly surprised at the response to the documentary.
“We did get a huge response because I think people were really hungry for the travel experience. But we weren’t just stuck inside – in many places, especially in bigger cities, people couldn’t even go outdoors in their own neighborhoods,” said Wilson. “So I think it was just a really good release for people.”
Given the pressures of that moment in time, it’s no surprise that Wilson did find himself on the receiving end of some disgruntled emails regarding the documentary.
“I knew we were going to have some trouble because I knew people were not going to appreciate how it looks like we’re out there travelling unmasked during a pandemic,” said Wilson. “And I did get a lot of emails from people who were like ‘what are you doing?’ I’d have to patiently explain to them that we actually shot the episode back in September and it just usually takes a good six months to complete production on an episode.”
“We did get a huge response (from “Real Rail Adventures: Swiss International Hubs”) because I think people were really hungry for the travel experience. But we weren’t just stuck inside – in many places, especially in bigger cities, people couldn’t even go outdoors in their own neighborhoods. So I think it was just a really good release for people.” – Jeff Wilson
All the time spent in post-production was well worth it – the episode went on to win Gold Telly Awards in both the Videography/Cinematography and Television Travel/Tourism categories – thanks in part to the more film-like cinematography approach taken by camera person Sherri James – who, as noted previously, also happens to be Wilson’s wife.
One can’t help but wonder: what’s it like to travel internationally with one’s spouse to the sorts of dazzling locations showcased on a program like “Real Rail Adventures: Swiss International Hubs”?
“(Sherri) and I have worked together for as we’ve been married – for almost 25 years! We’ve known each other for about 30 years, and we’ve always worked together in capacities where it is necessary to travel. It is a challenge, at times – I don’t recommend it for everyone,” said Wilson. “Being together 24 hours a day, working together, and then trying to be a married couple together, that’s a challenge. There’s no doubt about it. I will say, however, that last September we celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary – and we have really been able to make it work. And it’s been fun – Sherri is a very creative person and she brings a lot to the production – so it’s great to have her along.”
A theme of “Real Rail Adventures: Swiss International Hubs” is the life-enriching potential of international travel, coupled with the great possibilities that come alongside embracing public transportation. Although Wilson considers both of those aspects of the program to be important, he emphasized how sustainability for the sake of our planet’s health is also of utmost importance to him.
“Travel has a allowed me to see the negative effects of our energy use and our consumerism on the environment. I’ve seen receding glaciers everywhere I’ve gone. The air quality in some places is horrific. We’ve watched seasons just shift — summer comes earlier and this disrupts all kinds of patterns in nature, which then disrupts all kinds of patterns in human life, and travel is a major contributor to global warming and pollution in general,” said Wilson.
However, Wilson has hope. For example, public transportation, especially such as the largely hydroelectric public transportation showcased by “Real Rail Adventures: Swiss International Hubs” is less destructive to the environment than depending on individual transportation via a vehicle that depends on fossil fuels.
In addition, Real Rail Adventures consulted with myclimate.org to purchase carbon offsets to compensate for the air travel utilized throughout filming. Importantly, Wilson said it is also always a priority for the series to highlight stories that exemplify ways we can all contribute to a more sustainable way of living. One such instance in the “Swiss International Hubs” episode of “Real Rail Adventures” is a profile of Climeworks, a Swiss company that utilizes direct air capture technology to permanently remove excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
“Travel has a allowed me to see the negative effects of our energy use and our consumerism on the environment. I’ve seen receding glaciers everywhere I’ve gone. The air quality in some places is horrific. We’ve watched seasons just shift — summer comes earlier and this disrupts all kinds of patterns in nature, which then disrupts all kinds of patterns in human life, and travel is a major contributor to global warming and pollution in general.” – Jeff Wilson
Moreover, Wilson has already taken part in the production of a series focusing more specifically on the utilization of sustainable travel methods, a series entitled “Real Road Adventures.” The series, which will broadcast later this year, showcases possibilities of traveling via electric vehicles.
“The question is this: how do we get the travel experience for people so that we open our minds up to other cultures, other people, other ways of life? And how do we do it sustainably?” said Wilson. “There’s no easy answer to that, but there are lots of ways to go about trying.”
Listen to WOUB’s interview with Jeff Wilson, embedded above.