1,000 Places to See Before You Die: Collection 1

Newlyweds Albin and Melanie Ulle fulfill a lifelong dream by visiting six destinations celebrated in Patricia Schultz's popular book 1,000 Places to See Before You Die in this Travel Channel series that follows the couple on an all-expenses-paid five-month tour of Brazil, Alaska, France, northern Italy, Australia, and Hawaii. In Brazil, the Ulles swim with rare freshwater dolphins, meet members of a remote Amazon rainforest tribe, and hang glide off Rio de Janeiro's Sugar Loaf Mountain. Other adventures include diving off Australia's Great Barrier Reef, a helicopter ride to a glacier in Alaska, and playing cowboy on one of Hawaii's vast cattle ranches. The episodes on this double-disc set feature both adventure and luxury travel, with the latter represented by gambling at the casinos in Monaco, dining at fine Parisian restaurants, and staying at an elegant hotel in the Amazon that resembles a huge jungle tree house. Given all the natural and manmade wonders on view, it's a bit disappointing that Albin and Melanie rarely offer more than exclamations on the order of "excellent!" and "oh, my gosh!" While these destinations aren't necessarily well-suited to travelers with time and budget restraints, scenes of mushing with Alaskan sled dogs or speedboating around Italy's Lake Como region are certain to hold great appeal for armchair travelers. Highly recommended. Aud: P. (S. Rees)