Editor's Pick of the Week

Hit the road with 'Word Travels'

It sounds like a sweet deal: travel the world, wax poetic about it, and get paid. But OLN’s new series Word Travels proves the life of a travel writer isn’t always sun-bathed beaches and cobblestone walkways.

There are electricity shortages to deal with, flight delays to fume about, and extreme poverty to make you rue the day you ever set foot in a pricy coffee bar.

Nevertheless, the show’s hosts, Julia Dimon and Robin Esrock, take everything in stride. As professional journalists, they’ve carved a career out of traipsing to far-flung places. And with Word Travels, they tuck viewers into their proverbial backpacks to accompany them on their most excellent adventures.

The 13-part series will take you everywhere from Venezuela to Jordan to Ethiopia, this week’s destination of choice.

Esrock, who specializes in edgy risk-taking stories, tracks down a man who trains future Olympian runners. Meanwhile Dimon, teller of quirky cultural tales, forages in an open market, finding bogus Adidas and beggars covered in boils.

They also visit rock churches – the kind covered in volcanic stone, not the ones with pumpin’ messianic music.

All of it is informed with a seasoned journalistic eye: Dimon’s “The Travel Junkie” column is syndicated in Metro newspapers; Esrock’s “Modern Gonzo” freelance pieces appear on Sympatico/MSN. (You can read them here, here and here.)

And who knows? As Word Travels, um, travels through 12 countries and six continents, you may be inspired to pick up and hop a plane yourself – or at least vow to really, really consider applying for the next season of The Amazing Race.

Word Travels airs Wednesdays, 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT, on OLN.