Bert Kreischer takes vacationers on surprise paths with 'Trip Flip'

Photo by Joshua Cogan, © 2010, The Travel Channel, L.L.C. All Rights Reserved.

Bert Kreischer, known as the host of the Travel Channel's "Bert the Conquerer," hijacks vacationers for once-in-a-lifetime adventures on the new show "Trip Flip."

Bert Kreischer wants you to kiss an alligator. And that's just the tip of the iceberg when he's planning to flip your trip. Travel Channel personality and world adventurer Kreischer talks a big game—and follows through— as he takes unsuspecting travelers on the vacation of a lifetime with "Trip Flip," which airs at Thursdays on the Travel Channel.

On "Trip Flip," he convinces passersby to seize an opportunity to add a large dose of spontaneity into their lives by tossing away their vacation plans and embarking on a new journey... but with him. Kreischer becomes the ultimate tour guide and offers up an all-expenses-paid three-day vacation not written in the guidebooks. In the first episode, set in New Orleans, he has a couple kissing alligators by lunchtime on the first day. In Las Vegas, he convinced a couple to drop their plans to attend two weddings. Would you say yes? Kreischer, of "Bert the Conqueror" fame, answered a few questions excerpted in the interview below that may help you decide:

What's the essence of the show?

"(It's about) getting out and getting off the beaten path and finding those things, those once in a lifetime adventures. Eating, you know, Sushi Ni right off the back of a boat in Cabo or jumping off cliffs in Scotland.

It's about showing people the things you never thought were there. Like in Scotland I think everyone automatically assumes, you know, oh, bagpipes and Haggis. You know, go see a castle. We're going to put you in a castle to sleep and ... we're going to definitely hit bagpipes, but we're going to do it our way overlooking the castle."

How hard is it to get people to say yes?

"We have two formats ... We either find them in the location we go, (or) we are already at, or we find them before we go out on the road. And it's hard for people to get three days off. It's actually five days. You have to fly and then we have three days of shooting and then we fly you home.

So it's really hard. Not everyone can get off work. And not everyone trusts us, you know, with their vacation. I think some people get nervous. But I'm always shocked. It's so funny. I'm always shocked. Someone is like, 'How could people say no to this?'"

How do you come up with ideas for things for people to do on these trips?

"I had a good say in things that I knew were cool that I've either done for a previous show or did in my past. When we were in Cabo, I had been deep sea fishing before but I'd always heard the rumor that when you go deep sea fishing, you can catch it, pull it on the boat and carve it up right on the boat. I heard people tell me that at bars and I was like this is my time to fully flush that out. I have a production crew who does massive research and has a list of options, before we go into a location, of really, really amazing stuff. And a lot of times stuff I never knew was there."

Do you get recognized when you approach people to do the show?

"Yes. Lately. I think you'd be shocked. I think you'd be shocked how many people don't. But, yes, some people do. And some people do it when I start laughing.I think sometimes they recognize me and they're like, 'No, no, no. I'm not jumping off the stratosphere.'"

© 2012, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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