TV show travel starts the moment a scene makes you say, “I need to be in that room.”
Travelers have a word for that moment: set-jetting. It means planning a trip around the places a film or series brings to life. I design set-jetting groups for a living. Here is what a trip based on a TV show looks like once the credits roll.
The best seat on any itinerary is the one beside people who love the same story.
What Is a Trip Based on a TV Show?
A trip based on a TV show is a journey built around the world a series creates. The show is the invitation. The destination is the reason to stay.
Two versions exist. The first is a filming location tour, which pairs a guide with a list of addresses. The second is a designed journey, where the show shapes the entire week, from the hotel to the dinner table. Both have a place. They deliver very different weeks.
I know the location-tour version well. On my “Sex and the City” tour, I stand on the steps of Carrie’s brownstone in pouring rain, determined to get the photo. My hair is a mess. I wear a sweatsuit, the least Carrie outfit imaginable. The photo is not the look I planned, and I treasure it anyway. A list of addresses delivers the picture. A designed week delivers the story behind the picture.
How a Group Set-Jetting Trip Differs From a Location Tour
A location tour answers one question: where was that scene filmed? A group journey answers a bigger one. What does it feel like to live in that world for a week?
Escorted and small by design. Every journey I host is escorted, which means I travel with the group from the first dinner to the last goodbye. The group is capped at 15 people, including the host and special guest. Small groups get a table at the right restaurant and hold conversations a full motorcoach never allows.
A special guest at the table. Each trip includes a guest who knows the show’s world firsthand. “Outlander” travelers share the week with Dr. Alexandra Dold, who has a PhD in “Outlander.” “Five Star Weekend” travelers share it with Melissa McSorley, the Hollywood food designer who created the food for the series and is working on the sequel. Watching a series alone is a private pleasure. Sharing it with someone who loves it as much as you do turns the pleasure into a conversation.
Design down to the last detail. On my “Bridgerton” journey, every moment is planned to the nth degree, with one happy exception. Our London hotel is opening the first Hell’s Kitchen by Gordon Ramsay in London, and the group dines there on opening night. The service and the food are exquisite, remarkable for an opening night. Gordon never stops by for photos. The dinner needs no help from him.
TV show travel works best when the show shapes the whole week, not a single afternoon.
Not the look I planned. Still my favorite photo from the tour.
What Set-Jetting Groups Look Like in Practice
Each journey in my upcoming lineup proves the idea in a different landscape.
“Outlander” follows the story from Edinburgh into the Scottish Highlands, where the scenery carries half the drama. Readers of the books and viewers of the series arrive with strong opinions, which makes the first dinner lively.
“Five Star Weekend” moves to Nantucket in September, when the island’s light turns golden and the summer crowds thin. The series gathers one friend from every chapter of a woman’s life for a single weekend, so the trip is social by design.
“Gilmore Girls” settles into Connecticut and New England at peak foliage. Stars Hollow is fictional, so the journey builds around the season and the small-town rhythm the show made famous rather than a single address.
The structure repeats on every trip. The show starts the conversation. The design carries it through a week with people who chose to be there for the same reason.
Peak foliage sets the scene in Connecticut each October.
How to Choose a Show for Your First Group Trip
Start with the setting. A destination worth visiting without the series makes the strongest trip, and the show becomes a bonus layer. Travelers who share a passion form bonds before the first flight, because the conversation already exists.
Then look at the structure. Confirm the trip is escorted and ask who the special guest is.
TV show travel gives a favorite series a second life. Set-jetting groups give that second life a table full of people who understand every reference. If a show has already put a destination on your list, the “Outlander” journey is open for registration now. Make your first payment towards the Outlander 2027 Group Trip.
