Ask anyone what makes Travel Guides such a popular show and, beyond the amazing variety of destinations featured each season, they’ll tell you hands down that it’s the cast that has made this series such a huge success.
For eight seasons, we’ve laughed along with OG family the Frens – parents Mark and Cathy, and their adult children Jonathan and Victoria – from Newcastle, NSW as they’ve thrown themselves headfirst (literally!) into every experience presented to them.
With more great episodes to come this season – including one featuring a special cameo from daughter-in-law Danielle – TV WEEK sits down with Cathy and Victoria to find out if they really have the best job in the world, their favourite holiday destination and their funniest fan encounters!
It seems like the dream gig travelling the world for free, but is it all it’s cracked up to be?
Cathy: Well, I think it is. Travelling’s fun and you learn so much about the world and different cultures and people. It’s just an awesome life experience.
Victoria: Yeah, it’s so good. Some days are hard, and it’s hard sometimes getting up and doing your hair and make-up every day, but it’s better than having a normal nine-to-five job.
Cathy, are you and Mark still working? If so, is it hard getting time off to film?
Cathy: We don’t get time off work. Mark and I are both schoolteachers, so every year we apply for new jobs and then we have to resign. So yeah, that’s a bit of a hard slog. We work for six months and then the other six months we’re travelling.
So you film the trips back-to-back?
Cathy: It depends on the trip and destination. You might come home for three days or five days, but most of the time it’s fairly hectic – like, you have enough time to wash your underpants and pack again for the next holiday, basically!
Victoria, how do you juggle work with filming?
Victoria: I’m in the aged care sector now, so I manage people’s aged care packages. I normally have to do the same thing, depending on whether I can get leave without pay.
Cathy: It’s a sacrifice we’ve all had to make, but it’s been a really wonderful sacrifice. We’ve had 75 trips with our family and our grown-up kids. We’re just lucky their partners let them still come since they’ve both got married.
Victoria, you’ve just celebrated your second wedding anniversary – congratulations! Is it weird not taking your husband Nathan on these lovely family holidays?
Victoria: No, it’s okay. The family is enough.
Jono’s also married, to Danielle. Does she ever get FOMO?
Cathy: Well, they’ve got a dog, and she’s got to work, so she’s happy to sit on the sidelines. But actually, this season, Danielle steps in and replaces Victoria in the Japan episode. Unfortunately, Victoria couldn’t do that one, so Danielle was asked to step in. But after a few days, she did say, ‘I don’t know how you and Victoria get up and put make-up on and do your hair when Jonathan’s lying in bed and just jumps up and gets dressed.’
Might there be a special episode with all six of you at some point?
Cathy: Oh, I hope so!
Victoria: Yeah, that would be awesome.
What’s life like since the show began?
Cathy: We always get recognised. We’re happy to talk to our fans – if it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t still be on the show. So yeah, we do get recognised, particularly when we’re all together or we’re with Mark or with Jonathan, because they stand out like dogs’ balls! [Laughs]
Victoria: But I do always love the comments: ‘Oh, you look so much better in real life.’ Not! We’re just like, ‘Oh god, we must look like s— on TV!’
Cathy: And then they tell us, ‘You’re not as fat as you are on TV.’
You’re an integral part of why the show’s won three TV WEEK Logie Awards – how does that feel?
Cathy: It’s very exciting and it’s fun going to the Logies but it is nerve-racking. We were excited to win the first one, but when we’re up for them year after year, you get a bit nervous thinking, ‘Are we still gonna get one?’
Have you given any thought to how much longer you’ll do the show?
Cathy: Until I drop dead! [Laughs] No, we’ve got a pact that we’ll always do it while everyone wants to do it – we have that discussion every year. But while everyone’s still happy and wants to do it, then we’ll keep on doing it.
Over all the seasons, which holiday has been your favourite, and why?
Victoria: I did love Greece and I loved the Mykonos party life.
Cathy: In season two, South Africa, doing a safari with the kids – that’s something you always dream about doing with your family. So that was a standout. I’ve been to places like the Middle East that I had no intention of ever travelling to. That just was amazing. And then Finland, going to where Santa is and the snow, was just so different and a real standout. And in this season, Switzerland. I could live in Switzerland.
Victoria: We do always love the Australian trips as well, because we haven’t travelled Australia much as a family, so all those trips have been great.
