As fans of travel and travel shows, we love that someone came up with new web series PHL360°. It seems like a natural way to direct this generation’s wanderlust, tech savvy, and photography aspirations toward a cause that seems patriotic — and super fun.

Episode 1 (20 minutes 14 seconds long) starts off with introductions to the show’s eight featured travelers, with the brilliant touch of flashing their Twitter accounts on screen in place of their names. Reality show cast members, seemingly plucked from obscurity, often make us feel like we’re part of the show and this made them all the more accessible. They seem like an articulate bunch too. At least in this episode, the unscripted voiceovers sounded better than the scripted ones.

Art from phl360.com

So who are we going to be traveling with? Dong, an engineer. Hannah, a CPA, blogger, and sports enthusiast. Robbie, travel blogger. Monette, nicknamed the “Hippie Hobo.” Ron, an artist/nurse/investigator (how many people can claim to be all three?) based in Singapore. Chyng, “Urban Nomad.” Robert, TV host and backpacker. Chichi, a shopaholic who likes to take risky leaps. (Check out the cast here.) We haven’t seen enough of each yet to form opinions, and we still can’t tell who’s who yet, but that will likely change with more episodes.

Cool things: Focusing on food preparation of a yummy desert at the orientation in Ilustrado, a restaurant in Manila. Because good food, and not the extreme-challenge kind, should definitely be a part of this. Also: Intercutting confessionals with “foreshadowing” scenes from their travels. Teasers of beautiful views (beaches! sunsets!) and what looks to be a diverse set of challenges.

Other comments: How were the cast members chosen? Would have been interesting to know in the show itself if any regular person could have signed up. Also, having seen just the episode, and not the other preview videos, it wasn’t that clear to us what the mechanics were. You kind of have to be paying attention to know that even though they’re traveling in teams, they’re not all going to the same place. Sure, Phil’s “A Detour is a…” spiels on The Amazing Race are so repetitive that we can recite them in our sleep, but these spiels guide new viewers through the game, and that was missing here. Not that the game seemed complicated that it required spiels; just that it would have helped give some moments more impact.

All in all, a cool idea, oozing with passion. We’re in. When’s the next episode?

Rating: 3/5

Watch episode 1 here: