And the reason we keep going back.
For more than two decades, Chuck Holton has been the guy who shows up where most people don't want to go. A former Army Ranger turned war correspondent, he's reported from Iraq, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Israel, the Caucasus, and a long list of places that don't make the evening news. His work has been broadcast on Fox News, CBN, and his own YouTube channel, The Hot Zone.
Hot Zone Tours started simply: viewers kept asking the same question.
"Can we come with you?"
The first answer was Armenia. Chuck had embedded with Armenian soldiers during the 2020 Artsakh war, and he kept going back — to friends, to displaced families, to a country that doesn't have the luxury of being forgotten. The first group was small. The next one was bigger. Hundreds of travelers later, Hot Zone Tours runs trips you can't get anywhere else: behind-the-headlines travel, led by people who know the ground.
Connie is married to Chuck, mother of five, and the reason every Hot Zone trip actually runs on time. While Chuck handles the storytelling and the relationships in-country, Connie runs logistics: meals, lodging, the head count at every stop, and the warm welcome that makes our groups feel like a family by day three.
She and Chuck raised their kids in the United States and Panama — and brought them along to war zones and disaster areas around the world as they grew up. Connie has traveled to more countries than most journalists. If you've ever been on one of our trips, you know — Connie is the one you remember.
Chuck first set foot in Panama as a young Army Ranger, training in the jungle outside Fort Sherman. In 2007, he and Connie moved their family to Panama for a year so Chuck could write a book. They went back to the United States — but Panama wouldn't leave them alone.
In 2013, with their kids entering their teenage years, Chuck and Connie moved to Panama for good. The reason was simple: traditional Christian values. Panama is a country where prayer is still required in schools, abortion is illegal, and the Constitution stipulates marriage as between one man and one woman. They wanted their children raised in a culture that still believed those things.
They are still proudly American. They love America deeply. But they believe God has work for them to do here in Panama — and that's where they live and serve today.
Every trip is built around real people in real places. We don't just look at things — we sit with families, eat in their homes, hear their stories, and find ways to help when help is wanted. That's the trip.
We're Christians, and our faith shapes how we travel. We pray together. We talk about what God is doing in the lives of the people we meet. You don't have to share our faith to come — but you should know it's not optional that we travel this way.
We cap our trips at sizes that let everyone know each other by the end of day two. You'll have real time with us — not a tour-leader-on-a-bullhorn arrangement.
If you've found us through The Hot Zone on YouTube, you already know the format: news from places most outlets ignore, told by someone who's actually been there. The tours are the natural next step. Every trip we run shows up — in clips, in interviews, in stories — back on the channel. You'll see your trip on the show. And the people you meet on the road will know that you cared enough to actually come.