How Movies Inspire Travel

Is there a correlation between choosing vacations based on movies you’ve seen and loved? As a movie buff, I guess I can see how one could choose their next vacation destination based on amazing movie scenes. Take The Hobbit, or The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe or even the Harry Potter series for example. I can see visiting Australia, New Zealand, Poland, Czech Republic and United Kingdom inspired by these films (btw, all places I have yet to visit)!

Movies have a way of bringing a story to life with video, movement and action, while our imagination takes us on a totally fictional ride while reading books. However, when I read a book, I focus on what the writer is describing, which could be at times misconstrued. Movies on the other hand, make the writers vision come to life, which to me is what would inspire this guy to get up and research prices. I mean who wouldn’t want to wander the cobblestone streets of King’s Landing in Dubrovnik Crotia to follow the footsteps of Game of Thrones. (Yes I know it’s not a movie, but I miss my show!)

In many of the fantasy genre books we read, the places and the stories are based on places that don’t really exist – Middle Earth, Hogwarts, Narnia, etc. The movies bring these places to life by choosing locations that come as close as possible to what the writer was describing. Take Bag End in Hobbiton for instance. What did you imagine when reading The Hobbit and learning about where Bilbo Baggins lived? I for one, imagined a three foot tall hobbit living in a small hobbit hole where he slept, cooked, ate & bathed! I was in the fifth grade when my teacher spent the last 30 minutes of every day reading the book to our entire class, during which time my imagination ran wild. I was in 5th grade, maybe 10 years old imagining all this stuff and knowing it was not at all true, while simultaneously wishing it was!

What if I were to tell you right here and right now that Hobbiton really exists and that you can find it in New Zealand in the town of Matamata? What would you say to that? Would you get on a plane and go visit it or as a die hard Hobbit/Lord of the Rings fan need an entire itinerary of filming locations? I for one would jump at the opportunity to see it all if I could!

Then there are the movies like Eat Pray Love, P.S. I Love You or Under The Tuscan Sun, that not only allow us to image spending time in these amazing & very real destinations, but also move us emotionally as we connect with the characters in search for love, a new start on life or just stopping to smell the roses as they say. Others may be inspired to travel by the adventure portrayed in scenes such as Indiana Jones & the Mummy wishing you could be that archaeologist traveling to places like Egypt and Nepal. Others may want the party life found in movies such as the Hangover Part II in Bangkok.

This is what this post is about… Does, would or could a vacation destination be inspired by a movie, and I think I can answer on behalf of all of us, “Yes!” So which movie or book could inspire you to visit the location or destination the character(s) and/or story was based in? I just named my Top films! What are yours?

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