Flightster

Movies that make you want to pack your bags

• by Shannon Albert
• on November 3rd, 2010
• 5 Comments

There are several people who travel full-time and, while I admire them, I have no desire to do that. Well….usually I have no desire to do that. Sometimes those overwhelming feelings of wanderlust are stirred up and I want to hit the road stat. Here are some movies that can be the culprit for resurrecting the desire to get up and go.

Mamma Mia

Sure, this movie is a campy musical with singing by Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan but it also takes place in Greece and the scenery is amazing. The movie’s setting is actually several locations used together to create the scenes in the movie. The fictional Kalokairi is a composite of footage from Damouchari, Skopelos, Skiathos and Tsougrias. Mamma Mia tours of the locations used in the movie are available.

Mamma Mia trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzhxHsqQvsI

Sideways

California wine country has never looked as fun as it did in this fantastic movie. Even better, Sideways didn’t take place in Sonoma or Napa Valley; this movie took place in Santa Ynez Valley, a 45 minute drive north of Santa Barbara. Formerly a well-kept secret, this quirky and approachable area has become popular with fans of the movie. The Santa Barbara Conference and Visitors Bureau has made it easy for us – they created a free map showing 19 places from the movie that can be downloaded right from their website. Just remember not to drink the merlot.

Sideways trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YS9ocP6FNvM

Eat, Pray, Love

This movie is probably one of the most popular to inspire people to leave home and head out for “something to marvel at” and, in some cases, leave their marriages as well. The movie is based on the book by the same name and chronicles the author’s year of traveling to Italy, India and Bali (to be consistent, shouldn’t it be Indonesia instead of Bali? I digress.) after leaving her husband.

The L’Antica Pizzeria Da Michele in Naples, Italy, where author Elizabeth Gilbert ate the best pizza of her life has been flooded with tourists wanting to find out firsthand. Many fans have also be inspired to visit an ashram in India. The ashram in Eat, Pray, Love isn’t named but is called Gurudev Siddha Peeth, located in a rural area about 50 miles outside of Mumbai. The ashram is run by the well-known (and controversial) guru Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, but she wasn’t at the ashram when Gilbert was. Gurumayi has disappeared from public life in the last several years so fans wanting to see her will probably not have the chance. A session with healer Ketut Liyer in Ubud, Bali, is still possible and he often has a line waiting to see him (see this video of a recent visit to see Ketut).

Kensington Tours offers a 24 day tour to all of the locations from Eat Pray Love. Kensington Tours also has the option to take a tour of each of the countries individually and the countries themselves have had many Eat Pray Love tours developed as a response to the increased tourism.

Eat, Pray, Love trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjay5vgIwt4

Under the Tuscan Sun

This beautiful movie made many people want to get up and move to Tuscany. Filming took place in a few places in Italy – Florence, Montepulciano, Cortona, Sansepolcro and Positano (see film map). Villa Laura, where much of the movie took place, has undergone renovations for the last four years and has just recently become available to rent. The whole villa must be rented at once so it is really ideal for a group. Nearby cottages are available for travelers who only need one room.

Under the Tuscan Sun trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdJGMZDY0-8

Babies

Weird that I put a documentary about infants on this list? Yeah, it’s a different sort of choice since it doesn’t include romance, footage composed from multiple sources to create that perfect setting or any kind of plot. That’s the beauty of the documentary though – it shows babies in four locations around the world living their normal lives. The normal lives of people in other countries made me want to be there. To picnic in the middle of a giant city like Tokyo, to be on a farm in Mongolia and to see the Namibian desert. To be a non-tourist and experience a different lifestyle for a little while. So, yes, it is an odd addition to this list but seeing real people in their culture is very compelling and made me want to travel to some new destinations that I hadn’t really considered.

Babies trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vupEpNjCuY

There are a lot of movies I’ve never seen so I am definitely missing some good ones that should be on a list like this. What movies have inspired you to want to travel somewhere?

Shannon Albert

Shannon loves to share awesome, fun and hopefully useful info that she's collected and to connect with other travel freaks. She loves the planning part of travel as much as the traveling itself. Shannon's background includes working as a web developer and as a digital producer for an advertising agency. She lives in Texas with her husband, 2 kids and dog. New York City is her favorite city. Her blog is shannonalbert.com.