Movies can take us to different parts of the world and encourage us to visit them. It can also inspire you to get off the couch and pack your bags to go to places you have never been to. Here is my personal list of the top ten best travel movies:
1. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)
Countries | Iceland, New York (USA) & British Columbia (Canada)
Director | Ben Stiller
Stars | Ben Stiller, Kristen Wiig, Jon Daly, Kathryn Hahn, Sean Penn
My top travel movie of all time is this movie. It will take you to a different kind of adventure and will let you see the reality to expectations kind of story line. Here, Iceland is definitely the main focus of the film's cinematography where it captured some of the best places in that country.
Background
This film is about Walter, a guy who has a routinary life at work and at home, decided to embark on an adventure and extraordinary journey in search for the mysterious photographer, Sean O'Connell. Never did he imagined that it will turn his life upside down and lifted his adventurous spirit that has been long gone. The famous photographer considered Walter as a snow leopard the ghost cat, which never let itself to be seen and said that beautiful things don't ask for attention.
"Life is about courage and going into the unknown."
-Cheryl
"Sometimes I don't. If I like a moment, for me, personally, I don't have the distraction of the camera. I just want to stay in it."
-Sean O'Connel
Background
This film is about Walter, a guy who has a routinary life at work and at home, decided to embark on an adventure and extraordinary journey in search for the mysterious photographer, Sean O'Connell. Never did he imagined that it will turn his life upside down and lifted his adventurous spirit that has been long gone. The famous photographer considered Walter as a snow leopard the ghost cat, which never let itself to be seen and said that beautiful things don't ask for attention.
"Life is about courage and going into the unknown."
-Cheryl
-Sean O'Connel
2. Into The Wild (2007)
Countries | Alaska (USA)
Director | Sean Penn
Stars | Emile Hirsch, Vince Vaughn, Catherine Keener, Marcia Gay Harden, Kristen Stewart
You will see Alaska and the alps in this area for hiking. But hiking will never be the same after watching this film. It will take you to different level. This film talks about how people can just live a simple life and just enjoy living. It is not about what we possess but what we have inside us. Experiences make you who you are. It can be a good one or a bad one. It will let you learn new things and meet new people, all kinds of people with different stories to share along the way.
Background
This is based on the true story of Christopher McCandless, who also called himself as Alexander Supertramp. He graduated from a known university, top from his class, and an athlete. With all of these, he gave up all his possessions and entire life savings to charity and left to climb the mountain in Alaska. He lived there in the wilderness and found a reflection about his life and the people who mattered to him the most.
"Happiness is only real when shared."
-Christopher McCandless (1992)
Background
This is based on the true story of Christopher McCandless, who also called himself as Alexander Supertramp. He graduated from a known university, top from his class, and an athlete. With all of these, he gave up all his possessions and entire life savings to charity and left to climb the mountain in Alaska. He lived there in the wilderness and found a reflection about his life and the people who mattered to him the most.
-Christopher McCandless (1992)
3. Up In The Air (2009)
Countries | USA
Director | Jason Reitman
Stars | George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick
This movie will show you hacks in traveling and in passing through the airport facilities all the way to the cabin. Its a great film for long-term travelers and who are always in the constant move. It will also teach your life lessons and different perspective on life through the characters of the film.
Background
With ten million frequent flyer miles, the main character flies around the world to fire people at companies which are downsizing. Ryan somehow feels that the airport is his home and that he is always in the constant move or fast pace of life. Just like what he said in the film, "moving is living". For him, it is about what you carry in your backpack. Just like in life, he applied this as a mantra.
Background
With ten million frequent flyer miles, the main character flies around the world to fire people at companies which are downsizing. Ryan somehow feels that the airport is his home and that he is always in the constant move or fast pace of life. Just like what he said in the film, "moving is living". For him, it is about what you carry in your backpack. Just like in life, he applied this as a mantra.
"How much di they pay you to give up on your dreams?"
-Ryan Bingham
4. Wild (2014)
-Ryan Bingham
4. Wild (2014)
Countries | Pacific Chest Trail (USA) & British Columbia (Canada)
Director | Jean-Marc Vallee
Stars | Reese Witherspoon, Laura Dern, Gaby Hoffmann, Michiel Huisman
Background
This movie, based on the book with the same title, is about the adventure of a woman who did a solo hike of 1,100-mile to revive and recover from a personal mishap. She is a writer. Pacific Crest Trail is important to the character and her coping on the loss of her mother. Here, she experienced clarity and self-acceptance along the way.
"Whatever happens to you belongs to you. Make it yours. Feed it to yourself even if it feels impossible to swallow. Let it nurture you, because it will."
-Cheryl Strayed
This movie, based on the book with the same title, is about the adventure of a woman who did a solo hike of 1,100-mile to revive and recover from a personal mishap. She is a writer. Pacific Crest Trail is important to the character and her coping on the loss of her mother. Here, she experienced clarity and self-acceptance along the way.
-Cheryl Strayed
5. The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
Countries | Saxony & Dresden (Germany)
Director | Wes Anderson
Stars | Ralph Fienner, F. Murray Abraham, Mathieu Amalrinc, Adrien Brody, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Saoirse Ronan, Edward Norton, Jude Law, Owen Wilson, Tony Revolori, Willem Defoe
Background
This star-studded fictional movie tackles the adventures of Gustave H, a famous concierge at a legendary hotel and Zero Moustafa, a bell boy in the hotel who became his right hand and trusted friend. The setting is in the era of World War 1 & 2.
It will take you to the incredibly beautiful landscapes of the two cities in Germany.
"Rudeness is merely the expression of fear. People fear they won't get what they want. The most dreadful and unattractive person only needs to be loved and they will open up like a flower."
-M. Gustave
This star-studded fictional movie tackles the adventures of Gustave H, a famous concierge at a legendary hotel and Zero Moustafa, a bell boy in the hotel who became his right hand and trusted friend. The setting is in the era of World War 1 & 2.
It will take you to the incredibly beautiful landscapes of the two cities in Germany.
-M. Gustave
6. Midnight in Paris (2011)
Countries | Paris (France)
Director | Woody Allen
Stars | Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates, Adrien Brody, Carla Bruni, Marion Cotillard, Michael Sheen
Films about Paris, city of lights, are always good and interesting. One of these films is Midnight in Paris. It will take you around Paris not just in the modern day, but also in the 1920s Jazz Age.
Background
A film by Woody Allen featuring Paris and the arts where Gil Pender, a screenwriter and an inspiring novelist from the modern era, finds himself going back to the 1920s everyday at midnight time. During this period, he meets Jazz Age icons in literature and art like Ernest Hemingway, Coler Porter and F. Scott Fitzgerald.
"We all fear death and question our place in the universe. The artist's job is not to succumb to despair, but to find an antidote for the emptiness of existence."
-Gertrude Stein
Background
A film by Woody Allen featuring Paris and the arts where Gil Pender, a screenwriter and an inspiring novelist from the modern era, finds himself going back to the 1920s everyday at midnight time. During this period, he meets Jazz Age icons in literature and art like Ernest Hemingway, Coler Porter and F. Scott Fitzgerald.
-Gertrude Stein
7. Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Countries | California & Arizona (USA)
Director | Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris
Stars | Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Greg Kinnear, Abigail Breslin, Paul Dano
 |
| Best scene from this movie for me. |
-Dwayne
8. Before Sunrise (1995)
Countries | Vienna (Austria)
Director | Richard Linklater
Stars | Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy, Andrea Eckert, Hanno Poschl
A classic Gen X film shot in Vienna will make you want to have that aimless walkabouts too. Its not the typical travel movie where you will see a lot of tourist spots, but it will definitely let you see the city of Vienna as raw as possible where alleys and hidden bars are located. The combination of the script, actors and location made this film a significant travel and romantic movie of all time.
Background
Two young individuals, one from USA and another is from France, meet on a train in Europe and made a connection in Vienna where they went around the city for 12 hours.
Traveling to a new city like Vienna, you will spend a lot walking around for the first few days.
One of the best and significant films in the 90s for me. This is part of a successful trilogy by the same director, Before Sunset and Before Midnight.
"Isn't everything we do in life a way to be loved a little more?"
-Celine
9. Eat Pray Love (2010)
Countries | Italy, India, Indonesia
Director | Ryan Murphy
Stars | Julia Roberts, Javier Bardem, Richard Jenkins, Viola Davis
Three countries are focused in this film where the main characters went to. You will see and understand more countries of Italy, India and Indonesia through this movie.
Background
This movie will inspire you to travel, and seek yourself outside the city you live in. Inspired by a real story and a memoir of Liz Gilbert, the main character, it will take you to a transformation journey in finding oneself.
"Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it..."
-Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat, Pray, Love)
Background
This movie will inspire you to travel, and seek yourself outside the city you live in. Inspired by a real story and a memoir of Liz Gilbert, the main character, it will take you to a transformation journey in finding oneself.
-Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat, Pray, Love)
10. Lost in Translation (2003)
Countries | Tokyo (Japan)
Director | Sofia Coppola
Stars | Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Giovanni Ribisi, Anna Faris
This film will take you around the heart of the busy and chaotic city of Tokyo. The different scenes and the liveliness of the city will make you want to go and book a flight to Japan.
Background
A veteran and a faded movie star, played by Bill Murray met a young woman, played by Scarlett Johansson, in Tokyo and formed a bond and unusual connection as the travel around the city. These two separate and unlikely travelers build a friendship as they face their quarter-life crisis and confusion in two different ends of their timeline. A degree of loneliness in different forms which cannot be expressed nor explained connected the two characters in the foreign city of Tokyo. It also showed several random experiences they had to escpae from their self-imposed confinement.
"The more you know who you are and what you want, the less you let things upset you."
-Bob Harris
Check out also : Have A Bowl Of Travel Salad for the earlier post about the traveling.
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"To see the world, things dangerous to come to, to see behind walls, draw closer, to find each other, and to feel. That is the purpose of life."
-James Thurber (writer of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty)
Background
A veteran and a faded movie star, played by Bill Murray met a young woman, played by Scarlett Johansson, in Tokyo and formed a bond and unusual connection as the travel around the city. These two separate and unlikely travelers build a friendship as they face their quarter-life crisis and confusion in two different ends of their timeline. A degree of loneliness in different forms which cannot be expressed nor explained connected the two characters in the foreign city of Tokyo. It also showed several random experiences they had to escpae from their self-imposed confinement.
-Bob Harris
Check out also : Have A Bowl Of Travel Salad for the earlier post about the traveling.
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"To see the world, things dangerous to come to, to see behind walls, draw closer, to find each other, and to feel. That is the purpose of life."
-James Thurber (writer of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty)
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