A memoir of journeys made

I am currently on a travel hiatus. The last trip I’ve been to was almost *gasp* 2 months ago! Don’t get me wrong. I know that it wasn’t that far ago but for someone who’s as passionate and as crazy about travels as I am, I hope you’ll understand what it feels like to be on the road almost every other weekend and then to find yourself at home on consecutive weeks…  hehe (enough ranting!) It is a self-imposed hiatus though as I am saving up for my first trip back home (Manila, here I come!) after almost a year and a half of living on the (almost on the) other side of the world – London! It would be a 5 week holiday in Asia and I’ll be visiting 4 countries at that – I can’t wait!

To proactively make this self-imposed hiatus more bearable for me, I just busy myself with planning for my upcoming trips and if there’s actually an urge to go someplace – as friends keep posting status updates of where they’ve just been or because of friends uploading pictures of their recent trips overseas, then I go online to watch movies that’d make me feel like I’m actually out there: English language movies set in various locations around the world or foreign language films with English subtitles which is weird in a sense as I do this to satiate my wanderlust but then the movies that I have on my list might make you want to go out there and see those places yourselves!

Here are some of my favourites and hope you enjoy watching them too – please, please leave suggestions at the end of this post! I’d appreciate them a lot! Plus I’m running out of “travel movies” to watch! haha

Amelie

This is one of my cousin’s favourite film. I’m happy that I’ve seen it only AFTER I have been to France. At least I didn’t go around the city going, this place was shot in the movie etc etc. Instead, while watching the movie, I found myself happily excited to see the places that I’ve seen and been to included in the movie and I got to say – I’ve been there! haha

PS  I Love You

It had been quite a while but I do remember crying my eyes out while watching this flick while at the same time wanting to book myself a plane ticket to Ireland. Holly, deeply inlove and married found her self widowed after her husband died of a brain tumour. Devastated, she travelled to Ireland. The weird thing about it though is that she kept getting letters from her deceased husband. AT least, it’s helping her move on. :)

Eat, Pray, Love

Italy. India. Indonesia. Midlife crisis indeed, after getting a divorce and you just feel so empty, what do you do then? Go and find pleasure in Rome. Then head to India to reconnect with your spirit. And afterwards, fly to Bali to regain your balance. Unfortunately, not everyone can do that come to think of it, everything is possible if you really want to make things happen.

The Bucket List

We all have a bucket list, what’s yours? Now then, imagine yourself having enough money that doing them isn’t a question of possibility anymore. That’d be amazing, right? Only catch is that you might not have enough time as is the case for the lead characters in this movie.

The Holiday

It kinda reminded me of Couchsurfing only in this movie, you don’t host or stay with a total stranger… instead, you exchange houses -one is living in LA while the other is in England.

Under The Tuscan Sun

It seems like some people only hit the road after something tragic happens to them then it’s like they’re catapulted into the world of the unknown and since there’s nothing more to risk, they then decide to take the plunge and travel! Anyways, this movie follows Frances, a divorcee, who while on a gay tour of Italy bought a rundown villa on impulse! It was amazing to see her travel all the way down to Positano which in my opinion is one of Italy’s most beautiful places!

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

I’ve only been to China once but it;’s such a huge and beautiful country that there are countless more places there that I want to go to! This action movie was set in the late 1700s and aside from the amazing martial arts and very good story, it also shows the beauty of this country.

Mamma Mia

Greece and ABBA. For me, a very good combination! :D  Based on the West End musical of the same title, the movie  is about Donna’s daughter, Sophie, who is about to get married but wants a father to give her away. The thing is, there are 3 possible dads and her mom’s not so sure who her father really is! hehe

Outsourced

I haven’t been to India. Some travellers like to say that there’s India and then there’s the rest of the world. It’s a HUGE country – a subcontinent at that – with tons of people with a long history and very lively culture. It can get pretty overwhelming which is what happened to the lead in this movie. His entire department is outsourced to India as it’s cheaper to do business from there and he’s sent there to train the guy taking over from him. Alone in a place halfway around the world, he fumbled his way around until he learned to accept and embrace the culture he’s in.

The Way

I saw a friend change his facebook status to something like this: I want to go to Spain after seeing the movie The Way. So curious me Googled what the movie was all about and watched it that same night! Yes, it made me want to go to Spain too to do a pilgrimage at the Camino de Santiago! The Way is about the story of a father who flew to Spain to collect the body of his son who died during a storm while walking the pilgrim route in Galicia, Spain.

The Sisterhood of The Traveling Pants

Greece. America. Mexico…The travelling pants indeed made some serious travelling that summer as it was sent by four friends to one another so that they’ll stay connected. :)

The Beach

Probably the quintessential travel movie that makes people want to go out there! A young Western guy heads off to backpack in Thailand. The allure of finding a small piece of paradise in this world that you can have all to yourself, who wouldn’t want that? But then it goes to show that nothing in this world is really perfect, even in a beach paradise. Leonardo di Caprio. Pristine beaches. Warm weather. Palm trees. *sigh* :)

Into The Wild

Is a movie based on the real life story of Christopher McCandless. After graduating from university, he decided to cut ties with society and to just be out there – his ultimate goal of the “Great Alaskan Dream” and to rough it out “into the wild.” He even changed his name to Alexander Supertramp, a fitting one I must say to a journey he decided to embark on. It was pretty extreme for me but it came recommended by most of the guys that I’ve asked about which movies made them want to go out there. :)

Benvenuti Al Sud

In the movie, a postal manager from the north – of Italy – was punished for faking his application for a better office by sending him down south instead. The movie showed how those from the north – stylish, cultured people – were stereotyping people from the south and why that shouldn’t be the case. I was travelling in Napoli with a Polish friend and we were being hosted by a Greek guy along with another American when we watched this movie upon our host’s suggestion on our first night there. He thought it’s a good introductory movie since we were in the south. Sitting around a personal computer with bowls of popcorn on our laps, we couldn’t stop laughing and I couldn’t help but be amazed at the beauty of the places featured and I was just happy to be in the area! Unfortunately, Castellabate, the place where the movie was shot was out of our way. Would definitely want to come back and see it next time!

3 Idiots

I have a friend who is crazy about movies (Hi Micher!!!). I asked him one day what he’d recommend for me, 3 Idiots was in his top 3 choices. It’s a Bollywood movie so do expect them to break out into a song and dance number every now and then but despite that hehehe I ended up really liking it! The movie centers around 3 guys with different backgrounds as they pursue an engineering degree. It gives an insight as to how the people in India are very competitive and how important education is for them. The movie brought tears to my eyes – but then I cry easily, okay, enough with the excuses – but the scenery here is just amazingly beautiful! India is definitely in my list of places to visit!

A Map For Saturday

When I was still in Manila, my travel blogger friends were raving about this movie! I don’t know why I didn’t just watched it online but was instead waiting for one of them to give me a copy. D’oh! That is the only reason I could give as to how I only got to watch it this week. I know that this is a list of movies but I guess this one still counts as it’s about being out on the road. An American TV producer quit his job to backpack around the world for a year. And while he’s at it, made a video to document his trip and this was what he came up with. I have to say I do agree to many of his sentiments especially when he said that it’s not about the place anymore but the people you met along the way that makes it memorable – or something to that effect. Probably not relevant but I got to say  that I haven’t really stayed in a hostel before -I have tried, but I had my own room so it kinda doesn’t count- it was the locals (and yes, other travellers too) that I’ve met which made places come alive for me!

Related Posts:
Where Have You Been in 2013?
Travel Wish List for 2013
2012: Exploring Europe
Songs and Travels. My Travel Playlist!