As we’ve been planning and looking forward to our upcoming trip to Kenya and Tanzania, one of the things we have done is watch a couple of movies that are set in the region. Not documentaries, but actual movies such as Out of Africa or even The Ghost in the Darkness. We don’t necessarily watch them to learn about anything particular, but more to just look forward to the upcoming trip. Obviously, depending on the film, you can end up learning about the culture or history of the country that you are about to visit. Needless to say, we don’t expect our trip to end up being like what is depicted in the movies and sometimes you find out that the director and cinematographer haven’t taken creative license by filming in locations other than the actual place that is supposed to be depicted.
Prior to traveling to Egypt and taking our Nile River cruise, we actually watched the mystery movie Death on the Nile. There are plenty of other movies about Egypt as well, but that was the one that came to our mind at the time. Prior to going to the Amazon Rainforest, watching the movie Medicine Man provides an interesting perspective and just traveling through various parts of South America prompted us to watch Dragonfly. Although we didn’t watch any movies prior to our time spent in Tuscany, there are obviously a plethora of choices of movies to watch to get you in the mood to visit that wonderful region of Italy.
There certainly isn’t any tremendous benefit to watching movies prior to visiting a location, but we find it a way to relax prior to a trip while getting ourselves excited about the upcoming adventure. It could be that watching movies throughout our lives has given us inspiration to travel, so perhaps that is what drives us to revisit some of them when the time comes for us to finally visit that location. Perhaps we’re unique in watching movies or shows located in our intended destination, but maybe some of you do the same thing as us.
We watch movies before some trips. I have watched Mama Mia and My Life in Ruins before going to Greece and again after. It is fun to recognize places!
Yes, it is!
Yes..I always counties to my list when I see them in movies.
It happened I watched the film Mission while preparing for my trips to Bolivia and Paraguay, where I was particularly interested in visiting the ancient Jesuit missions.
I like watching movies to prepare for a trip, but I love watching them after. It’s fun to have those “I saw that!!!” moments 🙂
Yes, it is!
Yes, definitely! I agree with watching afterwards as well, to again see the places you’ve been… 🙂
It gives you that “I saw that moment” 🙂
Yes, I agree, particularly with what you wrote about them offering inspiration for travel. In fact I think that not only movies but also literature and (in this day and age) even video games are great sources of inspiration that we can use to fuel our motivation for travel, or real-life adventures. They now seem to serve the same purpose that mythic folk tales and legends once held. I actually wrote a piece on this a couple of months ago if you are interested. https://escapeandadventure.com/2021/02/28/sources-of-inspiration-adventure-stories/
Agree, books definitely provide inspiration. We aren’t into video games, but that is a great point.