Do travel books or films inspire you most?
I’ve been accused of always finishing a destination-related book with the comment, “I want to go to … (the name of the destination).” Fiction or nonfiction, it doesn’t really matter. If it’s a good book, the text allows me to conjure in my mind what the place is like. If it’s not so great, I wonder what the writer is missing, and what I’d find if I visited the same place.
The Brooklyn Nomad has listed some movies that make him want to travel. While I enjoy films, I can’t always say that they’re able to inspire my travel dreams as easily as books do. It’s funny, I always thought I was more of a visually inspired person, but my list of books far outweighs the list of films that make me want to see a place.
What’s on my book list? It includes “One Hundred Days of Solitude” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, “Lost in My Own Backyard” by Tim Cahill, and “Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere” by Jan Morris. But I do admit that films like Whale Rider, The Endless Summer and The Motorcycle Diaries had me transfixed.
How about you? Do books get you jazzed to get on the road, or is it movies that light your fire? Which are the ones that have most inspired your travel desires?
December 19th, 2009 at 4:08 am
Books definitely inspire me. But they’re not actual travel books in any sense of the genre. There often epic fantasy novels like The Name of the Wind or A Game of Thrones. Within them the characters often wander over vast distances and the way these journeys are presented really wants me to get out in the world, even though the places in the books themselves are fictional.
December 19th, 2009 at 7:39 am
@Lindsey
You are right. I have always felt Paulo Coelho’s books have this magical quality to inspire people into travelling and doing all sorts of things they would only dream of. I am myself one of the happy victims. 🙂
December 21st, 2009 at 11:43 am
“Notes from a Turkish Whorehouse” by Philip Ó Ceallaigh (it’s actually mostly about Romania).
December 21st, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Read Planet Backpacker by Robert Downes (reviewed on this site a few months ago) and you’ll have your bag packed by the time you finish it. Downes travels all throughout Europe, Northern Africa, and SE Asia and recounts his journeys along the way. Very addictive.
I agree with The Alchemist, too! Great, inspiring read.
December 23rd, 2009 at 4:28 pm
I went to Bruges because of the movie, In Bruges. With reading, you must already have reference points in order to visualize what is being described. Movies can show you new things.