How the greatest films fuel the desire to travel

After my recent post about the 3 biggest influences that made me want to travel, one of my friends was surprised that I mentioned Sonic the Hedgehog as an influence, since then I've given further thought as to what would influence a person to travel.

My instinct is always to analyze the things I love the most and as we all know, there's probably nothing more influential these days than movies. Due to the emotive power they possess, you grow up with them, you have a film you watch in every mood and you grow old with them too.

After some thought I realised that some of the greatest movies of all time share a very common theme: Things start on an equilibrium, then comes the dis-equilibrium where someone leaves home, and when they do that's when the story really begins and eventually ends in some sort of re-equilibrium. Take a look at this list below, it contains arguably some of the greatest films of all time, in fact I defy you to have not seen at least one of them:

Peter Pan
Alice in Wonderland
Batman (Christian Bale trilogy)
Star Wars
Star Trek 
Spirited Away
Princess Mononoke
Wizard of Oz
Lord of the rings
Forrest Gump
Any James Bond film
Any Indiana Jones film
Harry Potter
The Beach
Almost Famous

The theme occurs throughout these films, whether someone returns back to their original setting or not. Either way, someone leaves home, goes to new places and the whole story comes about from that life change.  

The same can be said for many books as well including any of my favourites about Robert Langdon (The Da Vinci code, Angels and Demons, Inferno), The Alchemist, and The Hobbit to name but a few.

Why's Batman on the list of films you say? Well although he lives in and defends Gotham, he left Gotham as a young man, travelled, learnt new skills and returned as the man we know him to be. He wouldn't be Batman had he not left Gotham in the first place, so it's a worthy inclusion on the list.

I suppose that's what I like to think will happen with myself; I'm nowhere near the finished article yet and I won't be until I step outside that comfort zone. Obviously I plan on coming back (most of the time!), but when I do return I want to have had such an experience that it makes me the man I'll be for the rest of my life.

So there you have it, if you can think of any others that belong on this list let me know as I'd love to hear them, otherwise what are you waiting for? No one knows how your story will go, but if these stories tell us anything it's that it won't fully begin until you make that journey into the unknown...

Luke Skywalker looking to the stars in Star Wars: A New Hope - he seeks a life beyond his native Tatooine.
I've been doing this same thing out of my window at work for the past year!

The 3 biggest influences that made me want to travel the world

As I've broken the news of my impending adventures, I've told some people that its something I've always wanted to do. A couple of people were surprised to hear this as they hadn't heard me mention it before which didn't surprise myself as I haven't revealed it to many before, but I'll let you in on what's influenced this secret, burning desire over the years.

I took some time recently to have a real think about what's been behind this desire to get out and see the world and there's a few things:

One is the fact that growing up, I didn't holiday much so when I did for myself at 20 (during a legendary 2 week lads holiday in Ibiza) it ignited my passion to see more beyond the grey skies of Britain.

But when I thought about it there's been an influence all throughout my life that fueled the desire more than I realised; someone who's set the example by seeing the world. He's an adventurer who can't sit still for a nano-second and someone who's been everywhere, in fact you'd struggle to think of somewhere on any wannabe travelers wishlist that he hasn't been to: be it rolling hills, snowy peaks, deserts, bustling cities, beautiful beaches, tropical jungles and even... a space station?

Sounds a bit odd doesn't it? But the truth is my biggest influence is fictitious, he's not human, he's not even 4 foot tall and..... he's blue.

Anyone who knows me won't be surprised to know that since I was a kid I've actually had a borderline obsession with Sonic the Hedgehog, but as a travelers role model he's actually spot on as he never sits still for a moment, he gets his fair share of excercise and he lives for adventure.

Him aside there's plenty of other things that I realise have influenced me, namely some of my favourite films that tend to center around an exotic location and a hero. James Bond taught me that life is about jetting off to adventures in search of a woman, fine food, fine booze and all of the other finer things in life (sure he often had a mission, but that's not what I paid attention to!), whilst the great Dr Henry Jones Jr (but don't call him Junior) also lead they way for me by instigating an interest in foreign culture and history.

No, these aren't perhaps the most spiritual of guides that could set me on my path, but they were my childhood heroes (who am I kidding, they still are) and they're as good a set of role models as any.

So what are we all waiting for? Pack your running shoes, your Walter PPK and your whip and let's go on an adventure!