1. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2003)

To me, this is one of the most inspirational travel movies around, and that’s because it touches upon one of the most classic tales surrounding travel. It’s the quintessential “travel as escape from the monotony of daily life” story, but it somehow manages to tell that tale without being mawkishly sentimental.

In this movie, Walter Mitty (played by Ben Stiller, who is perfect for the role) essentially sets out on an action packed journey that perfectly captures the romanticism of adventure. I honestly just get filled with a certain warmth just thinking about this movie and, as travellers, I believe we can all resonate with Walter’s desire to do some unabashed exploration.

Also, fun fact - this movie is based on a short story by James Thurber that I’ve read, and it’s literally only a page and a half long!

2. Midnight in Paris (2011)

Gil comes to Paris with his significant other for a bit of a vacation as he’s trying to finish his first novel, and he discovers there’s more depth to the city that he had imagined. He’s taken on a journey into the past, where he meets some figures that history, art, and literature lovers will identify immediately.

It’s a fairly fun-loving, feel good sort of travel movie, and with Midnight in Paris, you’ll be travelling to a different destination (Paris), but also to different eras, and I like that.

As with The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, it also challenges the notion that money alone equals happiness, and actually challenges that in a fairly direct way.

3. Up (2009)

Just writing about Up brings me back to how inspired and engaged I felt by this film. To me, Up is a deceptively simply narrative, but it’s filled with so many applicable lessons, and so much magic and light.

It follows Carl, a grumpy old widower, as he goes off on an adventure in his flying house in search of “Paradise Falls.” However, he’s also accompanied by "Russel,” who his a boy scout who takes his position quite seriously, though may not have the skills to back it up.

It’s endearing. It’s so damn endearing.

And, in the end, aren’t we all on our own hunt for “Paradise Falls?”

4. Seven Years in Tibet (1997)

A young and vivacious Brad Pitt plays Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer during the period in which he was in Tibet during World War II, and shortly thereafter. I won’t give too much away, but somehow, someway, he ends up becoming a close confidante to the 14th Dalai Lama, who is a child at the time.

This story is inspiring to me because this could have gone wrong at so many turns, and in fact did go as wrong as it could have in many respects, but through sheer force of will and perseverance, both the main character and the Tibetans maintain their honour and integrity in the face of devastating challenges.

5. Chef (2014)

Jon Favreau wrote, directed and starred in Chef, and the film really does come together nicely, so kudos to Jon. Essentially Chef Carl Casper (Jon Favreau) loses his job at restaurant and goes on a journey to figure out what makes him tick and what really matters, and perhaps also why he became a chef in the first place.

This journey ends up taking him far away from where he started, both in terms of location and outlook. It was a relatively small budget film (11 million USD) that ended up developing a bit of a cult following and clocking close to 50 million at the box office.

What I take from it (and I’m intensely biased) is that when your chasing your real purpose in life, everything else seems to come together around it like a rising tide.

6. Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)

Okay, I’m going to be honest here and let you know that I’ve never actually seen this movie, but I had a number of people mention it in my “travel talk with travelingmitch” Facebook group, and it seems to really fit the bill in terms of an inspiring travel flick.

From what I understand, it follows a woman who gets a divorce and travels to a new place to get some perspective and reinvent herself.

I adore Tuscany, so it’s nice to see that a movie is seemingly exploring part of what makes that region of Italy delightfully reinvigorating. While I can’t be absolutely sure, my guess is that even know it deals with a difficult divorce, it’s going to end with a happy bow wrapped all around it, but if you’ve seen it, let me know if I’m wrong!

7. The Way (2011)

This is a movie that I haven’t seen either, but when I posed the question of what movies needed to be on this list, this one came up over and over.

I’ve watched some trailers and done a little research, and just from that alone, I can tell that Martin Sheen’s performance in this is something special. In short, the movie centres around an American father (Martin Sheen) who decides to walk the Camino De Santiago after his son lost his life doing the very same journey. It’s his way to honour his son, and gain clarity on his son’s life as well as his own.

This has definitely risen to the top of my bucket-list of movies to watch.

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Quirky Travel Movies