Fuel Your Wanderlust – Europe Edition
All adventure craves inspiration. These cinematic journeys will let you travel without ever leaving your couch. Use liberally in treatment for a pervasive itch to explore Europe. Side effects may include mild worsening of the condition, ranging from browsing plane tickets to purchasing travel guides.
Wander Wide-Eyed With Audrey
Gamine and graceful, Audrey Hepburn makes every moment seem flawless and romantic. She is the essence of how you envision your grand European romance would go down – waking up looking completely flawless to the sun streaming in through the windows of an apartment in a cobblestoned neighborhood, next to someone who will take you to breakfast in a sidewalk café where you linger for hours over sparkling conversation and café au lait… While Audrey was featured in many movies set in Europe, Funny Face and Roman Holiday, where she explores Paris and Rome respectively, will have you imagining the perfect accented lover to fall under your charming spell in no time.
Travel With Woody Allen and Feel A Little Smarter
The cerebral humor of Woody Allen’s films tend to make them a love-it-or-hate-it subject, but for the lover of travel, there’s no denying his European-set films are a real treat. At his best, Allen captures the very humanness of his characters, their failings and fallibilities, with a loving non-judgment, almost celebrating them as the things that make us all real and human. His recent European films treat the cities themselves as central characters, celebrating them with the same eye for the charm and beauty of both the romantic and realistic aspects. Take a sexy romp through Spain with Vicky Cristina Barcelona, indulge your intellectual pretensions with Midnight in Paris, or get lost in an Italian fantasy after To Rome with Love.
Fall in Love with the French
Nobody makes a romantic comedy quite like the French. Whimsical and lovely, there’s something so charming about a French romantic comedy, like a box of little pastel macarons in cinematic form. It’s enough to make you want to pack a bag, hop on a cozy private jet to Paris, and immediately walk into the first café you find to order a croissant and a coffee to sip while you sketch under the watchful eye of the barista secretly entranced by your charms. Start with the truly delightful Amélie, sure to leave you hooked. Feed the addiction with the beautiful Paris Je T’Aime and the sweetness of the less-well-known Romantics Anonymous.
The list, of course, goes on, and once you’re started on your cinematic travels, you’ll find the adventures just keep going, from the romance of Under the Tuscan Sun to the backpacker romp Eurotrip to the dark comedy of In Bruges. Enjoy- just be careful not to leave your credit card too handy, or you may have a one-way-ticket before the credits roll.