For several years I celebrated Christmas very far from home.  Sometimes I was alone and sometimes I was with wonderful new friends. From a fabulous oyster lunch in Sydney, to a gastropub dinner in London pulling ‘crackers’, to a free Natalie Cole Christmas concert in Milan, it was always different and always more than I ever expected.  It was a little strange not being home for so long, but honestly, in many ways, it was more exciting and touching not to be.

Wherever you are home or abroad, with family or new friends…have a Merry Christmas from LL World Tour.

A couple Decembers ago, I ended up in London at Christmas time.  I didn’t know how long I would stay and had no onward ticket.  In fact I had practically just circumnavigated the globe.   I wasn’t in a hurry for my travels to be over and thanks to couchsurfing, London didn’t cost me much at all so I stuck around for a month.   I also knew I wanted to volunteer somewhere if I could during the holidays.   It was kismet or fate because my couchsurfing host, Rene, volunteered every year with Crisis UK, a big organization in London dedicated to helping the homeless.   I had an amazing week with Crisis and it was one of the best parts of my entire journey. I always think of London and Crisis now at Christmas time and would love to return one day.    If you can, give back this Christmas,  it will be the best gift you ever receive.

Black Cab by St. Paul’s Cathedral
London, England

Has a movie ever inspired you to travel?  This is not that uncommon, in fact, my friend Mark and I visited Tokyo after seeing Lost in Translation. He called me up and said, “Want to go to Japan?”

“Sure,” I said. And we were off…well, not that same day, but you get the point.  Basically if I have the opportunity to go anywhere, I will. All you have to do is ask. Ask me…go ahead…I am waiting…oh, okay, I guess I’ll get on with the rest of this article.

It turns out, we are not the only ones traveling to far off lands after being inspired by a film. Nowadays, a growing vacation trend is themed trips focusing on popular books and movies such as the Harry Potter series, The Da Vinci Code and science-fiction favorites such as Star Wars.  Some statistics show that thirty per cent of under 20-year-olds are likely to visit a place after seeing it on film.

There are definite areas that have seen particular success as people opt for ‘location vacations’.

• New Zealand – thanks to Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings (NOT why I went there)
• New York City – It’s said to be a character of its own. And has been featured in countless films such as: Woody Allen movies, When Harry Met Sally, The Muppets Take Manhattan, Superman, Ghostbusters, The Godfather, Taxi Driver, and most recently, Sex and the City which also treated it as the 5^th character.
• Italy – Under the Tuscan Sun, Roman Holiday
• Thailand – The Beach (I did visit THE beach…not too shabby, but, of course now very touristy—case in point)
• London – Always a popular destination on it’s own and thanks to movies like An American Werewolf in London, Bridget Jones’ Diary, Love Actually, Notting Hill, Sliding Doors (love this movie), Bend it Like Beckham (love this too), and period films like the Elephant Man, Sweeney Todd, and Sherlock Holmes.

Bob Atkinson, travel expert from travelsupermarket  said: “It’s hardly surprising that travelers are taking their inspiration from films, we’re a captive audience and the big screen often captures locations at their best.  People might also look to recreate the experiences in the films.

“From bored housewife Shirley Valentine ‘discovering herself’ on a Greek Island or gorgeous period dramas with the backdrop of some of the UK’s most stunning stately homes, to fun and frolics in hits such as Mamma Mia!, or films from best-selling novels like Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, when a destination gets picked to feature in a film the tourism office there should really capitalize on it.”

And locations around the world do capitalize on it. The New York ‘Sex and the City Tour’ became a huge success especially after the release of the first movie in May 2008.  Just as the “Sound of Music Tour” just outside of Salzburg is still extremely popular with American and British travelers.

“Undoubtedly the modern ‘tour de force’ behind movie tourism however is Dan Brown – demand for tours in Paris and Scotland increased after the release of The Da Vinci Code, Vatican Tour requests rose by 20 per cent in the months following the release of the Angels and Demons, so we have high hopes for Washington DC, which must be hoping to revel in the same success, having been the setting for Dan Brown’s latest novel – The Last Symbol.”

With the summer movie season on the horizon, here are some films and possible ‘location vacation’ destinations for 2010:

Habitual runners get off on the kick in of endorphins that give them that extra boost they need. I get the same jolt from an exciting day of travel or an unexpected side trip to a new and undiscovered land (for me…not for all mankind) that I hadn’t planned to visit. Traveling seems to give me a near constant roller coaster type of adrenaline rush. It’s a healthy drug, travel, but may cost a bit more than crack.

I was flying to New York City in five days. My trip was winding down. I was about to return to the United States after 15+ months traveling around the world and living out of the same bag (my faithful traveling companion…which I often refer to as my boyfriend—he’s sturdy and trusty, but can often be a pain in the ass and the wheels and metal zippers aren’t too cozy to cuddle with). My last few days in England I was not planning a whole lot, but then wham!

Another spontaneous trip miraculously presented itself on my very last weekend abroad. I was staying in the charming old Roman town of Bath, England (aptly named for the natural hot springs discovered there by the Romans about 2000 years ago) for a few days before I headed back towards London just to jump into Heathrow one of the world’s busiest airports and go through a possible strip search at the tight British airport security for the zillionth time and board the thirty-fourth flight of my world tour to rack up approximately 115 hours of flight time and 42, 220 miles (67, 946 kms) around the planet.

A British friend and fellow world traveler, Caroline, who I’d met during a ‘swim with the Dolphins’ experience in the chilly waters (freeze your ass off type of ‘chilly’) off of the North Island of New Zealand, lives near Bath and we planned to meet for lunch before I was to hop on a train and head back into London. I was planning to spend my last three nights in England actually outside of London in a small town near Windsor with another friend I’d made in Turkey who graciously offered up his flat to me and my boyfriend (Mr. Suit Case), but then he (Glen, not my bag) came down with the flu and feared his nasty germs were coating all the surfaces of his home. Caroline emailed me about how it was too bad I couldn’t join her and her girlfriends for the weekend in a resort town on the north coast of Wales. ‘But…wait…I can join you!’

And another great trip unfolded perfectly before me right when I needed it.

I joined four other single thirty-somethings for the weekend in Llandudno, Wales where we hiked and laughed over glasses of wine by the fire sharing tales of travel, men, and other girly things (so “Sex & the City”). We even got pulled over by some lovely Welsh policemen. Caroline had forgotten to put her lights on—good thing they didn’t notice us driving the wrong way down a one-way street about five minutes prior (and it was the Brit driving on the ‘right’ side of the street, not the American). The area was beautiful with rocky, green hills meeting the sea through the foggy mist. It was a perfect weekend and the perfect temporary ending to my travels.

Oh, how I will miss this rush of the unexpected trip that seems to come out of nowhere, but really comes from all the cool friends I’ve made around the world. If it weren’t for them I would never have seen the amazing terraced mountainsides of SaPa, Vietnam, the beautiful vineyard covered island of Bozcaada, Turkey, or the multi-personalitied charming yet industrial city of Gothenburg, Sweden. I guess it’s true what they say: When one door closes, another one opens.

Random London Musings:

One rave:

The city is full of amazing museums. I’m not a huge museum goer and still checked out the Tate Modern (housed inside an old power plant on the banks of the Thames), the Victoria & Albert, the Natural History Museum, the British Museum (which boasts the largest covered square in Europe), and the National Gallery. They are all great and the buildings themselves were oftentimes just as impressive as the contents inside. And the best part—they are free. You can just pop in for no more than an hour and not become overwhelmed because of their size because you know you can always go back whenever you want thanks to the no-admission fee.

And one rant:

What is up with the eat-in/take-away differing prices? I don’t find this very fair and frankly don’t understand why this concept is still around.

One Cheer:

All the pubs, bars, and restaurants have gone ‘smoke-free.’ I have to say it is wonderful to hang out in pubs now where it just smells like someone’s living room (not even stale beer smell) and not a smoky den that would make my clothes stink and usually make me leave early due to the inability to no longer breathe.

One Jeer:

The London Underground does not run all night nor were there any train or bus services at all on Christmas Day. C’mon people, this is London not Albuquerque (sorry my friends in NM)! London is one of the biggest cities in the world with an incredibly diverse population who certainly don’t all celebrate Christmas and need to ‘move’ on the 25th of December. I mean even New York and Chicago have public transport still going on that day and have 24 hour trains the rest of the year.

I have traveled all over the world and had trouble reading the street names in some places in Germany or Turkey (Can you say: Mecidiyeköy? It’s pronounced Medj-i-dee-ye-kurr), but even though they are in English, some names in London are just as foreign to me. I couch surfed near “Tooting Bec” tube stop. I could have eaten at the very appetizing sounding restaurant chain, ‘Slug and Lettuce,’ but I didn’t. I passed pubs with names like ‘The Blue-Eyed Maid” and “the Rat and Parrot” and “the Hairy Armpit.” And I could have eaten ‘winkles and whelks’ (snails), but I didn’t.

One night I met Tony, Emma, Nick, and Sara at the Cow, a famous pub near Notting Hill. I don’t often go into bars alone as I usually feel more comfortable going solo at a café with a coffee and a book. But it was damn cold out and when I got there, the friendly, intimidating atmosphere beckoned me inside for a quick pint. This surprisingly turned into a few pints and dinner.

The Cow was a nice corner pub (not really sure if it is on a corner though), not too trendy and not too ‘over done’ fake British. I was at a small table just across from the bar partaking in a pint and reading my trusty guidebook (Lonely Planet) just minding my own business. That is, until I started eavesdropping on the conversation next to me between two guys (one of whom had an American accent) and two gals. Their conversation had turned to Americans and how easy it is for them to find ‘legal’ work in Britain. This sparked my interest and my nerve to jump into their chat. I was feeling a kinship with my fellow American and, as always, was curious to hear his story. I finally blurted out in my tell-tale American accent, “Please tell me where to find work because I’m an illegal American always looking.” They laughed, introduced themselves, and in literally seconds were inviting me to join them for dinner. Tony was a documentary filmmaker in New York, Emma was an Artist. Oh, and she used to be married to George C. Scott’s son. It turned out to be another fun night and quite typical of the solo traveler who may not be alone enough to even use the word ‘solo.’

I spent the rest of my rainy and damp days in London strolling around picturesque ‘hoods like Chelsea, Hampstead, and South Kensington catching up with friends I had met during my travels around the world: a late ‘English’ breakfast with the fun English School owner I’d become friends with in Istanbul, lunch with the sweet British law student I’d cruised down the Danube with in Budapest, dinner and drinks with the charming Airline CEO I’d met years back at the British Consulate’s house in Chicago, sleeping at the flat of a cool chick I’d met on a tour of Turkey, wine and feasting with an Australian Couch Surfing Host and her cool Tasmanian (and nicely devilish) friend, beers with a cute chap and fellow Crisis volunteer, dinner with a Sri Lankan/Australian I’d also met in Turkey who lives in London, and a partridge in a pear tree…