Yes but it's more of me 'wishing' to go to those great places featured in TV.

Yeah I agree!  I don't normally watch TV but the Amazing Race has me feeling at once jealous and in awe at the locations and also freaked out at the feats they have to accomplish in those places.

Ha all the time! I have my family driven round the bend everytime I see somewhere really nice on tv and i'm like 'I wanna go there!' :)

Yes. Actually, almost every movie makes me want to go everywhere. I went crazy watching that "where the hell is Matt" movie on Youtube. The Amazing Race always makes me jealous. The movie Jumper too... well, I wanted to jump to the top of the sphinx in Egypt. And also "Man Vs. Wild" and "Survivorman". Dude, I really have to stop watching TV and go travelling!

I am currently watching Mamma Mia....so beautiful. Cant wait to get there....

Besides already wanting to go to Africa, Blood Diamond made me want to go more.

Ditto! I loved Tanzania but soo want to go to South Africa - especially after seeing that movie.

I think I tend to find books much more persuasive.  The Secret Life of Bees made me want to go to the deep south of America, The Life of Pi made me want to go to India (or maybe just eat Indian food!) and Love in the time of Cholera made me want to go to the Caribbean! 

Jen...I read The Life of Pi before I went to Pondicherry, funnily enough there has never been a zoo there. I got bizarre looks asking about it.  I guess asking for the zoo in Pondicherry is like asking for the basement of the Alamo! :) But it was as amazing of a town as was described in the book!

To be honest I read it while I was in West Africa and I think it was mostly all of the talk of Indian food after a four month diet of "rice and sauce" that got to me!  Gee it was a wonderful book though....

As I don't like watching movies, I'm going to inverse the question. I usually like to watch a movie that is shot in a country that I've already visited. I feel happy to remember the places that I've seen. Lately, I've watched Slumdog Millionaire because it was filmed in India.
Books make me eager to visit some countries after I know about their cultures, history...Gabriel Garcia Marquez books encourage me to visit Colombia, and after reading the Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and Caravan by James Michener I dream to go to Afghanistan.

Yes 'Lord of the rings' definitely made me want to go to New Zealand, I guess that's a really obvious one. Also 'The last emperor' started my fascination with China, as did some kung fu movies such as 'Once upon a time in China' and 'Shaolin Temple'. The Planet Earth series also made me dream of going to those places, and the ' Himalaya' series by Michael Palin definitely inspired me to plan future visits.
Like Kate I also really enjoy watching a film which is set in a country that I have visited. I really loved watching 'Slumdog Millionaire' and seeing the other side of the picture so to speak. Having been to India, I really laughed at some of the situations, that I guess only someone who has been to that country can understand. Like Kate it makes me happy to remember those places I have visited, so I loved 'Balzac and the little Chinese seamstress' which was filmed in Zhangjiajie in China. I watched many Mongolian films before going to Mongolia, such as 'The cave of the yellow dog', 'The tale of the weeping camel' and 'Mongolian ping pong'. All these great films gave me a good insight before going there. And on my return I loved seeing 'Genghis Khan', it's always good to watch a movie about the history of a country you have visited, it sinks in so much faster.
'The kite runner' has also started my interest for Afghanistan, but I guess I will have to wait a while for that!

I've always wanted to go to Africa and everytime i saw the power of one it just increased my enthusiasm to go!

I can relate to what Renae said, but yeah I'd love to go back to Africa.
Aswell as slumdog millionaire triggered the i want to go to India again.
But yeah Michael Palin is such an inspiriation for wanting to go and discover places..

my brother loves to watch discovery channel and national geograpihic movies about travelling. and i really want to visit vienna and paris because the i watched "before sunrise and before sunset"..

Ever? It does all the time;)

I like to watch the movies and recognize the places i've been to.

The trouble is, most of the really inspiring movies are about the past.  Like, if I were to go to the Guarani country today, I'm sure I would find it very different from the portrayal in "The Mission" (my favorite movie).  And sometimes the inspiring movies are about peoples or places which never existed, like "The Bird People in China," another of my favorites.

@Judith. Motorcycle diaries. Can't agree more.
Been to Peru (3 places from the movie) and Argentina.

Indiana Jones...all of them! They were cheesy, but they made me want to travel when I was a kid.

Actually I admit 'Lord of the Rings' had inspired me to see New Zealand and even study there a bit New Zealand Film. I really liked the landscape but on the other hand somehow had expected a bit more...just because of my high expectations through the film. In the end I thought you can find similar landscapes over here in Europe too and Fiji or Australia were fascinating me more because until then I had never seen places like that with this kind of climate....

the only thing i can think of is watching the movie ''The Beach'' a couple weeks after having been to Maya Bay, then subsequently almost going online and buying a one way ticket back to Thailand..

when i worked (once upon a time) we used to play the Planet Earth series all day back at the LP store sydney airport. it got kinda old but i was pretty big on the penguins. antarctica is a big pricy to get to, though..

Yes.  I've wanted to go to Antarctic since I've seen the movie Eight Below.

Yes, three specific movies come to mind:  David Lean's "Doctor Zhivago", "Lawrence of Arabia", and "Bridge on the River Kwai".  The cinematography in these three movies takes me "there".  Good Journeys!

I recently watched The Beach and A Good Year again - I'm definitely up for another trip now! :)

Funny how several people mentioned Lord of the Rings.  Funny, because although the filming locations were in New Zealand, the intended setting for the story was not.  It would almost be like wanting to go to Hawaii after seeing Jurassic Park.  Wouldn't it be awesome if we could actually visit Middle Earth?

There are actually a few movies I want to watch now that I have traveled - classics like Ben Hur to see Wadi Rum, and cheesy ones like Seven Years in Tibet so that I can pretend I'm back in Lhasa. Movies are a quick and cheap way to feel like you're in another place!

Kate: that is true.  Really good cinematography can definitely take you to a place.  Even animation: after seeing "The Lion King," you could almost feel like you've been to the Serengeti.

In my case, there have been several movies that I've watched that got me into thinking of visiting these places to experience the thrill and action myself. Whenever I get the chance to visit any of the places I've watched on TV or the movies, I would usually say, "This is exactly what I saw on the movie ____"

In my case, there have been several movies that I've watched that got me into thinking of visiting these places to experience the thrill and action myself. Whenever I get the chance to visit any of the places I've watched on TV or the movies, I would usually say, "This is exactly what I saw on the movie ____"

Henry G wrote:  << Whenever I get the chance to visit any of the places I've watched on TV or the movies, I would usually say, "This is exactly what I saw on the movie ____">>

So far, that has never happened to me for movies, but TV, yes: my one time visiting NYC, I was wandering around midtown Manhattan, and suddenly, I recognized a place I had seen on New Year's Eve on TV many times; checking street signs verified it: Times Square.

And before that, when I first arrived in Honolulu, I came up to the sea wall at Waikiki, and immediately knew I had watched televised parades held there around Thanksgiving.

Inspiration from movies was the only reason for my visit to Rome 2 years ago. But sometimes things are shown a little too fancy in movies than they actually are.

John: that is true.  Movies are intended to be a dramatic experience, so they "enhance" the scenery to generate the audience's idea of what the "local color" should be.  So movies set in China look more "oriental" than the real China does.  The upshot is, even if you visit the parts of New Zealand where Lord of the Rings was filmed, you will not really feel like you are visiting Middle Earth.