Where Fiction Comes Alive

A UK site called Just The Flight has designed an infographic that lists many of the places inspired by fictional stories. We found Hobbiton in Matamata, NZ, fascinating but that's only one of several places in NZ that were used for the Hobbit or Lord Of The Ring movies. There are so many more spots to visit for some of your other favorite stories.


I've always been a fan of Superman. My voracious reading habit was fueled early by comic books. Wish I had known back then they'd be collectible. I could have financed a lot of travel with them. The list includes Smallville and points to Topeka, KS. Of course most equate NYC with Gotham City and Batman or with Metropolis for Superman.

While we are on comics and animation, a fjord in Norway is said to have inspired Disney's Frozen.

The popular Winnie The Pooh, by A.A. Milne, is said to have been inspired by Ashdown Forest in England. It is 30 miles south of London in the county of East Sussex. So if you're looking for a stroll through the Hundred Acre Wood, that would be the place to go.

 Jurassic Park or Lost fan? Travel to Hawaii for the places where those were filmed.

Check it out. There are 50 locations noted for movies, books, even video games. Maybe it will inspire a travel adventure.

Movie Travel

Recently I read an article on movies that have inspired special travel tours. On our trip to New Zealand in 2013, we were offered lots of opportunities to see places where parts of Lord Of The Rings was filmed and the more recent Hobbit movie. We weren't fans of either movie but it was interesting to know that we'd been to some of those spots. Many more travelers are a lot more interested, enough so that there are tour books for sale that point out all the particular places that you would want to visit from the movie and of course, there's the movie location as well.

The article went on to say that Frozen has inspired travel to Norway. I'm not so sure about that. There's a lot of difference between animation and the real Norway but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

There have been movies that we've seen shot in locations that we have visited. We get sore elbows from bumping each other in the movie theater when we see places we've been. Case in point, Under The Tuscan Sun. Tuscany was as beautiful as portrayed on the movie screen.

Many of the action spy films we love--Mission Impossible, Bond Films, etc., are filmed in exotic places and we love that we've seen some of those.

Of course the quintessential movie tour would be the one in Salzburg, The Sound Of Music. We have taken that tour and enjoyed the stories told about the filming. Most interesting was the story that the nuns would not let filming in the convent because the film crew and actors smoked--or so the tale goes from our particular guide.

What about you? What movies have inspired your travel or put a location on your bucket list?