The best travel and road movies

It’s a flippin’ freezing February here in Europe and all too often I find myself opting for an early night with friends, tea and television instead of braving the dark and flu-ridden real life out there. My current and the girls’ favourite travel movie right now is Wild. If you missed it, go watch it, it’s perfect.

As for the other ideas, I’ve tried not to walk down cliche lane here (The Holiday anyone!?) and hope there’s a couple of names that you haven’t yet heard of! It might be worth getting on Netflix or Amazon Instant for a weekend of binge-watching and dreaming of faraway places.

1. Elizabethtown

via imdb, © 2005 – Paramount Pictures. All rights reserved.

Remember when you were 15 and your teenage bedroom was plastered with Orlando Bloom posters!? Yeah? It’s time to relive the good old days and fall in love with Mister Bloom again. Orlando messed up his business and love life up a little and wants to commit suicide. The one thing that stops him is the sudden death of his father. Oh the joys. Well, en route to see the rest of his family Kentucky he meets the ever so lovely Kirsten Dunst who helps him get to Elizabethtown – and back to sanity. A movie about love, loss and how road trips can sometimes get everything back into order.

2. My Blueberry Nights

via imdb

The first part of My Blueberry Nights is almost exclusively set in a cute NYC café. Next to the protagonists Jeremy and Lizzie, blueberry cake is the third protagonist. It’s what Lizzie eats when Jeremy, the cafe owner, tells her about her cheating boyfriend, it’s what Lizzie eats every night as the two slowly get to know each other. In the second half, Lizzie ends up traveling to Tennessee and Nevada and works crazy shifts in casinos, bars – but never stops sending postcards to Jeremy. I tried not to mention that Jeremy is played Jude Law because the plot really is strong enough, but oh Jude, bake me some blueberry cake!

3. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

via imdb, © 2013 – Twentieth Century Fox

Alright, Mr. Obvious knocked on my door and forced me to include Walter Mitty here. He is a fictional American character and “an ordinary, timid person who is given to adventurous and self-aggrandising daydreams or secret plans as a way of glamorising a humdrum life.” Originally a short story by James Thurber, Walter’s latest on-screen appearance has been the 2013 movie with Ben Stiller, where Stiller lives through five legendary daydream episodes, all of which are inspired by his rather boring everyday life. In his daydream, he turns into a pilot, a surgeon, a superhero and – traveler. Beautiful imagery with quite a thoughtful and deep message.

4. Life of Pi

via imdb, Photo by Peter Sorel – © 2011 – Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved.

How many times have you been tired of your same old days and dreaming about moving to the Pacific Ocean? After a shipwreck where a 16-year-old boy lost his family, he makes it on a boat with a tiger. They live through the ups and downs of a life in Oceania in this beautiful story about courage and the value of life-changing adventures even – or especially? – if they don’t last forever in 3D. So even if you’re stuck in that same oldness for a while, watching Life of Pi will make it seem like everything happens for a reason.

5. Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel

via imdb

Oh, Diana Vreeland, you endless source of inspiration! Bonus points for the most beautiful title on this list. The fashion editor of Harpaar’s Bazaar and Vogue is the epitome of glam and a certain air of drama. The Eye has to Travel is a documentary that tells Diana’s life story, a lot of which is about fashion’s capitals, namely Paris and NYC. A must-see for fashionistas and Travelettes alike.

6. Hick

via imdb, © 2012 – Phase 4 Films

Luli’s parents are alcoholics, their escapades make her hitchhike to Vegas. Easy. The thing is, Luli is 13 and in desperate need for adventure – without much reason or foresight. But that’s okay because movies with too much reason or foresight are terribly boring. Hick is a hilarious and sometimes endlessly stupid comedy, road movie and drama about the beauty of not coming home – and indeed creating a new one on the road.

Here are three other movies that will be released throughout 2015.

7. American Honey

American Honey, a feature film by Andrea Arnold, is about an American teenage girl who runs away from home and starts traveling across the US to sell magazine subscriptions. En route, she unsurprisingly gets involved in a lot of naughty business, namely parties, cheap hotels, law-breaking and love – which of course, is the worst of them all.

8. Everest

Everest isn’t quite as light-hearted. This thriller evolved around the 1996 Mount Everest disaster where eight climbers died while attempting to reach the summit. That doesn’t change the fact that the imagery is probably going to be mindblowing – and in 3D. Part of the mountaineers gang: Keira Knightly, Jake Gyllenhaal, Josh Brolin and Jason Clarke.

9. In the Heart of the Sea

The romantic title is a tad misleading. In the Heart of the Sea is about a massive whale which rams the ship Essex and has the crew shipwrecked for 90 days. Lovely. When Chris Hemsworth, Cillian Murphy, Ben Whishaw and Brendan Gleeson finally make it to South America alive, things start getting even messier… I’d recommend to step away from it if you’re in need for some realistic travel inspiration, a hundred bonus points for serious adventures though.

Have you seen some of the movies on this list? What are you faves?