A lot of travel movies out there are nice to watch, sometimes they have a plot, sometime they don’t, other times they have the required beautiful scenery, other times we have to wonder how exactly a movie that could have been shot in a backlot could really be called a travel movie.
But it is truly the movies that have only travelling as a subplot to the main story that we realise how much that they taught us about travelling. Points that come across the movie sideswiping us with the message, that’s when it truly sticks.
Herein are the best movies that truly teach us about travelling and what to always remember when making that leap.

Never give up. This message is slammed repeatedly into the minds of viewers as they watch The Goonies, a classic 1985 film about a group of kids trying to find an old pirate treasure. This whole story is over a period of 24 hours as they fight to find the treasure before developers tear down their houses the very next day.

Here they teach us to never give up, because at the very minute that we are posed to stop working towards our goals is when everything that you ever wanted to happen, is just about to happen.

In the movie it is demonstrated strongly as right in the middle they are given an out, a way to stop looking for that treasure and stop following their dreams and settle for living in the real world. All of them seem ready to stop and give up their dreams of treasure and adventure until the main character steps in and reminds them to never give up.

Always been prepared. This one should be the traveller’s motto. Data, one of the main characters had a backpack on for the entire movie, he had carted that thing everywhere even before they started on the adventure. And just like a good traveller, every time they were in a bind he pulled it out and managed to get them past that little hurdle.
So take after Data and always keep at least few thing with you at all times, you never know when they could come in handy. Though keep in mind, do not bring everything you own just incase, it’s not a good way to go and most of the time you don’t even use half the stuff you brought.

You Don’t Need A Lot To Travel. The Goonies only had a couple of candy bars, their bikes, a map (and a dodgy one at that) and a bag of marbles. They had nothing and they still managed to have this excellent travel adventure and found a fantastical treasure at the end of it as well.

The Future’s Not Written In Stone. In Back to the Future, another classic 1985 film, this message is pointed out to the viewer subtly as we watch Marty, the main character run around.
In this movie Marty finds himself accidentally send back to 1950s and the story follows him as he tries that get back to 1985 recounting his many mishaps.

During the course of the adventure there are many moments that the future changes because of something Marty does, as it reinforces the fact that you can change the future.
Choices Make You. At any moment you can change where you are going like Marty did. How you act, what you do every day, your thoughts, what you choose not to do every day, who you listen to or don’t listen to. All these choices mould your future, but are you choosing them or just letting them happen to you?

What do you want? A boring job in the real world or travelling the world? A dream, where you wish you could do interesting things, or a life actually doing everything you have always wanted?
It’s all about choices and how some of the best things for you can happen when you least suspect it. Marty didn’t know he was going to go back in time and accidentally fix things. But in the end it turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to him. You just have to keep looking for the things that you want in life and jump on those opportunities and find your way to a new place.

Remember to watch out for those Chirpys. In National Treasure a recent blockbuster, Ben the main character is chasing the Templar Treasure, a treasure so great that it was deemed too much, for even a king.
But in chasing that treasure it wasn’t smooth sailing, all Ben’s life as it pointed out, he had been hounded by Chirpys that keep telling him that he can’t do it, the treasure wasn’t real and he was only wasting his life chasing after fairy tales. These comments even came from his own father. But Ben didn’t listen to them and in the end he found the treasure, despite those Chirpys.

Be nice to others and they will be nice to you. This should be the travellers own little motto, it doesn’t matter how well travelled you are, or how self-reliant, at some point you are going to need help in your travels. Either because something quite bad has happened, something catastrophic has happen or you just need directions to the nearest bus station.
Enchanted, a new classic Disney tale, points this out to everyone quite nicely. Giselle was nice to everyone and while it may have gotten her some strange looks while in the hustle and bustle of New York she didn’t let it bring her down. And in the end sure enough her nice nature and pleasant demeanour made it possible for her to end up all right in the end.

Anything’s possible. In Peter Pan, regardless of the different version’s they could always fly. But it was only after they thought happy thoughts that they could make something as impossible as flying possible.
So are you thinking happy thoughts? Do you believe that you can travel the world? It doesn’t have to be taken as sarcastically as it has become, just think of the best things that can happen while you are travelling.
If you let it play around in your mind long enough it will go back to the subconscious brain and then the brain will do anything in its power to make it possible. The sub conscious brain doesn’t know the difference between a lie or not and if you think that you are going to go travelling and you tell your brain you are going to, it will believe you. Then because the brain doesn’t like to lie, it will do everything it can to make sure that becomes a reality.

Travel Doesn’t Have To Cost The World. The Simpsons Movie, points out something so true that it can’t be ignored. In The Simpsons Movie through Homer’s own idiocy they had to leave Springfield and live life on the run. They had no money and pretty much everyone was after them. But by using their own ingenuity (and Homer’s less than brilliant skills) they managed to make it to Alaska.
The Simpsons the series is also a very good look at how travel doesn’t have to cost a fortune. How many times have we heard Marge say that they can’t afford it and yet they still have been to some beautiful places. Australia, Japan, London, Brazil and various places across America are the first places that jump to mind.

There are a lot more movies out there that show the benefits and how to travel, too many to name here. But the important thing is to remember that travel doesn’t have to be left for just movies. Go out and watch the movies mentioned here, have a laugh and then start planning how you too can get out and travel the world.
All you have to do is start reaching for that goal, the thing to remember about travelling the world and being the best person you can be is that there is likely to be no competition for you to succeed.
It may seem as though a lot of people are reaching for the same thing as you but that’s not true, a lot of people are trying to reach for you, to drag you down to their level so you just like them can never achieve your goals.

Don’t let them win.

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1. How To Start Travelling Today

You don’t have an accent anymore

Or at least you have been told, because everyone knows that they actually can’t hear their own accent. A common phenomenon that you can really see when watching TV as I have found that listening to an Australian on TV that is surrounded by Americans, such as on House, we can really see we have a really weird accent.

But the thing is that while you have been told that you don’t have an accent anymore it’s because you have been around too many cultures so now you have a sort of weird mix of accents that make you sound like a little bit of an idiot.

You don’t know what’s happening back home

At first you would have checked every newspaper around the world to see what the other countries were reporting about your home country. But now you don’t pay attention to your own home country so much so that you have even forgotten what it looks like just a tiny bit.

You have also forgotten who exactly your Prime Minister is.

As an Australian forgetting who our Prime Minister is isn’t actually something attributed to travelling, mostly they are always fairly forgetful; ask anyone around Australia who the Prime Minster is, most of them will have trouble. That’s why no one actually knows outside Australia either. I mean honestly we actually lost a Prime Minister. Look up Harold Holt on the Internet, he used to be our Prime Minister before he went out to the beach and was never seen again.

You haven’t seen the relatives for awhile

It used to be that you would see them at every major event in the calendar, now it’s a lucky time if you actually manage to get back home for Christmas.

You find out that new relatives were created while you were gone

You have been gone so long that not only have a few people died while you were away, there is also five year old cousin that you didn’t even know existed let along is that old. You have been away for an especially long time if they are actually a niece or nephew.

You find your own culture a bit weird

It’s kind of like reverse culture shock mixed in with relatives you thought weren’t quite as strange as before. Going out you thought that cultures around the world were a little off, but once exploring them for a good long while you come back and realise perhaps you were the ones that didn’t have it quite right in the first place.

You have mostly forgotten where you live.

You get back to your hometown and you have to go to the tourism office. You know you live around here somewhere; it’s just the somewhere that bothers you.

Your home doesn’t feel like home

You get back to your own home, or your parents home which is where you usually crash after a particularly long jaunt around the world, and it no longer feels as though you have lived there all your life. It just feels like a country that you have spent a lot of time in over the years but not a home. A humbling feeling most of the time it just gets you back out into the world faster which can only be a good thing.

You wonder why people need so much stuff

When travelling around you keep very little of your own and you can’t imagine people filling up a whole house with things when you can live a great life with just a backpack.

There are a lot of other reasons and situations you will find that proves that you have been away from home for awhile, these are simply just the start.

Is there any that I have missed? Something that you have encountered that really proved that you have been away for awhile. Please share them in the comments.

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