Are you among the many students who aren’t going to be travelling much farther than the nearest beach any time soon? Do you have so much work to do that those lectures, equations and oral presentations are seeping into your dreams? Well, go ahead and take a nice break at home while living vicariously through the characters in these 11 feel-good travel movies!
1. Paulie (1998)
I loved this one as a kid and it still gives me feels, so it deserved the first spot on the list. This movie follows Paulie, an intelligent talking parrot, as he recounts his travels in search of his original owner to a Russian janitor who helps him to the end of his journey.
+Adventure/Comedy/Fantasy
@United States
2. Under The Tuscan Sun (2003)
This movie follows San Francisco writer, Frances Mayes, as she makes a spur of the moment decision to buy a villa in Italy. It’s the typical “everything sucks until you appreciate and delve into the world around you” type of plot, but I really enjoyed the way it was handled here.
>Foreign Fling
>Family Feels (with the many people she meets here)
@Tuscany
3. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011)
This film is about a group of British retirees who decide to move to India, based on some wonderful advertisements for the newly restored Marigold Hotel. They arrive to find that it’s far less than promised, but throughout their stay, they form relationships and share experiences that change all their lives. It’s admittedly a pretty slow movie, but it was still nice enough to include.
>Family Feels
@India
PS. This one has a sequel called “The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” (2015)
4. Letters to Juliet (2010)
A romantic comedy in which the main character, Sophie, finds a “letter to Juliet” which was left unanswered for fifty years. After getting the chance to reply, she ends up volunteering to help resolve the love-story of the woman who sent it, all the while forming a love of her own.
>Foreign Romance
@Verona, Italy
5. The Holiday (2006)
Another romcom. This one’s about British Journalist Iris (Kate Winslet) and Hollywood film-maker Amanda (Cameron Diaz), who trade homes after bad breakups, only to find new romances abroad.
+Romance, Comedy
>Foreign Romance(s)
@English Countryside and Los Angeles
6. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)
Walter Mitty spends his life daydreaming about having several mini-adventures to escape his day-to-day monotony. But when he loses an important picture which needs to be used on the cover of the magazine he works for, he has to embark on a real life adventure of his own to find the photographer.
+Drama/Adventure/Comedy
>Office Romance
@United States and Greenland
7. The Proposal (2009)
Canadian executive editor in chief, Margaret Tate, persuades her assistant, Andrew Paxton, to marry her so that she can keep her visa, in exchange for making him an editor. After a U.S. immigration agent starts investigating them, believing they’re committing fraud, the couple announces that they’ll be traveling to Alaska to meet Andrew’s family.
+Romance, Comedy
@Sitka, Alaska
8. Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (2005)
No feel-good travel movie list would be complete without this classic. To those who haven’t watched it, this movie follows Bridget, Carmen, Lena, and Tibby as they spend their first summer apart, but resolve to stay connected through the sharing of a pair of pants that magically fits all of them.
PS. This one also has a sequel and apparently there’s a third installment in the works.
+Comedy, Drama
@ Greece, Mexico, United States
9. Mamma Mia! (2008)
Amanda Seyfried reappears on the list for this story as another bride-to-be, who invites three of her mother’s past loves in hopes of figuring out which one is her real father. I’ve watched this one so many times, I’m pretty sure I can sing you the whole movie.
>Family Feels
@Kalokairi, Greece
10. Rat Race (2001)
Six teams take part in a race to get to a $2 million jackpot which is locked in a safe in New Mexico. All the while, the ones behind the race place their bets and watch along with us. Pretty much everything that you’d think could go wrong, does.
+Crazy Road Trip
@United States
11. My Life in Ruins (2009)
This movie follows Georgia, a tour guide who’s disappointed with her current life as she finds herself leading yet another assorted group of tourists who would rather buy ice-ream and go souvenir shopping than learn about Greek history and culture. But it’s this very group, especially the influence of an older tourist named Irv Gideon, which helps her learn to have fun and really appreciate her life there.
+Romance/Comedy
@Greece
Hope you enjoy these movies and their wonderful settings as much as I have. Bon Voyage!