Roman Holiday

For Travel junkies like me, inspiration comes from many varied and unexpected places.
Movies, Books, magazines, Commercials ..music .. blue skies..brewing java...gourmet food ...quaint coffee table art books to name a few. ..LOng Days in cooped up cubicles, traffic jams..and emotional roadblocks ..
How many of those fabulous fantasies actually translate into vacations is another thing.
But the beauty lies in imagining and trying..
Trying to imagine how your life can be transformed by culture, by geography, by vast seas and rugged mountainscapes, by unknown rituals and strange customs ..that convince you how important the story of some places is ..and what a shaping role ..it can play .. in your own.
And of how every journey is a revelation and a revolution in its own small way ..inside your mind atleast.
So here is an unabashed list of things that have moved me ..in recent and not so recent times and made me feel like picking up my sneakers, packing a suitcase and taking off.

1. Motorcycle Diaries : Seeing Ernesto "Che" and Alberto with not much more than a full tank of gas, warm smiles and an open mind, navigate the south america disapora ...what from machu pichu to chile to a river cruise down the amazon was a life changing experience not only for them ..but also for the rest of us mere mortals who saw it on the big screen and could only imagine the independance, fear and inspiration that wide open horizons provided the duo ..

2. Under the Tuscan Sun: (*)
Everyone goes through trying times, when one feels like a grasshopper being slapped around by the newspaper of life. But how many of us .. can walk away from everything we once loved ..and move to Tuscany in Italy, become penniless buying a broken down house ..and build a life back while piecing it together brick by brick. Frances did .. and inspired me to do the same for me.

3. Terminator 2 - Judgement Day: Now this took travel to a completely new dimension. What if you had a chance to step into the past ..and do something that would some how change your then future and now present. What would you see ? Would you see how irresponsible you were back then, towards yoursef, the environment, the world. Would it take a gun weilding, metal melting gooey cold eyed terminator to make you realise the value of how beautiful the earth was and your life ? What would you do ..if you were there .. right there .. and how does that change what you will do today ? Does it ? Will it? Can it ? ..and mostly .. will you Let it ?

4. The Beach: (*)
When Richard stays in his dingy hostel in Thailand and experiences the aggravation and frustration of a traveller itching for a different experience, you just cannot imagine what hold for him in the next few months of his life. Astounding and Rebellious though it is , part of you wants to go to Phi Phi and when he jumps into the idyllic waters ..some turquoise drops splash on you too !
One of my favorite quotes - something that I have printed and read before every trip is from his movie ..where Richard says "Trust me, it's paradise. This is where the hungry come to feed. From mine it's a generation that's circles the globe and searches something we haven't tried before. So never refuse an invitation, never resist the unfamiliar, never fail to be polite and never outstay the welcome. Just keep your mind open and suck in the experience. And if it hurts, you know what? It's probably worth it"

5. The Holiday : Ever wanted to get away from it all ? Leave no address behind ? No Number anyone can call you at ? ..Bt thene again .. you can never put life on Hold .. Yet ..some try ..
When two unknown women ..strangers to each other .. decide to house swap for the christmas hols one year .. all the way across London and LA .. you know that fate awaits them ..in places far away from home ....they pack a suitcase ..and get on a plane for like 10 hours ..eat from plastic containers ..but hey .. we always carry a little bit of home in us ..no matter where we go.
And yet ..when a journey in steps is accompanied by a journey of the mind .. it is the most humbling extraordinary experience of all .. And though ..you may be in an ordinary place .. nothing close to the seven wonders ..old world ..or new world .. you still wonder ..at the beauty of it all ..

6. Forrest Gump : "Life is like a box of chocolates - you never know which one you are going to get" ... and when it happens in an unknown town ..when you swallow the bitter sweet familiar
fudge .. its amazing isnt it :) ...Chocolates, Ice Cream and Coffee ..taste great on vacations !!!
When you through in some rugged cross country running ..a shipwreck in a storm and wide open fields .. it makes you want to close your eyes and leap ...

7. North by North West: Oh ..to see the gorgeous Cary Grant ..being chased by a plane in an open corn field ..hanging off the precipice of Mount Rushmore complaining about the looks Teddy's been giving him .. one of the greatest spy movies of all times !

..to be continued :)