I don’t mean a documentary or a travel show - just any fictional program.
Lately we’ve been watching a lot of shows on BritBox and now there are a dozen or so places I want to visit and explore. Of course, my husband will joke that he’d never go to Shetland because of all the murders there. He says the same about the fictional island that’s the setting for Death in Paradise.
But I wonder if there are people who would avoid New York City because of all the cop shows based there or Los Angeles. So I ask, have your vacation choices been influenced by what you’ve seen on TV? And if you have traveled to a place because of a favorite show or movie, was it what you expected or were you disappointed?
The coolest was when we visited Tunisia. We went to see the Roman colosseum in El Jem, and while we were in the area, we also visited the city of Kairouan, which doubled for Cairo in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
A lot of the specific locations are still exactly the way they were when the movie was shot in 1980. That balcony overlooking the central square, where the shadowy Nazi nodded to send out the mob of assassins? Still there, just repainted.
Playing catch and running the bases at the Field of Dreams ballpark in Dyersville, IA was a really fun experience. It’s gotten extremely commercial lately - I wonder if it still holds its charm.
Not a movie or tv show, but I have long wanted to visit parts of New England based on reading and rereading Moby Dick and many of the works of HP Lovecraft.
My interest in visiting Italy was piqued by playing the video game Assassin’s Creed II, but that wasn’t the sole reason we went there (on a package tour). It was kind of surreal seeing the towers of San Gimignano which featured in the game.
I checked out Big Kahuna Burger while I was in San Diego due to the Pulp Fiction tie in. I was disappointed that it wasn’t quite the tastey burger that Jules (Samual Jackson) stated it was in the movie. Perhaps because I hadn’t been forced into eating vegatarian before. Then I found out it was a knockoff from the movie.
On a road trip to Seattle many years ago, my buddy and I made sure to stop in Roslyn WA (where exteriors for “Northern Exposure” were shot) and have a look around.
Aw, you had to go and qualify it-- I had a story lined up involving the show ‘American Pickers’. I’ll go ahead and tell it anyway, with the justification that those ‘reality’ shows are often largely fiction anyway.
Some years ago I went to visit my sister in Florida. We decided to drive since plane ticket prices at the time we wanted to go were sky-high(heh). At the last minute my wife couldn’t make it for family reasons, so it was just me and my two boys.
My one son, 10 or 11 at the time, was a huge American Pickers fan, so on the drive back he wanted to stop at the Nashville AP store. When I checked their Facebook page, it turned out they were filming the very day we’d be stopping there, so I gave the side trip the greenlight. I thought it’d be cool if my kid could by chance meet Mike and Frank.
When we got there it was interesting just checking out the lot and the grounds at first. It’s on the site of an old factory, so there’s a lot of huge rusting metal gears and junk strewn about. And…in the parking lot was the iconic white van with the AP logo on the side. I looked in and there was a brand-new banana sitting on top of the dashboard, as if it had been recently driven. So it appeared that Mike and Frank were there and not just Danielle (for those not familiar with the show, Mike and Frank were the actual ‘pickers’ who drove around the country looking for valuable junk antiques, and Danielle ran their stores).
Unfortunately, there was a huge line to get in the store. My son decided he didn’t want to wait in line. I was going to see if I could find an employee entrance out back we could wander in, and act like a dumb lost tourist if I was challenged. But my son had decided he didn’t want any more part of it and just wanted to get back on the road. So our little pilgimage came to naught, but it was still a mildly interesting little side trip.
My mom went there back in the 90’s, I believe while Northern Exposure was still on the air. It’s definitely on my list for when my wife and I visit the Pacific Northwest.
My wife was also a very big fan of Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman way back when and had a strong desire to see Colorado Springs (where the show was supposed to be taking place). So Colorado Springs was a “must visit” when we were in Colorado a few years ago. And when we were in California the year before that, I took her to the visit the Paramount Ranch in the Santa Monica Mountains where the show was actually taped. Unfortunately, most of the sets were destroyed in the Woolsey Fire in 2018, but the railroad station building, church, and the bridge going to the church were still there. She still seemed to enjoy being there.
That’s why I wouldn’t go to any of these places. Full of idiots who are
only there “cos it’s been on telly”.
I’m glad we got to spend a week in Port Isaac before Doc Martin started.
I’ve always thought someday I’d like to visit the Bronx after seeing the majestic mountains in the background in Rumble in the Bronx. Maybe even take a ride on the hovercraft.
We visited Forks, Washington about ten years ago - my wife is into the whole Twilight thing. It’s a major claim to fame for the little town. She got a sweatshirt that simply says “Forks” and have been looking for one to compliment that with something like “Spoons” or “Knives.” When my parents were living in Port Angeles, not too far from there, we had dinner at Bella Italia restaurant.
I visited Roslyn, too, and Snoqualmie Falls (Twin Peaks).
I wanted to take the Underground Seattle tour because of the Kolchak film The Night Strangler but it was sold out when I was there.
I drove past LACFD station 51 (aka 127) in Carson (Emergency!)
I visited the Formosa, because of LA Confidential.
I was traveling by train anyway, but I made sure I hit LA Union Station (Blade Runner, tons of others) and Chicago Union Station (Untouchables). To be fair, I’d have gone anyway for those: they are great.
I visited The Bradbury Building (Blade Runner, Demon With A Glass Hand, DOA), and yes it is as cool in person.
I was really afraid to go to NYC because of how bad it looked in all those cop shows I watched in the 70s. It looked like you could get mugged in your hotel room. And fugeddabout riding the subway!
Mr. brown had a job offer in Colorado. I was under the mistaken impression that all of Colorado was a wonderful green forest with rivers and mountains, so I was enthusiastic about the move. Looking back, I think it was the movie The Unsinkable Molly Brown that formed my idea of the state.
When we went there to look at houses, I found that a good half or more of Colorado is flat, dry, barren prairie, and it gave me the willies. Mr. brown turned down the job offer and we noped back to Ventura, California, our home.
Back in the late ‘70s, my high school best friend and I drove from Maryland to Maine (Yarmouth area) to visit a friend who had just moved there and maybe to find where Stephen King lived, knock on his door and asked if Steve could come out and play. We saw zero vampires, nary a trace of the Wendigo, no rabid St. Bernards, nothing. King wasn’t even in Maine at the time.
Then I found out it was a knockoff from the movie.