What movies have inspired you to travel? This was the question that I polled my Facebook community. They came up with a selection of titles: some from the past decade, some from earlier, some very popular, some more obscure, some have familiar actors, one has no actors. All of them have an ability to pull heart strings.

So grab a bucket of popcorn and get inspired.

Into the Wild

After graduating from Emory University, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless abandons his possessions, gives his entire $24,000 savings account to charity and hitchhikes to Alaska to live in the wilderness. Along the way, Christopher encounters a series of characters that shape his life.

Little Miss Sunshine

A family determined to get their young daughter into the finals of a beauty pageant take a cross-country trip in their VW bus.

Lost in Translation

A movie star with a sense of emptiness, and a neglected newlywed meet up as strangers in Tokyo, Japan and form an unlikely bond.

Eat. Pray. Love.

A married woman realizes how unhappy her marriage really is, and that her life needs to go in a different direction. After a painful divorce, she takes off on a round-the-world journey to “find herself”.

The Motorcycle Diaries

The dramatization of a motorcycle road trip Che Guevara went on in his youth that showed him his life’s calling.

Paris, Je T’Aime

Through the neighborhoods of Paris, love is veiled, revealed, imitated, sucked dry, reinvented and awakened.

The Darjeeling Limited

Three American brothers who have not spoken to each other in a year set off on a train voyage across India with a plan to find themselves and bond with each other — to become brothers again like they used to be. Their “spiritual quest”, however, veers rapidly off-course…

Before Sunrise

A young man and woman meet on a train in Europe, and wind up spending one romantic evening together in Vienna. Unfortunately, both know that this will probably be their only night together.

Baraka

A movie with no conventional plot: merely a collection of expertly photographed scenes. Subject matter has a highly environmental theme.

Auntie Mame

An orphan goes to live with his free-spirited aunt. Conflict ensues when the executor of his father’s estate objects to the aunt’s lifestyle.

(Thanks to IMDB for the brief movie summaries!)