Although this compilation of the best travel-oriented movies doesn’t reach the well-rounded number of 10, I’ve intentionally whittled the list down to the best, most inspirational films intended to light a fire in your heart, maybe make you want to hop on a plane, or kiss your forbidden love in a foreign airport…whatever suits you! There is a little something for everyone here; six is quite possibly the perfect number for a list!

1. Hector and the Search for Happiness
   • This is probably one of my favorite movies to date, and I stumbled upon it randomly on Netflix. Hector is an ordinary man who, quite extraordinarily, decides to uproot the complacent life he once settled for. He goes on a wild adventure across the world, in search of the key to happiness, and perhaps the key to unlocking the mystery of his own existence.
2. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
   • Not only is this movie visually stunning, it is remarkably uplifting as well. Walter Mitty lives primarily in his day dreams of being the hero in astonishing feats, never truly living out these fantasies in reality. However, when an assignment for his job at Life Magazine sends him on a real adventure to capture a breathtaking photo, the monotony of his daily life is overturned, and at last the fantasy of adventure becomes reality. If this film does not make you want to grab life by the tail and hitch the ride you’ve always been moments late for, I suggest watching it again.
3. Notting Hill
   • By no means an adventure movie, Notting Hill is a comfort film filled with mismatched romance and the version of London we all want to live in. Hugh Grant, charming and awkward as always, plays a bookstore owner who accidentally meets and falls in love with an American actress. Set in the beautiful and oh-so desirable Notting Hill, London, this movie couples dry British humor with cringe-worthy moments of love happening at the wrong time in the right place.
4. Up
   • I told you there would be something for everyone! This animated film features an elderly gentleman who sets off on a conquest to find the spot in South America he and his deceased wife always wished to visit. His method of getting there is slightly unorthodox as he sets his home aloft with the aid of thousands of balloons, unknowingly bringing along a young boy and a dog who you will quite possibly wish could be your own. The combination of the adventure itself and the mismatched pairing of the grumpy old man and the jovial little boy is endearing to say the least.
5. Wild
   • Not quite as endearing as the last pick, this movie begins with Reese Witherspoon ripping out her big toenail. The rest of the film is not so gruesome, but rather more an inspiring tale of a woman overcoming adversity and pushing herself to her absolute limits in order to grow as a more conscious human being. She embarks on a 1,000 mile hike to escape the demons that follow in the shadows of her past, and along the way she learns about nature, mankind, and herself. (It’s not nearly as cheesy as I’m making it seem.)
6. Copenhagen
   • This movie seems to be largely untouched by mainstream moviegoers, as I found it through Netflix and had heard nothing of it prior. After watching this film about a young man in search of information about his grandfather and his heritage in Denmark, the city will quite possibly become a magnet, drawing you in with every vivid scene. It has several slightly uncomfortable moments as William, the main character, unknowingly falls for a girl half his age, but not so uncomfortable as to make you turn away from the screen. No one can blame William for thinking the girl older, as her confidence and thirst for life drift off of her like the smoke from her lit cigarette. She leads him around that captivating city, helping him to uncover dark secrets about his grandfather, and perhaps even darker understandings of himself.