“What is your one travel dream above all other travel dreams?”
This is the opening question from Gadling friend Andrew Evans, who was recently invited to the TEDxDanubia conference in Budapest to present a talk on pursuing your travel dreams. Andrew’s one travel dream was to see Antarctica and he details how he managed to get there by planning less, trusting more, and always traveling with a sense of wonder.
If you are in need of a push to go after your travel goals, spend 15 minutes listening to Andrew’s incredibly inspirational talk. I guarantee you’ll be glad you did.
I’m often skeptical when Hollywood forays into the realm of ‘travel films’.
Don’t get me wrong; there have been some wonderful movies in recent years that capture the true essence of the world of travel & the beauty of venturing on a grand journey: Lost in Translation, Into the Wild, L’Auberge Espagnole, Before Sunrise, Up in the Air, and The Beach (did you really think I wouldn’t mention it?) are just a few examples of travel narratives done right.
But those successes aren’t enough to stop the certain feeling of dread I get whenever I learn that Hollywood has again attempted to tackle the travel theme. Perhaps certain blasphemies like Sex & the City 2 or the recent rendition of Gulliver’s Travels keep this fear alive every time I shell out $11 to go on a two-hour cinematic adventure.
That being so, when I first heard about The Way; a film directed and developed by Emilio Estevez and starring his father, Martin Sheen, I expected the worst. An adventure film produced on the magical wings of nepotism? Sounded like the perfect storm.
But Wednesday night’s New York City premiere in partnership with the Walkabout Foundation promised a dazzling list of A-listers (Former President Bill Clinton, Ivanka Trump, Dhani Jones, Wyclef Jean, & the Sheens, among others) and promised to benefit a good cause, so I packed my cynicism away for a few hours and decided to see the film.
%Gallery-136040%
So, is it worth the trek to the theater? Click on through to find out.
The Way is the story of a Tom (Martin Sheen), a father that loses his intrepid son, Daniel (Emilio Estevez) as Daniel sets out in the French Pyrenees on a solo journey along the historic Camino De Santiago. Devastated by the loss and desperate for a way to reconcile their distanced relationship, Sheen’s character decides to embark on the Camino himself, carrying his son’s ashes every step of the way.
In brief, the Camino De Santiago (or the Way of St. James) is a 500-mile trail that starts in France and ends near the Northwest tip of Spain. It was first trekked in the 9th Century by pilgrims hoping to visit the remains of the Apostle St. James upon their initial discovery. In the early days, it was an arduous undertaking; weather, meager provisions, and difficult terrain all took their toll on the dedicated peregrinos. But by the 14th Century, it’s estimated that 25% of all Europeans walked the Camino and today, over 200,000 hikers complete the pilgrimage every year; for many different reasons.
Through Tom’s journey and the friends he makes on the trail, a very poignant illustration of the Camino De Santiago is presented; the beauty of the environment is vivid, the community among pilgrims is familiar to anyone that’s bonded with strangers on the road, and over the course of the film, the mood of sun drenched afternoons walking, eating, and drinking through the Spanish countryside is tangible. The characters all feel genuine and there’s enough clever humor throughout to make the film a fun adventure to be a part of.
One of the best parts of the film is that the story feels real; from a traveler’s perspective, it’s relatable and stays true to its roots of telling the story of the Camino. It strays from the typical over-dramatized treatment that Hollywood loves and instead tells a very real story that will resonate with many people who have trekked the Camino & anyone that’s ever ventured on a journey to cope with a personal battle. For this reason, I think it joins some of the other great travel narratives as a movie that’s definitely worth seeing for those interested in adventure.
The Way succeedsin staying true as a travel story partially because of how it was produced; Estevez insisted that the crew was never larger than 50 people (including actors), a large part of the film was shot on the go using a versatile Super 16mm setup, and the actors actually hiked a good portion of the Camino throughout the course of production.
In all, I give The Way 4 out of 5 St. James’s Shells. It opens for a limited release in theaters today and a wide release on October 21st. So long as you don’t have to make a pilgrimage of your own to go see it, give The Way a second look this weekend.
This past summer, White & Church opened in TriBeCa, New York, as an inventive Italian restaurant with an extensive cocktail list. On the drink menu, not only will you find interesting food-based cocktails such as a Bloody Mary mixed with mussels, as well as nature-inspired libations including a martini made from smoked tree-bark, you will also find cocktails that include bugs.
No more are the days when you can get a drink on the house if you find an insect in your vodka. At White & Church, that insect is actually a garnish.
Some of the bug cocktail options you can sample here, according to Brian Niemietz of the New York Post, include:
Summer-This piña-colada style drink is garnished with bamboo (don’t eat) and crickets (eat). Supposedly, they add an element of sweetness to the cocktail.
Blue Velvet– This brandy-based libation is a mixture of Sambucca and Créme de Menthe and is topped with a scorpion. Don’t worry, it’s not alive.
Why Not– This frozen cocktail is similar to a margarita with the addition of avocado, red pepper, and spicy worms.
Want to see how these cocktails are made for yourself? Check out this video:
A commercial for Air New Zealand’s Economy Skycouch might not be what you would expect in a Video of The Day post, but truly, these guys have outdone themselves on this one. Bound to be an internet hit, the airline is using the finest of all tools to promote their new comfy seating options: comedy. Air New Zealand has now launched a video series on YouTube starring a pair of inseparable sheep, Mason and Jason. But that’s not all. This quirky little ad features none other than Mr. David Hasselhoff riding a playground pony.
The product: a trio of seats forming an Economy couch. The news of these seats is actually kind of old (we covered it in January 2010), but the videos are new. These seats are, of course, a coveted resting post for bleary-eyed travelers and a loveseat for in-air lovebirds, but the question remains… does this or doesn’t this help expand the membership of the Mile High Club? (And how much does that even matter for this cozy tradeoff?).
When I first watched this video, “Dance Like Nobody is Watching”, my first instinct was to try to see how many of the places in the montage I recognized. The next time I watched, I became entranced by the talent of Ki’une as he danced and recorded himself in different locations around the world. By my third time watching, my travel itch was feeling like it definitely needed a good scratching.
When I asked what some of the destinations were that he traveled to in order to create this piece, Ki’une responded that he could name about half the regions off the top of his head. Not surprising, since the video encompasses a vast array of locations. Some of these include National Parks such as “Yosemite, Yellowstone, Redwood, Giant Sequoia, Olympic, Cascades, Banff, Badlands and Jasper.” Other regions you may recognize are “Squamish, Vancouver, Toronto, Capilano, Kyoto, Osaka, Quebec City, Hong Kong, provincial parks in Ontario, Oregon Coast, all around California, all around U.S. Midwest, and Kentucky.”
While I can not say for sure what you will feel when watching this video, it would be hard not to feel something. Lissa Rankin, MD, a motivational speaker and founder of Pink Medicine Revolutionary posted on Care2, a healthy living website, “I cried when I watched this video, not just because it was so beautiful, but because it’s such a potent visual reminder of how I define a healthy life. This guy is putting it all out there. He’s living a dream. Taking a risk. Dancing his heart out.”