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Joe Vesey-Byrne
Nov 11, 2016
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Film Tourismus/Instagram
Andrea David is a 'film tourist', and she documents her travels to iconic location from films and television series around the world.
Visting film locations has become something of a perfect treasure hunt for film and TV fans who also like to travel.
David, a student of tourism management from Germany, wrote her thesis about the influence of films on where we choose to travel. She's been visiting cinema's finest locations for over a decade.
According to David, her siteFilm Tourismushas over 100,000 users every month, and her Instagram account is followed by over 6,000 people.
Most recently she's been visiting all of the Game of Thrones sites but her travels have taken her to places even further afield.
Panem (Berlin)
Westeros (Malta)
King's Landing (Catalonia)
Republic of Zubrowka (Gorlitz, Germany)
Tombraidia (Angkor, Cambodia)
Richardcurtis Land (Notting Hill, London)
Speaking to indy100, David explained how she began:
More than 10 years ago I studied tourism management and wrote my diploma thesis on how films influence our travel decisions. I collected a lot of information and started travelling to various filming locations all over the world. After my thesis I continued travelling this way because I really enjoyed it. Then I decided to share my experiences and adventures with other people who may also be interested. Meanwhile numerous users - 100.000 per month - are getting inspired for their own journeys following the trail of movies and TV series.
She also explained the amount of work that goes in to pinning down a location first seen on screen.
When I'm lucky I get some information about the filming locations from tourism boards or the production companies in advance. But often it is really like doing detective work: Comparing film stills with Google Streetview or showing them residents and tour guides while travelling. Also some readers of the blog send me up-to-date information and images.
We asked if there was ever anywhere she's been unable visit?
That happens every now and then especially with private estates. It also happens that the filming locations are torn down or hard to recognize.
One example: In LA, I wanted to visit the home of the Tanner family as seen in "ALF" but then I found out that the property had been demolished and a totally different dwelling had been built in its place.
Commenting on the reaction she's received, she said:
A lot of people wrote me that they are grateful because they finally know if and where they can find their places of longing or just received great new travel ideas. They are really happy to experience the screened places firsthand or to dive into the landscape or city seen in a film or TV series. This motivated me to continue. Some of the first blog readers have turned out to be good friends and travel mates today.
...I was always convinced that film and TV productions have a large influence on our travel decisions.
But now it is a real pop culture phenomenon growing year by year accompanied by great motion picture films and TV shows.
And David's favourite locations?
That's a real difficult question after lots of wonderful trips, but one of the most exciting places I visited was definitely Jordan. Visiting places like Petra - seen as 'Canyon of the Crescent Moon' in 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade' - or the desert Wadi Rum - for example seen as the surface of Mars in 'The Martian' - was an overwhelming and almost unreal experience I will never forget.
One of the most magical places I visited this year was the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. The impressive mountain range can be seen in Quentin Tarantino's 'Django Unchained'.
As a big fan of 'Game of Thrones' I also enjoyed visiting various filming locations of the series in Dubrovnik, Girona, Malta and Northern Ireland. It was great fun!
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