New Orleans

Have you ever seen a movie that was filmed on location, where the location was so much a character in the story that you just knew you had to visit there? Or, maybe you’ve read a book set in an exotic destination that is so expertly described that you’d like to be transported there on the spot?

For example, Anne Rice so poetically describes New Orleans that it’s hard not to go there and expect to see her vampire Lestat leading one of the nightly ghost tours. Jim Butcher makes a gritty city like Chicago seem like the most interesting place on the planet, especially when wizard Harry Dresden is your guide. Candace Bushnell makes New York seem like more than a city – it’s one of your best friends.

As a fan of J.K.Rowling’s Harry Potter books, I think a trip to England would be a delight. Even though I’m a Muggle, I sure would like to have a tour of Harry Potter’s London and surrounding areas. I can’t believe that London hasn’t been crossed off of my travel bucket list yet, but I look forward to standing on Platform 9 3/4 (there’s actually a plaque in King’s Cross Station that denotes it), where I will imagine the Hogwarts express pulling into the station. Then, I’ll hire a car (because they won’t let non-wizards through the barrier to board the train) to take me to Oxford University and Gloucester Cathedral, where the scenes at Hogwarts were filmed for the movie versions of the book. I’ll head over to Hogsmeade for a butterbeer, which is actually Goathland, a village in Yorkshire.

Maybe Harry Potter books aren’t your cup of tea. Perhaps you are more drawn to books like Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons, and the movies that followed. A trip to the Vatican and St. Peter’s Square takes on a whole new meaning when you’re looking for statues of Angels to lead you to the Illuminati, just as Professor Robert Langdon did. There are several “official” and “unofficial” tours to be found in Rome for fans of the series, but either way, you’ll see some of Rome’s top sites while guides read passages from the books to remind you of their literary significance, as well as their historical significance.

Do you have a literary journey you’d like to take?