EVERYTHING I EVER NEEDED TO KNOW ABOUT TRAVEL I LEARNED FROM JAMES BOND
As the Bond film franchise turns 60 this month, here’s what the secret agent has taught us about traveling with panache
From the very start, James Bond was more than a secret agent, he was also a travel agent. Women desired him, men wanted to be him, and frequent flyers coveted the points from his American Express Centurion Card.
Upon the release of “Dr. No” 60 years ago this month, Bond invented bleisure travel (that’s the irritating portmanteau for business and leisure travel). Every Bond movie finds our hero not only working hard to save the world but also savoring it and selling it. Beaches! Historic European cities! Ski resorts! It’s all there on the big screen, looking much more enticing than any travel pamphlet or website. He even made kitschy
1971 Las Vegas appear chic in “Diamonds Are Forever.” Bravo, Mr. Bond.
How many couples honeymooned at the Fontainebleau in Miami Beach after seeing the stunning hotel in the first few minutes of “Goldfinger”? Or how many travelers added Lake Como in Italy to their must-see lists after “Casino Royale”?
“There’s no doubt that film enthusiasts have been inspired to travel to Bond locations,” said Anders Frejdh, a Bond expert and founder of the website From Sweden With Love. “I’ve visited hundreds of locations, and I know other Bond fans who have done the same. It’s difficult not to get inspired, even for casual viewers.”
In fact, I personally know of one smalltown teenager who, after seeing Grace Jones parachute off the Eiffel Tower, made it his mission to get to Paris. Yes, I’m talking about me again, sorry. Although my first Bond film was the tepid “A View to a Kill,” it still hit me like a Thunderball. It started me down a path of begging my parents to let me take a class trip to Paris. I made it thanks to Roger Moore, Jones, Duran Duran, and my 11th-grade French teacher.
According to Frejdh, the Bond films of the 1960s were particularly inspiring for