{"id":30096,"date":"2019-02-26T00:00:49","date_gmt":"2019-02-26T00:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flashpacknew.wpengine.com\/?p=30096"},"modified":"2023-07-31T11:25:50","modified_gmt":"2023-07-31T10:25:50","slug":"film-up-travel-world-adventure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sandbox.flashpack.com\/us\/solo\/relationships\/film-up-travel-world-adventure\/","title":{"rendered":"How the film Up broke my heart \u2013 and moved me to travel the world"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first 11 minutes and 4 seconds of Pixar\u2019s Up<\/em> are the greatest piece of cinema ever made and I\u2019ll fight anyone who says otherwise. <\/span><\/p>\n

For anyone who hasn\u2019t seen it, A) you need to sort out your priorities and B) watch it immediately. I\u2019ll assume that\u2019s done, but just in case there\u2019s any Grade A rebels out there, I\u2019m talking about the great fast-forwarded love story of our age; that of Carl and Ellie Frederickson.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Carl and Ellie meet as children, both enchanted with the idea of exploring. They grow up and get married, hatching plans to travel the world. So far, so cutesy, you might think, but Pixar is pranking you hard. <\/span><\/p>\n

You soon realise this is no ordinary cartoon when the absolute gut-punch of Ellie\u2019s miscarriage and infertility diagnosis hits. It\u2019s devastating, all the more so because it\u2019s conveyed without a word. <\/span><\/p>\n

Read more: Solo travel fuels this major happiness habit<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The only thing that can revive grief-stricken Ellie (and prevent cinema-goers setting fire to their popcorn in protest) is the dream she has of travelling away to somewhere exotic and new.<\/span><\/p>\n

But, as it so often does, life gets in the way. Exploding car tires and expensive medical bills waylay the Fredericksons’ plans to go to South America. By the time Carl finally gets the plane tickets for them, it\u2019s too late. Ellie dies, and the souls of every person watching crack in two. Yep, it\u2019s rough folks.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Carl settles into his curmudgeonly old age, convinced his dreams of travel died with Ellie. But when an old people\u2019s home comes knocking, Carl attaches hundreds of multicoloured balloons to his house and floats off to the object of his travel dreams: Paradise Falls.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some people walked away from the film wanting to find their own Carl, a man who\u2019d waltz with them in the kitchen at the age of 79. Others wrote to the International Institution of Helium to question the physics of a house flying 2,691 miles using only balloon force. <\/span><\/p>\n

But I left thinking the only real goal of my little life was to travel, as much as humanly possible to as many places as I could while I still had the chance.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The pure joy we feel as Carl unleashes his balloons and lifts into the air, the weight of the world lifting from his shoulders as he leaves his humdrum life behind. That\u2019s, at its best, is how travelling feels. To take off, explore a new world and leave the old one far behind you.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more:\u00a0Happiness habits to borrow from around the world<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Not long after seeing\u00a0Up<\/em>\u00a0I went on a South American adventure of my own, to the inspiration behind its enigmatic end point Paradise Falls, the very real Auy\u00e1n-tepui mountain in the Canaima National Park.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s beautiful, with the world\u2019s highest waterfall, Angel Falls, tumbling from its tabletop. At the time, Venezuela wasn\u2019t exactly a hot spot for tourism and it was a Carl-worthy adventure travelling around it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

There were rickety old planes, tarantulas to the face, meats that were at best mysterious and a mugger who had the cheek to ask for a light for the cigarette he\u2019d just robbed me of. But it was all part of the experience of travelling to somewhere new and unknown and I loved every single second (apart from the tarantula, obvs). <\/span><\/p>\n

The tragedy of Up<\/em> is that Ellie never made it to Paradise Falls. And sure, she lived her life to the full, but they could so easily have lived it just that little bit more by seeing the world in all its glory.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

There are always reasons not to go travelling. Bills that crop up at just the wrong moment, promotions you\u2019ll get if only you hang in there for a little longer. <\/span><\/p>\n

But if you want to explore the world \u2013\u00a0Paradise Falls, Angel Falls or just falling over your own two feet \u2013 you should do it before it\u2019s too late.<\/span><\/p>\n

This story is part of Flash Pack\u2019s No More Not Yets campaign. Our mission is to eradicate two powerful words that can stop you achieving your dreams: “not yet”. The not yet seen, not yet swum, not yet sat in the suns. Not yet met, not yet tried, not yet climbed, braved or conquered. What\u2019s your Not Yet?<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Go on your own South and Central American adventure with Flash Pack<\/h3>\n

Rumble in the jungles of Guatemala and Belize<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Not one for the prudes, this trip swings you from active volcanoes to swimming with sharks, pausing only to watch the sunset from the top of an ancient Mayan temple. <\/span><\/p>\n

Take me there<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

A romantic dinner of steak, wine and glacier-trekking in Argentina<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Patagonia<\/p>\n

Sizzling steaks and a Malbec vineyard are just the start in this offbeat trip around Argentina and Patagonia. There\u2019ll be horse riding through the Andean foothills, a hike across one of the world\u2019s last growing glaciers and the breathtaking scenery of Monte Fitz Roy. <\/span><\/p>\n

You had me at steak<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Not your average splash about in Mexico\u2019s Yucat\u00e1n Peninsula<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all about getting wet in Mexico\u2019s Yucatan Peninsula, whether you\u2019re diving through emerald caves, paddling around hidden beaches or just face down in a tequila shot. This idyllic stretch of the Gulf of Mexico combines beach life, Mayan history and aquatic adventures.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dive in<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Images: Flash Pack, Shutterstock,\u00a0moviestillsdb, Jenny Novitzky<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first 11 minutes and 4 seconds of Pixar\u2019s Up are the greatest piece of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":78342,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9032],"tags":[107,464,433,768,443,491,362,465,434,3884,543,339,841,93,384],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.flashpack.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30096"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.flashpack.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.flashpack.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.flashpack.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/63"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.flashpack.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.flashpack.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.flashpack.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.flashpack.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.flashpack.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.flashpack.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}