Skyfall is the first billion dollar addition to the James Bond franchise and Lincoln is expected to rule Awards season. Robert Reid, U.S. Travel Editor for Lonely Planet, found the great travel inspiration they provide.  Here Reid looks at both Lincoln and the entire James Bond collection (in
honor of its 50th anniversary) and shows you how you can follow
Lincoln’s historic steps, or travel the world like 007.

Getting a case of wanderlust after hitting the theater is, of course, nothing new for moviegoers. Fans have been dreaming up adventures inspired by the silver screen for
decades with classics like ‘Out of Africa’ and ‘Casablanca’ to more
recent releases like ‘Midnight in Paris.’ Now you no longer have to fantasize and can set your itinerary inspired by the seasons hottest films.

Following Lincoln: the USA’s best Abraham Lincoln travel sights.

For a guy who covered so many miles in his lifetime, Abraham Lincoln wasn’t into ‘travel’ in the current sense. He once went by flatboat from Indiana to New Orleans, but only to deliver goods to make a few bucks for his dad.

On his belated honeymoon, he reached Niagara Falls, but he simply gazed past the falls to wonder where all that water came from. Yet for people that are into travel, following Lincoln can make for great, fascinating adventures.

In time for the anticipated success this Award’s season of Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln (played by Daniel Day-Lewis), here’s the best sights across the country for your future Lincoln itineraries.

Highlights include:

–          Springfield, Illinois: Illinois’ capital is overwhelmingly Lincoln destination #1. Here you’ll find the only house Lincoln ever owned, his final resting place, and the streets where the young lawyer made himself a national figure, plus as many fake beards as you could ever want.
o   Visit: the Lincoln home national Historic Site; the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum; the Lincoln Tomb; Norb Andy’s Tabarin.

–          Around Springfield: Many visitors use Springfield as a hub to hit a few nearby Lincoln sights.
o   Visit: the Lincoln Homestead Trail State Memorial; Lincoln’s new Salem State Historic Site; and Lincoln, Illinois.

–          Washington, DC: Lincoln was frequently seen walking alone on DC streets eating an apple, welcoming anyone who wanted to visit the White House, or going to the theatre.
o   Visit: the Lincoln Memorial; and Ford’s Theatre

–          Kentucky: Lincoln’s meager origins are so famous that some joke that he was born in a log cabin ‘that he built with his own two hands.’ The original, like Abe, belongs to the ages.
o   Visit: the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Park – a “symbolic birthplace cabin” for this 1809 that give imaginative travelers a feel of Abe’s youth

–          Indiana: Lincoln lived twice as long in southern Indiana as his birth state of Kentucky.
o   Visit: the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial; and the Lincoln State Park

–          Richmond, Virginia: Despite the risks, Lincoln regularly found visiting troops and battle sites reviving as well as providing a needed boost of support to wounded troops.
o   Visit: the Confederate White House; the Museum of Confederacy; the American Civil War Center

–          Gettysburg, Pennsylvania: Even if it hadn’t been for Lincoln’s 273-word ‘Gettysburg Address,’ the Gettysburg National Military Park would be one of the USA’s most moving national parks. During the pivotal battle in 1864, the last hopes the South had to conquer the North vanished in a futile last-gasp Picket’s Charge up Cemetery Hill. Go up there at dusk for a sobering view of the battlefield.
o   Visit: Soldier’s National Monument and the Lincoln Speech Memorial at the Gettysburg National Military Park
 
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Traveling Like Bond

Ever since 1962’s Dr. No box office debut, the James Bond series has taken fans across the globe, visiting exotic and eye-catching destinations. For those of us who leave room for a little glamour into our suitcases, he’s the ultimate travel guide, shaking it up in classiest hotels, casinos and worldwide settings mostly linked to a map of a once-was British imperial world.

For the ultimate Bond fan on a mission, here’s a dream round-the-world itinerary hitting the best travel destinations over the 50 years of films.

Highlights include:

–          GOLDENEYE, JAMAICA: Start here at ground zero for 007. This North Coast hotel, near the so-called James Bond beach, feels like the sort of place he’d retire to, probably because he was ‘born’ here, when creator Ian Fleming – a British Naval Intelligence vet – lived here, shut the windows and set up in his bedroom to type out 14 007 novels. While here, detour to nearby Mammee Bay, where Ursula Andress, as Honey Ryder, appears dripping in brine in the first film Dr No.

–          KARLOVY VARY, CZECH REPUBLIC: The Casino Royale of Casino Royale — actually the first of Fleming’s books, but only released as a true Bond film in the Daniel Craig era — is Grandhotel Pupp, originally built by Lords as Saxony Hall in the Czech Republic’s original ‘glam resort,’ a few hours from Prague. The film is set in Montenegro, but it’s all Karlovy Vary. And there’s indeed a casino here, as graceful as the one in which Craig’s Bond pulls his stunt with Le Chiffre who bleeds tears.

–          AO PHANG-NGA MARINE NATIONAL PARK, THAILAND: It looks like paradise – a shallow bay of 42 limestone rock-tower islands jutting out of perfect turquoise water – but it’s no secret, particularly during December or January peak season. One popular ‘local’ is Francisco Scaramanga, who lived on Ko Phing Kan, or James Bond Island in the 1974 Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun.

–          FISHERMAN’S WHARF, SAN FRANCISCO: Sure, all the San Franciscans roll their eyes about the taffy shops, souvenir shirts, bus groups and those (delicious) clam chowder bowls served from a huge carved-out roll of sourdough bread. But wait, James Bond was into it. At least he was happy to meet a CIA agent Chuck Lee here in A View to a Kill (and it’s where Maud Adams walks by in the background as an impromptu extra, becoming the only Bond girl to appear in three Bond films). Not a bad place to sit, stare out at the Golden Gate Bridge and consider a globe-trotting journey, 007 style.

To vacation like Bond and A Dream 007 Travel Itinerary click here