Travel and advertising

I really hate travel ads of today.  Open up any travel magazine and it's cover to cover ads of cheesey slogans ("Life's a breeze" "Recharging is invited" "Big State, Big Family Fun") and pictures of gleeful women in heels clutching shopping bags.  This is a shame since there's so much power in a real picutre of a place that can draw one in.

Old vintage travel posters get at that a bit.  I've taken to decorating my room in them.  Like these two on my walls now.

No slogans, no gimicks.  But who wouldn't want to jump on the next plane and go?  Both pictures take you from your room to a place just a mile or so away from the cities--not all the way there.  As if to say, you're not so far away--let's go.  

So I'm not one for today's advertising, but this recent film/ad  makes me want to jump on the next plane to France and Morocco.  Probably because it's not an ad for travel, but for Chanel N°5 perfume.  

The ad is a 2 1/2 minute movie starring Audrey Tautou of Amelie fame.  It is a tale of eros as two strangers cross paths while traveling, but for me, it is the travel that takes my breath away.  Forget the man here, we're hopping on the train in France, hanging out the window as it whisks through the mountain passes, boarding a boat in the Mediterranean, and meeting again in the stately train station lobby as Billie Holiday sings in the background.  

How could you not want to go with Audrey?  To me, nothing is more romantic than travel.  Already, your senses are awakened by the new, that everything looks lovely--the train,the  mountains, the sea, the sky, oh and yes, the man.