By DEITRA WEDD
News Editor
Fans of Harry Potter have plenty of destination in which to explore, especially in the streets of London.
This is just one theme of many that travelers can use for themed traveling. One person who’s done just that, is Hannah McReynolds a student who frequently travels. Her themed traveling took place in England where she followed a trail of literature.
McReynolds visited King Cross station in London where she got to experience platform 9 ¾ and walked across the Millennium Bridge, a Harry Potter themed bridge. From visiting Anne Hathaway’s Cottage. to finding the Harry Potter based spots, to learning about the door in Oxford that is said to have inspired CS Lewis to write about the wardrobe door in “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” that the children step through to get to Narnia, McReynolds said she spent much of her time enjoying the theme of the trip, even getting to ride a double decker bus.
Nancy Parode, an expert traveler and writer whose been interviewed by the New York Times, also shared some of her experiences with traveling. She said that themed traveling happens when a trip is planned around a particular theme. “It can be anything,” Parode said.
“Imagine going on a cruise with people who share your obsession, knitting for example, you can have the fun of a cruise vacation plus an opportunity to meet and craft with like-minded people,” Parode said. “Or imagine a road trip on some of the most eclectic parts of Route 66 (this is a very popular trip) if you are into road trips or all things retro.”
One road trip that Parode said she would like to take is a trip to all the places Laura Ingalls Wilder and her family lived. “I would have to do it in chunks, as Laura lived in several states,” Parode said.
She also talked about how her daughter’s godparents walked the Camino de Santiago, which is the Catholic pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. She said they had do it in chunks over a period of several years. “That’s a different kind of themed travel, not only because it is a faith-based journey but also because you are pretty much guaranteed to meet other pilgrims as you walk the Camino,” Parode said. The possibilities for themed traveling are endless she said.
However, if it’s difficult to come up with a theme, both cruise lines and tour operators sometimes offer themed trips. Parode said for a cruise it could be a band or members of a sports team, while a land tour theme can be focused on Biblical destinations. But those are just a few examples. “You can plan your own too,” Parode said.
She said that she took a trip to some of her ancestral villages in Germany and France, making the theme of the trip genealogy. “I also dragged my husband to all the places on Prince Edward Island associated with Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables books,” Parode said.
This is where themed traveling can get tricky. Issues that come with themed traveling include popularity, scheduling and travel companions. “If your preferred theme is popular (think Anne of Green Gables on PEI in the summertime), you might have difficulty finding accommodations unless you plan far ahead,” Parode said. “If you are touring stadiums, you have to plan around your team’s home game schedule because tours are not offered on home game weekends.”
As for traveling companions, sticking to a theme may be fun for one person but if traveling with others that same theme may not interest them as much. Parode said that in this case it’s easy to feel rushed to get through the sites or museums to minimize the other persons boredom. “My husband isn’t an Anne of Green Gables fan, but he was very willing to go to some Anne sites on PEI,” Parode said. “However, he wasn’t thrilled about going to all the Anne sites, so we added some non-Anne stops to our itinerary to make the trip a bit more interesting for him.”
While compromising on places to visit and time spent at each place might be necessary when traveling with others, themed travel can work well for families. Parode said that her interest in genealogy has taken her to cemeteries during thunderstorms, mayors’ homes, tiny museums and many other places, some of which young children don’t enjoy. “My husband took care of our children, so I could do research and interview people, which was wonderful, but when you are into genealogy there is never enough time to do all the research,” Parode said.
One good thing for the children is that they “have actually been to several of their ancestral towns and villages, and they have a real appreciation for their ancestors’ homelands and cultures, especially the food,” Pardoe said.
This theme-based traveling for food, books, movies or any other theme to be thought of, is quickly becoming a common way of traveling. According to Travel Weekly’s senior editor, Jamie Biesiada, last year’s “AAA survey of travelers, showed about 22 million Americans were expecting to take a culinary-focused vacation.” And last year the U.S. was the sixth leading country in the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index. Biesiada wrote in her article, AAA survey shows interest in culinary travel growing, that 88% of Millennials surveyed stated that they have participated in culinary themed traveling. While McReynolds is a millennial who enjoyed the theme of her trip to London, she also found enjoyment in things that didn’t necessarily stick to the theme. “The London tube was scarier than any roller coaster that I have ever been on,” McReynolds said.
Amanda Kendle an Australian traveler who’s visited more than thirty countries and works as a travel blogger, said that one downside to themed traveling is that it is easy to get so focused on the theme that missing out on other great things going on can become an issue. “So, make sure you allow time to experience stuff that may not be on your themed trip’s agenda but might still really interest you,” Kendle said.
McReynolds also varied from her theme by going to see Billy Elliot the musical in London. While riding the tube and watching Billy Elliot didn’t necessarily stick to the theme, McReynolds said she was not ready to leave the amazing city.
But, while traveling to Ireland during that same trip, McReynolds’ trip took on a different theme. One of celebration. McReynolds said she got to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland. She also got to experience the parade and even sit through a service in St. Patrick’s Cathedral. “I also got to fulfill my dream of spending my birthday in Ireland,” she said.