Bond with fiction

Gone are the days when cine buffs would watch their favourite movies innumerable times on the screen and buy exclusive merchandise as proof of their fanaticism. The modern-day cinephiles are physically stepping into the world they love and living the action as it was played out.

Travel companies tailor experiential tours for movie enthusiasts, and it can cost you Rs.3 million and higher, as you keep adding finer details to its luxury. These tours include an immersive visit to the cinematic installation of the Bond movies, a Night In The Museum world tour to a private, after-hours visit to the most treasured museums, or a location tour of famous movies or series.

007 ELEMENTS is the world’s first James Bond cinematic installation set up in Sölden, Austria, in the midst of snow-capped peaks, where the movie Spectre was shot. The interior design of the house replicates a typical Bond scene and one visit costs Rs.171,193 per adult. Its chambers have a state-of-the-art piece of immersive digital theatre and an exclusive narration by the director Sam Mendes on the filming of Spectre. It also has an installation that features the front portion of the aircraft that Bond pilots in the movie.

Near this installation is Ice Q restaurant, the futuristic Hoffler Klinik in the movie.You can sit inside and look through the walls of sheer glass at the snow-capped Austrian peaks where Bond was chased.

“Its glass façade makes it resemble an enormous ice cube,” says Michael Waschl of Hotel Das Central, of which Ice Q is a part. Later, you can ski on these glaciers during the autumn months and see the stretch where the famous car chase scene in the movie took place.

This exclusive tour is only available between June 7 to September 29, 2019, and then from 26 October, 2019, till 1 May, 2020.

If you’d rather go to museums to look at prized artifacts and scroll through the trivia of Night At The Museum instead of being surrounded by Bond’s gadgets, then travel companies have something for you too. 

Velocity Black, whose founding member is actress Vanessa Hudgens, is a lifestyle service that can provide you a globe-trotting museum tour at your thumb’s swipe. “We can secure private access to leading museums in each corner of the globe, including the Acropolis Museum in Athens and The Louvre in Paris, which will be closed to the public and exclusively available to you for the night, to explore the world’s most treasured artifacts,” says Dan Northover, chief marketing officer, Velocity Black.

To avail these tours, and many more, including an entry into the Oscars after-party, you have to be a member of the Velocity Black club, whose annual membership can be purchased for nearly $3,000. The prices of the tours are then made available on request.

Black Tomato, a London-based luxury travel company, has curated a Set Jetting series — a service that brings the locations of popular TV shows to life through exclusive itineraries. Their crafted list includes Westworld in Utah, The Crown in England and Scotland, Downtown Abbey in Great Britain and Breaking Bad in New Mexico.

“We have these [exclusive] experiences around a variety of shows, but our most popular is definitely Game of Thrones,” says Kati Jagger, PR director, Black Tomato.

“With all of our trips, everything is fully customisable - from the length of the trip to the accommodation to dinner reservations, private international transfer and so on,” Jagger added.

A Game of Thrones-themed vacation to Croatia and Iceland starts at Rs.587,244 per person, excluding the flight tickets. You can explore the mountains and the shores of Adriatic Sea where Westeros and Essos came to life. The scenic tour ends at King’s Landing.

Give this getaway at least nine nights, because coming back from these majestic fortresses and lagoons to the couch in your room might not be easy at all!