Are You A Shirley Valentine At Heart..?

There are some beautiful location settings for film and television programmes these days, and I often find myself wondering where in the world they are, and how do I go about visiting them? Remember the foot tapping Summer Holiday that Cliff Richard took with his friends in the 1960's? Although some may have been watching his dance moves, I was more interested in the scenery, with beautiful locations as they travelled through France and on into Athens, showing that sometimes we watch films time and time again because of their setting and not always the plot line.

Moving to the late 1980's Shirley Valentine hit our screens and transported us from her dull and boring life in rainy Liverpool to magical, sunny Greece. Filmed partly on location in Mykonos it must have inspired many a 'Shirley Valentine' moment as surely we've all been sat on a beach, wind blowing in our hair, glass of wine clutched in our hand, staring out to sea, contemplating the meaning of life...

And who could ignore the stunning setting of the hit musical Mamma Mia? Filmed on location in the Greek islands of Skopelos and Skiathos, even those that found the plotline a little cheesy surely cannot help but be inspired by the beautiful scenery and amazing views.

We can be equally inspired by television just as much as film though. Searches for online flights to the destinations chosen in the X-Factor by the judges recently soared. Searches for flights to Marrakech rose by 43% after Cheryl Cole took her hopefuls there. Louis Walsh inspired searches for flights to Italy after taking his group to Lake Como. Dannii took her finalists to Dubai to meet her sister Kylie and interest in flights rose 7%, while Simon could hold himself responsible for increasing interest in flights to California by 17%. Perhaps proof that where we were watching was more interesting than what we were watching…

Then we have Benidorm...love it or hate it...most people have an opinion whether they've been there or not. I am not sure which side I'm on yet, perhaps a few more episodes will help me to decide. One thing is for sure, this latest series has tried to show us a bit more of holidays to Benidorm than the poolside and bar of the Sol Pelicanos-Ocas, we've been to the stunning Callosa d’en Sarria Algar Waterfalls, beautiful Peacock Island, seen some beach side scenes and taken a trip to the traditional Old Town, all scenes that help to improve the image many people have of holidays to Benidorm, an image of flashing neon lights advertising towering concrete hotels housing guests who favour union jack swim shorts or dodgy blue rinses.