Set-Jetting: Chasing Stories Beyond the Screen

Beyond the Guidebook: The Rise of Set-Jetting

In the past, we followed guidebooks like ancient maps, ticking off landmarks one by one. Today, wanderlust is sparked by pixels and plotlines. The glimmering streets of Paris in Emily in Paris, the volcanic drama of Iceland in Game of Thrones, even the gritty charm of Cotswolds villages found in Father Brown—these destinations find new meaning in the wake of a show’s success, fueled by whispers from the screen.

The phenomenon has a name now: set-jetting. And it is more than a trend—it’s a vibrant, emotional journey. In my own travels, I’ve watched cafés brim with people not poring over menus, but re-enacting scenes from their favorite romantic comedies. I’ve met hikers tracing paths once stalked by cinematic legends, searching the horizon for the same windswept cliffs captured in their beloved epics.

From Screen to Reality: My Journey to Westeros

A few years ago, I found myself on a wild corner of Northern Ireland’s coast, gorse blooming golden and the ocean sighing just beyond. I had traveled there as a fanboy, swept up in the storm that was Game of Thrones. Standing on the rocky promontory of Ballintoy—transformed on screen into the Iron Islands—I felt history and fantasy entwine. Suddenly, an ordinary day in County Antrim became a page from a saga charged with myth and memory.

It was not just the landscape that enchanted me; it was the way locals wove stories, pointing out where actors once lingered or where sets rose and fell overnight. Here, set-jetting created its own folklore—one built by artists, travelers, and dreamers alike.

How Film Fuels Wanderlust

Each show or movie, intentionally or not, becomes an invitation—a challenge to see beyond tourist snapshots and step into the subtle cadence of place. The Lord of the Rings turned New Zealand’s rolling hills into a living Middle-earth. La La Land infused Los Angeles’s mundane reality with jazz and golden-hour possibility. Suddenly, fans want to dance in Griffith Park or hike through the fields of Hobbiton.

What I love most is the emotional resonance: these are not just “locations,” they are story-worlds. Sites like the Croatian city of Dubrovnik (transformed into King’s Landing) or the castles of Scotland (draped in the mystique of Outlander) allow you to witness their reality with a heightened awareness—for you are both fan and pilgrim, searching for echoes of narrative in stone, sea, and sky.

Unexpected Connections

While following in the footsteps of fictional heroes, you find yourself connecting more deeply—with local people, with the land, and with fellow travelers. I’ve debated plot twists in sidewalk cafes in Paris, shared a laugh with a bartender in Croatia about dragons overrunning his hometown, even walked silent, reverent corridors in Oxford where young wizards were shaped.

These moments, shaped by a shared devotion to narrative, have become the heart of my travel stories. Set-jetting is a reminder that we travel not just for landscapes, but for meaning—for the chance to dwell, even briefly, within the worlds that have shaped our imaginations.