Welcome to Nebraska! Do movies make you want to travel to a specific destination? I can tell you quite honestly that I'd only watched the first 20 minutes of he 2002 Oscar-nominated "The Quiet American," starring Michael Caine (nominated for Best Actor) and Brendan Fraser, there was no question: I knew for certain I would one day travel to Vietnam, which I did, two years after I became enthralled with the back streets of Saigon, the site of industriousness Vietnamese working the rice paddies at dawn,  the crazy colours and imagery of the famous Cao Dai Temple as they flowed across the screen in Phillip Noyce's incredibly visual film. I've been scrolling through the nominees for the 2014 Academy Awards and realize a number of these year's Oscar contenders are set in places I've never considered visiting. I mean, "Nebraska," which grabbed half a dozen Oscar nods for Best Actor, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography and Best Picture, has never been on my radar as a travel destination. Why not, I wonder? The Great Plains of the Midwest, Omaha, hiking in Western Nebraska... When I hear Nebraska, I instantly think: road trip.   What does the real Nebraska look like?

(Photos courtesy of Tourism Nebraska)

These photos and the movie are enough: darn, I'm going to Nebraska...one day. What about you? Have this year's Oscar-nominated films inspired you to visit a specific place?