Movie Monday: Kidnapped

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To Europe With Kids presents Movie Monday as a weekly feature to recommend films that might expose children and their families to any small bit of European history, folklore, scenery, or animated imagery as entertainment, perhaps new knowledge, or just a couple of hours of electronic babysitting.

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Another Walt Disney movie filmed in the rocky, mountainous region of the Scottish Highlands is the 1960 classic Kidnapped starring Peter Finch and Peter O'Toole.  Young boys will love the action and the sword fighting in this adventure film about a 16 year old lad cheated out of his inheritance by his cruel uncle and shanghaied aboard a ship to the New World.  The teenager escapes, has a run-in with the redcoats, and eventually recovers his lost inheritance.

In this film you will get a glimpse of the glorious empty grandeur of the Scottish Highlands.  A region that still today is very sparsely populated, it is rich in natural beauty and surrounded by vast, rugged mountain ranges, windswept islands, secluded beaches and captivating scenery.

Movie Monday: Rob Roy: The Highland Rogue

•  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •

To Europe With Kids presents Movie Monday as a weekly feature to recommend films that might expose children and their families to any small bit of European history, folklore, scenery, or animated imagery as entertainment, perhaps new knowledge, or just a couple of hours of electronic babysitting.

•  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •  •

The 1995 release of Rob Roy is rated R, but the 1953 Walt Disney film Rob Roy:  The Highland Rogue is quite appropriate for children, and besides exposing them to magnificent scenery in Scotland and England will also acquaint them with the legend of Rob Roy MacGregor and the early 18th century Scottish rebellions.

Rob Roy is the leader of a Scottish Highland clan who rises up in the struggle against the ruling English monarchy and is eventually outlawed and hunted by the English.  Although certainly not a historical documentary, viewers will understand the attitudes and conflicts of the time as well as be entertained by sword fighting, swashbuckling, and lots of action.  Even the musical score is not bad.

Other Movie Monday posts:

Sound of Music

The Waltz King

Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates

When in Rome

Julie & Julia

Percy Jackson & the Olympians:  The Lightning Thief

Madeline

Winning London

The Secret of Roan Inish

Mary Poppins

Hogan's Heroes

A Little Romance

The Moon Spinners

Heidi

Animated Heidi

Around the World in 80 Days

Anastasia

On Her Majesty's Secret Service

The Great Muppet Caper

National Lampoon's European Vacation

Young Sherlock Holmes

If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium

Star Wars:  Episode II - Attack of the Clones

Gratitude and Giveaways

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Laguna Niguel

Giveaways are all the rage on blogs these days.  Bloggers are giving away everything from the iWave Cube (a handy-dandy .3 cubic ft travel microwave available to win here) to makeup to $10 WalMart gift cards.  It’s a great way to draw traffic to one’s blog (and, ahem, all you promoters out there:  I’d love to have something to give away on my blog).  I don’t enter too many of these giveaways unless they are for travel.  If they’re for free travel, just about anywhere, I want to go!  And I’m thrilled to announce that I won my first contest . . . two nights at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Laguna Niguel, California!  It includes breakfast for two, a 10% charitable donation, and an educational family experience at the resort’s signature Jean-Michel Cousteau’s Ambassadors of the Environment program, which offers 15 unique eco-adventure programs.  I won it through the generosity of Emily Kaufman and her blog, The Travel Mom.  Hubby and I really need a romantic weekend away, and we can’t wait to go.

I’ve found the best way to learn about these travel giveaways is on Twitter.  Now, I was reluctant to join Twitter at first.  Just another time trap, social media nonsense about what I had for breakfast and you had for lunch.  But, now I’m kind of into it.  I've found lots of travel-minded people living all over the world and we share tips and traumas, photos and feelings, gratitude and giveaways.

So, let me just share the wealth here and fill you in on a few currently running travel contests - trips to Europe, of course - so you can enter, too!  Bonne chance!

Win a trip for two to Scotland - courtesy of Frommers
Win a $4,500 travel prize with Orbitz
Win 4 nights in Rome for two - courtesy of Travelive
Win a trip around the world - presented by Indie Travel Media Association
Win a trip to 10 cities/countries - sponsored by Air Berlin

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!

I prefer to be the harbinger of easy and enjoyable travel to Europe, but if it's not a volcano, it's a record-breaking snowfall causing trouble.  London's Heathrow airport, the world's busiest international airport, is closed.  Flights are delayed and cancelled in Brussels, Paris, Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin.  Rail travel is stalled in most of Europe.  Many travelers' Christmas plans are ruined.



I can't help thinking about my Christmas trip to Adelboden, Switzerland, next year, with EIGHT high school-aged Girl Scouts in tow!  Sleeping for days on a cot in an airport with a group of very disappointed girls would break my heart (not to mention my patience.)

To keep up the Christmas cheer, let's remember the countries in Europe that can handle snow and ice with ease and beauty (I did not take these photos):

Ballachulish Western Highland, Scotland

Copenhagen, Denmark

Helsinki, Finland

Iceland

Lofoton Islands, Norway

Stockholm, Sweden