August 13^th marks the nationwide opening of the highly anticipated movie Eat, Pray, Love staring Julia Roberts.  The movie is based on Elizabeth Gilbert’s best-selling autobiographical book about her search for peace, happiness and fulfillment in Rome, India and Bali after a messy divorce.  (What a way to reclaim your life!)

As the cinematic opening approaches many tour operators and travel suppliers are jumping on the Eat, Pray, Love (EPL) bandwagon by offering special packages to help you create your own EPL journey towards self discovery.

Here’s a few offerings:

As a promotional partner for the film, Lonely Planet has created an EPL page to help build excitement around the destinations and motivate travelers to discover the world – and themselves – through travel. 

If you want a chance to win your own EPL journey of a lifetime, enter the STA Travel USA Sweepstakes.  The grand prize is a 21-day trip for one to Italy, India and Indonesia, including airfare, tours, accommodations and travel guides.

Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts created “Bali, Pray Love” packages that include a consultation with the Balinese healer Gilbert spent time with during her stay and a Balinese cooking class featuring local aphrodisiacs. The Milan, Florence and Mumbai properties offer guests concierge services to help them eat, pray or love in style.

Ayana Resort and Spa in Ubud, Bali has an “Eat, Pray and Love Everything About Bali” package.  Ubud is the cultural center in Bali where Gilbert found herself and found love.  Personally, we also found Ubud to be a magical place that is rich in history and tradition.

Abercrombie & Kent Journeys for Women has several trips that resembles an EPL-type journey through other parts of the world. But if you’re looking for a closer match to an EPL experience look at their “Treasures of Northern India” package.  This offers female travelers to spend time with local women at a bead-making workshop in the holy city of Varanasi, witness a spiritual Aarti ceremony on the Ganges at night, see the Taj Mahal at both sunrise and sunset, and visit Khajuraho’s Hindu temples.

Looking for a more affordable EPL package?  Your options are at your fingertips with a Google search.  Many places that are never mentioned in the book or movie are jumping on the EPL bandwagon.  For example, San Antonio is billing the whole city as an “Eat, Pray, Love” destination where visitors can eat their way to happiness, begin their spiritual journey and fall in love.  The city has created various packages for those seeking an EPL adventure.  Or, you can take a boat to the glam Little Palm Island in Florida for the “Eat Pray Little Palm Island” vacation, to enjoy a moment of Zen and “explore the inner arts of pleasure and devotion.” The Sonesta Bayfront Coconut Grove in Miami area is offering a special EPL package for the movie’s opening weekend (Aug. 13-15).

Where ever you decide to go for your Eat, Pray, Love adventure, just relax, enjoy and experience the transformative power of travel.

Tags: Bali, Eat Pray Love, Elizabeth Gilbert, Florida, Four Seasons, India, Italy, Journeys for Women, Julia Roberts, San Antonio, STA Travel, Transformative Travel

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 10th, 2010 at 9:43 pm and is filed under Culture & Heritage, International Travel, Special Travel Deals, Travel Tips, US Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.