Most people think North Carolina is the hub of all Hunger Games-inspired travel but that’s best if you want to see film locations and where the actors ate lunch. In fact, there’s even a travel deal at the Grand Bohemian Hotel in Ashville. But, to survive the Hunger Games, you need more than luxe accommodations. Lauren Herstik rounds out the top five real-life Hunger Games travel opportunities.

1. Train like a Career Tribute: NOLS Adventure Travel

Katniss is the ultimate survivor. She comes to the Hunger Games with an arsenal of survival skills honed over years spent in the forest outside the District 12 fence. Train like a Career Tribute at the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS). With courses ranging from 10 days to a full academic year, NOLS teaches you everything you need to lead others in the backcountry, or to survive in a wilderness battle to the death. Choose trips by skill: mountaineering,

rock climbing, water, horsepacking, snow, backpacking, wilderness medicine. Trips run in all different climates around the world, so you can prepare for anything the gamemakers throw at you in the arena: from extreme weather to unforgiving terrain.

2. District 12: Coal Mine Tour

Katniss hails from “The Seam,” the poor part of District 12 populated by coal miners and their families. Many Seam residents have lost family to coal mining accidents, including Katniss and her best friend Gale who lost their fathers to the same mining accident. Get a feel for what it’s like insidea mine on the Lackawanna Coal Mine Tour in Lackawanna County just outside Scranton, PA. For $10, descend 300 feet into an anthracite coal mine opened in 1860. Your tour guide will take you through three different veins of hard coal. Bring a jacket it (it’s 50 degrees year-round down there) and prepare to commiserate with the miners of District 12: it’s not an easy life.

3. District 3: Relive Panem with Long Beach’s TED Talks

District 3, home of Wiress and Beetee, the tech masterminds allied with Katniss in the 75th Hunger games is Panem’s technology capital. The district not only supplied the capital with electronics but also some of the Games’ most inventive tributes. To hobknob with some real life District 3 residents, head to Long Beach, CA where the annual TED conference is held. “Technology, Entertainment, Design” talks focus on breakthroughs in those fields bringing us one step at a time into the future. For four days, speakers and attendee from all areas of thinking, working, and study come together to “cross pollinate” and breed new ideas. While attendance is granted by application only, you can absorb the genius via the internet after a day at the beach, enjoying the other things Long Beach has to offer.

4. The Capitol: Aspen Food and Wine Classic

The Capitol is known for outlandish fashion and over-the-top glamour. They revel in excess and party like it’s nobody’s business. At a Capitol party, it’s not uncommon for guests to gorge themselves on the most decadent food and drink until they vomit so that they can go back for more. Revel in decadence – albeit in moderation – at the Aspen Food and Wine Classic in Aspen, Colorado. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the event, so expect organizers to go all out in the celebration. Celebrity chefs flock to Food and Wine Magazine’s annual event to eat, drink, and be merry in the luxurious outpost of Rocky Mountain luxury, not unlike the city described in The Hunger Games.

5. Katniss & Gale’s Forest Rendezvous: Appalachian Trail

Katniss and Gale form a tight bond over afternoons spent hunting and hiking in the woods outside of District 12. The backcountry tranquility lets them forget their situations for a little while, as they revel in the natural beauty, listen for passing game to hunt, and enjoy each other’s company. Find that same inner peace, if only for a little while, on the Appalachian Trail. The 2,180 mile trail runs through 14 states, from Maine to Florida. Though almost 3 million people visit the trail each year, only about a thousand of them attempt to “thru-hike” it, walking the entire length. Hikers usually adopt “trail names” during their attempt, so pick your favorite Hunger Games tribute, call yourself after them, and get to hiking.

Are you a Hunger Games fan? What are your Hunger Games inspired travel plans?

For more travel survival tips, check out:

• 10 Travel Tips From a Travel Hero: Charle Veley
• Lee-Abamonte and His Record Breaking Trip to Libya
• Sarah Palin Vacation from Snowmachines to Moose Hunting

By Lauren Herstik for PeterGreenberg.com

Images via Lionsgate Publicity, photo credit Murray Close