Table of Contents
1. “Adventure is worthwhile.” – Aesop
It doesn’t get more simplistic than Aesop’s take on traveling, the ancient Greek fabulist and storyteller. This classic travel quote continues to inspire me.
Adventure can remind you to explore new horizons, and step out of your comfort zone. Like it did for me hiking 100 miles across Greenland’s Arctic Circle Trail!
2. “Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind.” – Anthony Bourdain
The late, great Anthony Bourdain really hit the nail on the head. I will truly miss his wisdom. Many think of traveling as a way to relax, and it absolutely can be!
However, I’ve also found traveling can help you understand what’s going on in the world. Like my trip to the Palestinian West Bank, which left me feeling both sad and angry. But I’m still glad I went.
3. “Traveling – it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.” – Ibn Battuta
I’ve seen awe-inspiring things that I thought I’d never be able to explain to another person. These experiences have helped me to become a better storyteller.
For example, witnessing the unreal-looking pink lakes where sea salt is produced on Mexico’s Yucatan Penninsula. It was like right out of a fantasy novel!
4. “We travel, some of us forever, to seek other places, other lives, other souls.” – Anais Nin
Anais Nin’s quote about traveling on a constant search for things that will make us feel whole sums up the desire to keep learning through experiences. To discover ourselves just as much, if not more, than to discover new places.
I’ve felt this pull many times, like while road tripping through Morocco. Seeking out the vastness of the desert, and looking inward at the same time.
5. “A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.” – Tim Cahill
I couldn’t agree more! I’ve made many friends around the world, and it’s the time I’ve spent with them that has made my travels so fulfilling. People are always more memorable than checking things off a bucket list.
Meet Pedro. We hired him as a guide to hike up a volcano in Guatemala. Through our broken Spanish, we learned he was quite the comedian! He was the highlight of the trip instead of the volcano.
6. “The gladdest moment in human life, methinks, is a departure into unknown lands.” – Sir Richard Burton
Sir Richard Burton eloquently captured the spirit of wandering off into the unknown with this travel quote. The moment of anticipation is often sweeter than the final result.
7. “No place is ever as bad as they tell you it’s going to be.” – Chuck Thompson
Have you ever seen your hometown through the eyes of a tourist? It’s easy to get jaded, but the truth is every place in the world has something of interest.
You’ll always hear about the negative before you hear about the positive. Because people love to complain! Don’t listen to them, and go see for yourself.
8. “I am not the same, having seen the moon shine on the other side of the world.” – Mary Anne Radmacher
I often gaze at the stars when I’m visiting a new destination or on a road trip. It’s amazing to consider how places are the same, yet so very different.
9. “Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.” – Gustave Flaubert
Flaubert continued Radmacher’s wise observation in this insightful trip quote. I definitely used to think that my life, and my country, played a bigger role in the world until I packed up and hit the road.
10. “He who would travel happily must travel light.” – Antoine de St. Exupery
This is one of my travel mottoes after an unfortunate experience trying to schlep a massive travel backpack from the airport to a hotel via public transportation. I know exactly what ol’ Antoine was talking about in this travel quote!
Famous Quotes About Travel
11. “The man who goes alone can start today; but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready.” – Henry David Thoreau
I’ve heeded Henry David Thoreau’s advice on many occasions. In fact, of all the quotes about traveling I’ve collected here, this one has been the most influential. Don’t be afraid to travel alone.
12. “To awaken alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world.” – Freya Stark
A change of view always helps give me a new perspective on life. Traveling allows waking up to a different view on a regular basis. The perfect traveling quote.
13. “The life you have led doesn’t need to be the only life you have.” – Anna Quindlen
Anna Quindlen’s words have made a big difference in my life. It’s so easy to get stuck believing that what we’re doing right now is all we’ll ever do. This is a great travel caption for Instagram…
14. “Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all of one’s lifetime.” – Mark Twain
I wish the entire world could understand Mark Twain’s insight into traveling. We all have preconceived notions, but traveling has shown me that many are usually false. One of his top travel quotes!
15. “Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.” – Andre Gide
I used to be afraid to reach beyond my comfort zone. This is a great travel quote about throwing off the so-called safety net of your comfortable surroundings to discover new parts of the world (and yourself).
16. “The use of traveling is to regulate imagination with reality, and instead of thinking of how things may be, see them as they are.” – Samuel Johnson
There’s so much wisdom in Samuel Johnson’s quote on travel. Take a second to visualize a place you’ve never been. If you make that your next vacation spot, I bet you’ll find out that it’s completely different from your internal image.
17. “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.” – Saint Augustine
We may feel safe in our little bubble, but it’s also boring. That’s the primary reason I started traveling several years ago, and I’ve fallen in love with the thrill of discovery. It doesn’t get any more real than this short travel quote.
18. “Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind.” – Seneca
When I travel, I’m able to give my mind something new and exciting to focus on. Studies say that we need to keep learning in order for our minds to thrive.
19. “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.” – Mark Twain (?)
While this is one of the most popular travel quotes of all time, it’s actually FAKE. Mark Twain never said this. The real author is H. Jackson Browne Jr. in his book PS I Love You, about letters written to his mom.
There are a few fake travel quotes out there, so be careful what you share!
