Words are powerful and when they originate from an eloquent orator or writer, have the ability to influence minds and change hearts. We all know the adage that a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, which words exactly? And what happens when we combine the two, and focus their suggestive power towards a particular topic? Wonderful and awe-inspiring thoughts can happen. I love travel quotes. They fill my mind with wanderlust and infinite possibilities. My walls at home are plastered with hundreds of travel quotes and I use them as daily inspiration: making goals, working hard, and understanding that tomorrow may never come.
I’ve compiled a list of 14 of my favorite travel quotes for you to enjoy, Pin, and find your own inspiration to climb a mountain, embark on an epic road trip, or just try something new in your own hometown. Of course, there are tons of inspirational travel quotes out there. Sometimes I have to stop and giggle at myself for my romantic tendencies towards my collection of travel quotes. Have you seen the Facebook video that pokes a little fun at the millennium trust-fund-baby traveler? Check it out here. Enjoy!
#1. “Your life follows your attention. Wherever you look you end up going.” Martha Beck had this right, and I believe there is life-altering truth in this statement. To my friends and acquaintances who are pessimistic, constantly focus on the difficulty of situations, and are passively-aggressive-kinda-supportive-of-others, newsflash: if you’re always focusing on the negative, your life will always be negative through your eyes. I want to travel, so I will look to the horizon. I want to be continuously learning, so I will be constantly looking for opportunities. Do you see a pattern?
#2. “Some beautiful paths can’t get discovered without getting lost.” Again, another amazing travel quote that can be applied to more aspects of life. I recall a time when I was in Olomouc, Czechia (formerly Czech Republic) a few years ago. I had a list of recommendations from a friend and a very crude map. I wandered around the winding, narrow pathways along the cobblestoned roads between buildings, only to find myself lost in the most fairytale-esque small town I couldn’t have imagined. Sometimes we need to get off of the paved trails through the woods, life, wherever and discover the uncharted and “undiscovered” beauty all around.
#3. “Half the fun of travel is the aesthetic of lostness.” Going hand-in-hand with the above quote, I think Ray Bradbury knew what he was talking about. I’ve found that when I’m lost (and not panicked), my mind is opened to more possibilities and adventures and I toss around the carpe diem aphorism. During a recent trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, my friend and I were struggling to locate a famously photographed landmark, Mormon Row. While rumbling along backroads and narrowly avoiding potholes, we unintentionally explored the back side of Grand Teton, followed the buffalo, and ended up off-roading into no-man’s-land.
#4. “All you’ve got to do is decide to go and the hardest part is over.” After months of agonizing and weighing pros and cons, I finally relented and applied for a study abroad program at the age of 29. I struggled for months prior to making my decision: was I too old? Could I really leave my job for 7 weeks and return? Would it be worth it? Would I even be able to come back and pick up the pieces of my life again after such an epic journey? I had never traveled abroad before, my furthest sojourn having been a class trip to Washington, DC, when I was in 8th grade and a Disney Cruise with my friend and her kids to The Bahamas. I didn’t know where I was going to stay, how I would get to Germany, or even if I’d survive the trip. After applying and getting accepted, I couldn’t believe how quickly everything came together. Once I cleared the hurdle of deciding whether or not to go, it was like I was running down the home stretch. After that, I realized that I was the one holding myself back. Are you holding yourself back?
#5. “There’s no way I was born to just pay bills and die.” I have absolutely no idea who first coined this phrase, but it hangs on my wall just above my headboard and is a constant reminder to live life to the fullest. Sure, there are days when I go to work for 9+ hours and just want to come home and fall asleep from exhaustion, but I always remember that there’s more to life. Do you need the reminder sometimes, too?
#6. “I am not the same having seen the moon shine on the other side of the world.” I had heard this quote many times before actually being on the other side of the world, and eagerly anticipated how it would feel to experience. Before I arrived to my study abroad in Germany, I hopped on an overnight train from Prague to Auschwitz, Poland, to tour the concentration camp. I awoke in the middle of the night to visit the WC, and looked out over the vast fields we were flying by. The moon was shining so brightly, illuminating the tops of farmhouses in an ethereal blue. I just stood for a few moments and somehow felt older. Wiser. Like I finally knew what it felt like to be on the other side of the world from where I called home. The world didn’t change, I wasn’t transformed into a goat or anything like that, but I felt different.
#7. “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” Shout-out to all my stay-cationers! 2017 was the Year of the Road Trip for me, so I spent a lot of time in my car, taking shorter weekend trips and rediscovering my current hometown of Salt Lake City. I was taking tours of buildings that I passed every day for work. I was eating at restaurants that I once brushed over because they were “too touristy.” I started combing through the city looking for street art and my eyes were opened to the vibrancy that Salt Lake City has to offer. Were any of these things new? No, but I finally allowed them to be new to me.
#8. “If we wait until we’re ready we’ll be waiting for the rest of our lives.” If you ask any solo traveler for the main reasons they started traveling solo, invariably you’ll hear some version of a tale in which a group trip was starting to take shape…and then everyone else slowly bailed, stopped taking calls, or flat-out changed their minds. And then the solo traveler was left with the conundrum: do I travel solo or wait for someone else to come along? More often than not, nobody will rise up and decide to tag along. Stop waiting and just go. Simple right?
#9. “All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.” Well of course I would have a Walt Disney quote up here! I am a youth leader for 12-13 year old girls in my neighborhood (Beehive advisor) and we had a movie night the other evening, watching “The Princess and the Frog.” The main character is a hard-working girl who has had to work for everything her entire life, and served as a great reminder for me. I think it’s great to have dreams, goals, wishes, whatever…but it’s even more important that we act upon them. If you have a dream of earning $1,000,000 but just sit on your couch all day binge-watching Netflix, chances are your dream isn’t going to come true. If you have a dream about seeing the Eiffel Tower in person, maybe start working towards that goal! Yes, sometimes our dreams and wishes might seem lofty and out of reach, scary, and unfamiliar, but that’s okay! Start with baby steps and gradually you will work towards your dream!
#10. “The sand may brush off. The salt may wash clean. The tans may fade. But the memories will last forever.” Don’t be afraid to jump into the ocean because you don’t want to mess up your makeup. You won’t remember the time you had frizzy hair, filled with salt and sand, but you will remember that time you caught your first wave. Don’t be afraid to get a little dirty and use an excuse to pass up a wonderful moment, even when you can’t see it. I was finishing up my study abroad in Germany and my friends were all going to an Irish Pub for one last karaoke night. I wasn’t going to go…I was too tired, I had cankles, and really wanted to just relax before the next leg of my journey. Boy, was I sure glad that I relented and went with them. Not only did I get up and sing Phantom of the Opera in front of about 100 people, but it was one of the highlights of my trip and amazing bonding moment with my friends. Read about my experience here…you won’t regret it!
#11. “I travel because seeing photos in books and brochures wasn’t good enough for me. To be there, that was everything.” I am a student of history: I received a Bachelor’s degree in History from Brigham Young University – Idaho back in 2006, my bookshelves are full of historical non-fiction, and I’m a sucker for documentaries. My area of focus during college was World War II and the Holocaust. While I was in Eastern Europe, I knew that I needed to bop over to Poland and witness Auschwitz and Birkenau for myself. The emotions I felt and the impressions that I received couldn’t be taught out of a book. No slide show could compare to toughing the walls, beds, chain-link fence. Nothing can come close.
#12. “No matter where or why you travel, there’s always something wonderfully new to be found.” No matter where we look, there’s always something that we haven’t discovered for ourselves. Whether it’s a new restaurant, shop, excursion, or mountain. Nobody can claim that they’ve seen everything in the world, no matter how old they are or how well-traveled they are. All we need to do is look.
#13. “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Classic Lao Tzu. Similar to Tony Wheeler’s quote above, sometimes it’s just the start of the journey that holds us back. Even the largest endeavors have to start out small in the beginning. It’s not a race. Take that first step.
#14. “There’s the whole world at your feet.” I recognize that I carry a very powerful passport and can pretty much go anywhere in the world. I know this isn’t the case for everyone at this time and it’s not something I take lightly. I try to take advantage of every opportunity that comes my way and hope you do as well!
Do you have any favorite travel quotes?
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