Best Travel Quotes – 127 Inspirational Travel Quotes For Your Next Trip

Best Short Travel Quotes

1.) "Jobs fill your pocket. Adventures fill your soul." - Jaime Lyn Beatty

Making the decision to seek adventure and feed your soul is not always easy. Some people will tell you to save your money while others will tell you to stop messing around. Ignore them; you’re the one that has to live your life, after all. The satisfaction you get from knowing you’ve invested in experiences that help you grow will make everything worth it. Read more...

2.) "I dislike feeling at home when I am abroad." - George Bernard Shaw

3.) "Some beautiful paths can’t be discovered without getting lost." - Erol Ozan

Whatever the circumstances, I’ve learned through personal experience that difficult travel moments—however uncomfortable they initially may be—are almost always beneficial. In fact, I now go out of my way to place myself in settings that force me to rethink how I live, what I believe, and how I act. Next time you have the opportunity to stray from your ordinary path in life, do it. You never know what wonderful things lay outside the borders of the everyday until you explore for yourself. Read more...

4.) "Remember that happiness is a way of travel—not a destination." - Roy M. Goodman

5.) "A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles." - Tim Cahill

The number of miles covered on a trip measures your physical journey, not your emotional one. It tells you nothing about the people you’ve encountered, the thoughts you’ve had, and the moments you've shared. Thinking back on past adventures, it’s the friends I made that stick out. Memories of lonesome highways fade but the embrace at the end of the night from a newly-found companion lingers. We are, after all, social beings by nature; we were meant to share our experiences with others. Reaching the top of a mountain after a long hike is more rewarding when there’s someone with which to celebrate. Read more...

6.) "People don’t take trips…trips take people." - John Steinbeck

It’s human nature to want to control every aspect of our lives. I, myself, fight against this tendency on a daily basis. Travel is a fantastic opportunity to combat our will to control—to allow yourself to escape the banality of everyday life and place yourself on the edge of multiple realities. In Steinbeck’s words, we see the wisdom of a man who has tried in vain to control his journeys, only to realize the inevitable; a trip takes us. I urge you to heed this message. You won’t regret it. Read more...

7.) "Change the way you look at things, and the things you look at change." - Walter Dyer

8.) "The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page." - Saint Augustine

The idea that one needs to explore the world to understand it is nothing new, dating back at least to the Ancient Greeks. Yet I think the concept has taken on new importance in our modern age, where you can virtually travel almost anywhere thanks to technology. It’s tempting to just lay on the couch—60 inch flatscreen TV in front of you—living vicariously through the Travel Channel or Nat Geo. After all, real travel can be hard. It requires time, patience, money, and—occasionally—the use of your legs. But YouTube videos (no matter how good they are) or TV specials cannot replicate what it’s like to physically be somewhere. Read more...

9.) "You don’t have to be rich to travel well." - Eugene Fodor

If you ask the average person today if you have to be rich to travel well, they will say no. After all, budget airlines and services like CouchSurfing have decreased the cost of travel immensely in the past 10-15 years. Yet, there still seems to be a pseudo-financially-inspired reluctance to leave home among many would-be globetrotters. 

I regularly ask people who earn good money what their dream vacation would be. Often their response is something along the lines of ‘Hiking through Asia’ or ‘Seeing South America’. Then I ask why they haven’t yet done this. The number one answer—by far—is money (the second is time). Even when I point out that such a trip would cost much, much less than some of the trips they’ve already taken, they still remain hesitant, as if some invisible force was compelling them to avoid reaching for their dreams. 

This isn’t intended as an attack on those who wish to be financially responsible—far from it. I’m all for saving money. Rather, I’m pointing out an artificial barrier that is preventing people from living their lives to the fullest. Chances are it would take much less money and time than you think to see and feel the things that are atop your bucket list. Read more...

10.) "The great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do." - Walter Baghot

11.) "One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things." - Henry Miller

While living in California, Henry Miller observed how visitors were affected by the coast. Some were moved to tears by the incredible natural beauty, whereas others complained about the lack of modern amenities. This led him to the realization that one’s experiences were largely determined by outlook rather than reality. To Miller, travel was a mental exercise rather than a physical one.If you think about it, your personal experiences probably support Miller’s hypothesis.

Does a weekend at Disney World really feel like traveling? It’s more a vacation than a journey. And this makes sense; after all, it’s hard to learn something new when you’re in a place that revolves around childhood memories and comfort. Just as thunder only happens when it’s raining [OK, not really, but who doesn’t love Fleetwood Mac lyrics?], travel only happens when you’re growing. And growth only appears when we push ourselves into the unknown. Read more...

12.) "We wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfillment." - Hilaire Belloc

13.) "The life you have led doesn’t need to be the only life you have." - Anna Quindlen

Many of us are haunted by the past. Memories skew our view of the present, creating a reality colored by previous events. But it doesn’t have to be this way. You have the power to live today however you want. This means it’s never too late to begin salsa dancing; it’s never to late to learn Spanish; it’s never too late to fall in love; it’s never too late to see Paris. Read more...

14.) "Traveling—it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller." - Ibn Battuta

15.) "Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it." - Greg Anderson

16.) "The tragedy of life is not so much what we suffer, but rather what we miss." - Thomas Carlyle

17.) "There ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them." - Mark TwainWhile traveling, the highs and lows are magnified, as are personal strengths and weaknesses. If you can travel well with someone—that is, if you can successfully navigate the troubles one finds on the road—then it's much more likely that your relationship (whether romantic or otherwise), will be able to survive more serious situations. After all, if you can't handle a missed train or a bad case of jet lag together, how can you handle dealing with a major illness or raising a child? Read more...

18.) "A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for." - John A. Shedd

19.) "A traveler without observation is a bird without wings." - Saadi Shirazi

20.) "To travel is to live." - Hans Christian Andersen

21.) "The gladdest moment in human life, me thinks, is a departure into unknown lands." - Sir Richard Burton

22.) "A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving." - Lao-Tzu

While he wrote over 2500 years ago, Lao-Tzu's wisdom still holds true today.  Unforeseen things can and do happen when you are on the road; it's your response that dictates whether or not you can salvage something positive from it. Once you separate your enjoyment of a trip from the accomplishment of a fixed goal, then you allow yourself to enjoy the entirety of the experience, whether or not certain objectives are completed. Read more...

23.) "A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

24.) "Dream big and dare to fail." - Norman Vaughan

25.) "Stop worrying about the potholes in the road and enjoy the journey." - Babs Hoffman

26.) "To awaken alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world." - Freya Stark

27.) "When overseas you learn more about your own country than you do the place you’re visiting." - Clint Borgen

Paradoxically, nothing makes you reflect on where you come from quite like leaving home. Exposing oneself to different ways of thinking and living promotes introspection and reflection. The greater the culture shock, the better the opportunity for growth. Read more...

28.) "Security is mostly a superstition. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing." - Hellen Keller

29.) "Life begins at the end of your comfort zone." - Neale Donald Walsch

Walsch’s words express a paradox; we feel most alive when our very being is jeopardized, either by outside threats or internal strife. For most people, it’s rare to experience deeply intense emotions—the kind that remind you that you are indeed alive—in daily life. After all, modern society allows us to mostly avoid physical danger while limiting self exploration to specific stages in life like college.

Thankfully, traveling can be a relatively safe and fun way to escape the routine of daily life and interject humanity into your existence, all while growing stronger in the process. Read more...

30.) "The first condition of understanding a foreign country is to smell it." - Rudyard Kipling

Rudyard Kipling's words highlight a fundamental truth about travel; namely, that our senses play an incredibly important role in our experiences. Photos and video can capture the physical properties of exotic locations—the shapes, the colors, the dimensions, some of the sounds—but you'll never know what it's like to be there without the use of the rest of your senses. You need to smell the scent of salt water to understand Venice and you need to feel the mountain top breeze against your skin to comprehend Machu Picchu.  Trips can be so full distractions and worries that it's easy to look past the basic qualities that make each and every place unique. By starting with your senses, you can take the first step towards having more fulfilling and relaxing travel experiences. Read more...

31.) "Life is short and the world is wide." - Simon Raven

32.) "Investment in travel is an investment in yourself." - Matthew Karsten

33.) "Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world." - Gustave Flaubert

34.) "Build your own dreams…or someone else will hire you to build theirs." - Farrah Gray

Best Funny Travel Quotes

35.) "Drink heavily with locals whenever possible." - Anthony Bourdain

36.) "If you come to a fork in the road, take it." - Yogi Berra

37.) "People travel to faraway places to watch, in fascination, the kind of people they ignore at home." - Dagobert D. Runes

38.) "Airline travel is hours of boredom interrupted by moments of stark terror." - Al Boliska

39.) "Bizarre travel plans are dancing lessons from God." - Kurt Vonnegut

40.) "Do not insult the mother alligator until after you have crossed the river." - Old Haitian Proverb

41.) "You can find your way across [America] using burger joints the way a navigator uses stars." - Charles Kuralt

42.) "There is nothing safer than flying—it’s crashing that is dangerous." - Theo Cowan

43.) "I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list." - Susan Sontag

44.) "Kilometers are shorter than miles. Save gas, take your next trip in kilometers." - George Carlin

45.) "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a cash advance." - Alton Brown

46.) "Don’t worry about the world ending today, it’s already tomorrow in Australia." - Charles M. Schulz

47.) "You define a good flight by negatives: you didn’t get hijacked, you didn’t crash, you didn’t throw up, you weren’t late, you weren’t nauseated by the food. So you are grateful." - Paul Theroux

48.) "A good holiday is one that is spent among people whose notions of time are vaguer than yours." - J.B. Priestley

49.) "Jet lag is for amateurs." - Dick Clark

50.) "A tourist is a fellow who drives thousands of miles so he can be photographed standing in front of his car." - Emile Ganest

51.) "Thanks to the interstate highway system, it is now possible to travel from coast to coast without seeing anything." - Charles Kuralt

52.) "The worst thing about being a tourist is having the tourists recognize you as a tourist." - Russell Baker

53.) "It can hardly be a coincidence that no language on earth has ever produced the expression, ‘As pretty as an airport.’" - Douglas Adams

54.) "When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then take half the clothes and twice the money." - Susan Heller

55.) "Travel is only glamorous in retrospect." - Paul Theroux

56.) "Airplane travel is nature’s way of making you look like your passport photo." - Al Gore

57.) "The traveler sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see." - G.K. Chesterton

58.) "Adventure, yeah. I guess that’s what you call it when everybody comes back alive." - Mercedes Lackey

59.) "My fear of flying starts as soon as I buckle myself in and then the guy up front mumbles a few unintelligible words then before I know it I’m thrust into the back of my seat by acceleration that seems way too fast and the rest of the trip is an endless nightmare of turbulence, of near misses. And then the cabbie drops me off at the airport." - Dennis Miller

Best Inspirational Travel Quotes

60.) "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

61.) "Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone." - Pablo Picasso

62.) "Man is a creature who can get used to anything, and I believe that is the very best way of defining him." - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

I love traveling in part because it forces you to overcome difficult situations. To travel is to be resilient. And for the rest of your life you’ll have a rolodex of past successes to look back on whenever you begin questioning your ability to move achieve.

Hopefully you never experience anything close to the suffering that Dostoyevsky endured while in a Russian prison. I do hope you face adversity, however. I hope you get the opportunity to challenge your mind, body, and spirit, and prove to yourself that you have what it takes to thrive. Read more...

63.) "The best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times… The best moments usually occur if a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile." - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

64.) "On the occasion of every accident that befalls you, remember to turn to yourself and inquire what power you have for turning it to use." - Epictetus

Whether at home or on the road, bad things will happen in life. Injuries, financial losses, terrorism, death—they are all a normal part of existence. But Epictetus tells us is that our lives don’t have to be defined by negative events outside our control. Instead, we should focus on our ability to adapt to misfortune, perhaps using it to our advantage.

Of course, every misstep can turn out to be a blessing. But no matter what happens in the outside world, you always have the power to dictate your emotions. Your reality is nothing more than what you say it is. You have the power to create your future; how will you use it? Read more...

65.) "To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted." - Bill Bryson

66.) "The value of your travels does not hinge on how many stamps you have in your passport when you get home." - Rolf Potts

The things that I travel for—the life-altering encounters, the exposure to new ideas, the personal growth opportunities—don't occur at the border crossing, but in the streets, cafes, and countryside. One should not try to collect passport stamps like Pokemon with the idea that it will somehow automatically make you more cultured or well-rounded. Not only does this increase your desire to rush from place to place, but it also gives you an excuse not to engage with locals, as you've already decided that physically being going is the most important thing about your trip. Read more...

67.) "If you are going through hell, keep going." - Winston Churchill

68.) "Not all those who wander are lost." - J.R.R. Tolkien

69.) "Too often…I would hear men boast of the miles covered that day, rarely of what they had seen." - Louis L’Amour

The physical distance one travels only affects your body insomuch as it can tire you; what you see—what you TRULY experience—affects your mind, and ultimately imparts change.

So many people only care to visit a place to say that they’ve been there. They discuss passport stamps as though it was a currency that could automatically be cashed in for knowledge. Of course, we know better than this. You have to put effort into your travels to get something in return. The quantity of the miles don’t matter; it’s the quality that counts. Read more...

70.) "If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion, and avoid the people, you might better stay home." - James A. Michener

71.) "I came to realize that I traveled best when I traveled no faster than a dog could trot." - Gardner McKay

We can all learn from McKay's insight here. The hectic nature of modern life often makes us rush from place to place, a habit that we unfortunately often bring with us when we travel. Slowing down not only helps us to feel at ease, but it also allows us to better appreciate the special aspects of our surroundings. After all, isn't that what travel is all about? Read more...

72.) "May your adventures bring you closer together, even as they take you far away from home." - Trenton Lee Stewart

73.) "Don’t get comfortable. Get confident." - Laurence Gonzales

I believe that the type of travel experiences that make you a strong person only happen if you’re willing to endure some sort of mental or physical discomfort. Whether you’re facing your fear of the unknown in a faraway land or pushing your body’s limits to hike a high-altitude mountain, pain and distress are part of the story. 

Personal growth comes from doing things that are hard. And once you succeed, you get confident. True, earned confidence. Read more...

74.) "At sunrise, it’s not necessary, or even desirable, to know where you are going to be at sunset." - Dervla Murphy

75.) "Traveling is like flirting with life. It’s like saying, ‘I would stay and love you, but I have to go; this is my station.'" - Lisa St. Aubin de Terán

76.) "He who has seen one cathedral ten times has seen something; he who has seen ten cathedrals once has seen but little; and he who has spent half an hour in each of a hundred cathedrals has seen nothing at all."- Sinclair Lewis

77.) "Through travel I first became aware of the outside world; it was through travel that I found my own introspective way into becoming a part of it." - Eudora Wely

78.) "We either make ourselves miserable or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same." - Carlos Castenada

79.) "Sometimes you have to move on without certain people. If they’re meant to be in your life, they’ll catch up." - Mandy Hale

80.) "We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next to find ourselves. We travel to open our hearts and eyes and learn more about the world than our newspapers will accommodate. We travel to bring what little we can, in our ignorance and knowledge, to those parts of the globe whose riches are differently dispersed. And we travel, in essence, to become young fools again- to slow time down and get taken in, and fall in love once more." - Pico Iyer

81.) "Please be a traveler, not a tourist. Try new thing, meet new people, and look beyond what’s right in front of you. Those are the keys to understanding this amazing world we live in." - Andrew Zimmern

Too often to travelers spend their whole trip taking selfies, updating their Snapchat, and checking 'must-see' locales off of their list. They fail to truly connect to the people and places around them.

Engagement is one of the keys to escaping the disappointment-laden experiences by which most tourists seem to be plagued. Engage the locals in conversations, try new foods and drinks, and explore streets and squares not included in your guidebook. You won't regret it. Read more...

82.) "The great difference between voyages rests not with the ships, but with the people you meet on them." - Amelia E. Barr

As Barr points out, the primary thing that differentiates one journey from another is the character of the people with which you surround yourself. Whether they are a travel partner or a chance encounter on the road, the people around you greatly affect how you view your surroundings and how you think about your experiences. 

With this in mind, pay special attention to whom you surround yourself with while traveling. Pick your travel partners carefully, go out of your way to encounter interesting people (I will write more on this soon), and don't be afraid to open up to those you meet on your journeys. Read more...

83.) "When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable." - Clifton Fadiman

84.) "A person susceptible to "wanderlust" is not so much addicted to movement as committed to transformation." - Pico Iyer

85.) "Travel is not a vacation, and it is often the opposite of a rest." - Paul Theroux

86.) "The journey is part of the experience – an expression of the seriousness of one’s intent. One doesn’t take the A train to Mecca." - Anthony Bourdain

87.) "Invest the time. Write the letter. Make the apology. Take the trip. Purchase the gift. Do it. The seized opportunity renders joy. The neglected brings regret." - Max Lucado

I’m sure you’ve heard someone bemoan the fact that they didn’t travel when they were younger, or that they haven’t yet done many of the things on their bucket list. But these people often don’t realize that they’ve had plenty of opportunities to do these very things throughout their lives—they just haven’t recognized it.

When you make something such as travel a priority, it has a strange way of becoming real. Suddenly, you find simple ways to save money to travel and more time to fit trips into your schedule. Read more...

Best Travel Quotes About Overcoming Fear

88.) "Fears are educated into us, and can, if we wish, be educated out." - Karl A. Menninger

So many of the fear-inducing narratives we’re told these days are at best exaggerations and at worse complete falsehoods directing us away from the true dangers in life. And so it’s our choice as to whether or not we chose to absorb these lies and live in fear or proactively seek the truth.

Travel is by no means the only way out of this trap. Advances in technology have made it easier than ever before to connect with others and learn about the world. Still, nothing quite compares to the act of literally facing the people and places you’ve been told to fear. Read more...

89.) "If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine; it is lethal." - Paulo Coelho

90.) "Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit at home and think about it. Go out and get busy." - Dale Carnegie

91.) "Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear." - George Addair

92.) "Always do what you are a afraid to do." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

93.) "Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less." - Marie Curie

Despite what you may read on the internet or hear on the evening news, the world is not an evil place filled with bad guys who are out to get you. The more you travel, the more you realize that people around the world are just like you; they have the similar wants and dreams. By overcoming our fears of the unknown, we move away from our tribalistic roots and towards a better, more understood, world.

Since we can learn about almost anywhere with a simple Google search, it can be tempting to dismiss the act of engaging with other peoples to learn as unnecessary. Don’t make this mistake. Nothing can substitute the lessons you gain from meeting face-to-face with someone whose lifestyle you know little or nothing about. I encourage you to seek out such people and places on your next trip. As Curie said, now is as good a time as ever. Read more...

94.) "The more I traveled the more I realized that fear make strangers of people who should be friends." - Shirley MacLaine

95.) "Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore." - Andre Gide

96.) "Fear is like fire. It can cook for you. It can heat your house. Or it can burn you down." - Cus D’Amato

As D’Amato’s words illustrate, fear is a potent thing. Whether we’re afraid to fly, to be alone, or commit to a relationship, fear affects almost every decision we make.

While traveling, we regularly find ourselves in circumstances that make us afraid. Fortunately, our subconscious minds have an incredible ability to learn. Through regular exposure to misplaced fears, we can start to change how our minds and body react. Much like in a boxing match, well-placed jabs—AKA conscious efforts to seek out the things we’re afraid of—will weaken our inner bully and give us a jolt of confidence. Read more...

97.) "Fear is only as deep as the mind allows." - Japanese Proverb

98.) "Thinking will not overcome fear, but action will." - W. Clement Stone

99.) "We generate fears while we sit. We overcome them by action." - Henry Link

100.) "Who wants a life imprisoned in safety?" - Amelia Earhart

101.) "It’s OKAY to be scared. Being scared means you’re about to do something really, really brave." - Mandy Hale

102.) "Only those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly." - Robert F. Kennedy

Thinking back on my own experiences, Kennedy’s worlds fit. Doing the easy task has never brought me real happiness or wisdom. Rather, it’s been the difficult but principled things that have helped me to grow.

And I think the same principle applies to travel. Unless you’re willing to risk something—your time, your comfort, or your pride—you are by nature avoiding the people, places, and activities that create unforgettable memories and bring about life-changing epiphanies. Read more...

Best Wise Travel Quotes 

103.) "The best journeys in life are those that answer questions you never thought to ask." - Rich Ridgeway

104.) "Wherever you go, go with all your heart." - Confucius

105.) "To travel is to take a journey into yourself." - Danny Kaye

106.) "See the world. It’s more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories. Ask for no guarantees, ask for no security." - Ray Bradbury

107.) "Let your memory be your travel bag." - Alexander Solzhenitsyn

108.) "I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. Travel for travel’s sake. The greatest affair is to move." - Robert Louis Stevenson

109.) "I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train." - Oscar Wilde

While initially tihs quote seems to be about possessing a diary, the underlying message is really about the diary’s content. According to Wilde, one should live the type of life that would make for a good read; one should strive to have a sensational life diary. Today, you can travel almost anywhere in the world, collecting adventures to fill the pages of your diary. All you have to do is make it a priority. Read more...

110.) "The pleasure we derive from journeys is perhaps depends more on the mindset with which we travel than on the destination we travel to." - Alain de Botton

111.) "It is better to travel well than to arrive." - The Buddha

112.) "Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living." - Miriam Beard

113.) "The man who goes alone can start today. But he who travels with another out wait till that other is ready." - Henry David Thoreau

114.) "Our happiest moments as tourists always seem to come when we stumble upon one thing while in pursuit of something else." - Lawrence Block

115.) "The journey is my home." - Muriel Rukeyser

116.) "To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries." - Aldous Huxley

117.) "You lose sight of things…and when you travel, it balances out." - Daranna Gidel

118.) "We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." - T. S. Eliot

119.) "Experience, travel - these are as education in themselves." - Euripides

120.) "What good is living the life you’ve been given if all you do is stand in one place?" - Lord Huron

121.) "Two great talkers will not travel far together." - Spanish Proverb

122.) "The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one’s own country as a foreign land." - Gilbert K. Chesterton

123.) "Unexpected adventure makes for a better story." - Lynn O’Rourke

124.) "Don’t listen to what they say. Go see." - Chinese Proverb

125.) "To travel is to possess the world." - Burton Holmes

126.) "Travel far enough, you meet yourself." - David Mitchell

And finally, I'd like to leave you with one of my favorite travel quotes.

127.) "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." - Lao-Tzu