Get motivated with these Travel Quotes!
When it comes to finding some travel inspiration, having a few good quotes, memorized, always helps. They allow us to see the world. I remember when I quit my corporate career a few years ago and left home for my first-ever solo journey, these trip quotes helped me big time.
Famous travel quotes remind us that the emotions we often feel during our journeys have been felt by many others, including the great travellers of all times. For me, reading travelling or mountain quotes, again and again, is like reading a new book. Every repetition is new learning.
So I thought it was time for me to dig into the internet, and bring to you some of them in this blog. But before we go ahead, let me warn you that if you are a Mark Twain or a Lao Tzu, you may feel a little disappointed as this resource on my favotire travel quotes includes no mention of them, but many others.
Whether you are a full-time traveller or still thinking of a reason to break free and travel the world, these trip quotes are going to help everyone. So let’s get started with a video perhaps…
And now…
Travel Quotes
1. “Without travel I would have wound up a little ignorant self.” – Footloose Dev
I want to start with something that I’ve written. It talks about my entire 5 years of full-time travelling in just a few words.
I don’t think I would have learned so much and grown so much in life doing anything else but travelling.
2. “Tourists don’t know where they’ve been, travellers don’t know where they’re going.” – Paul Theroux
This is one of the popular travel quotes out there.
The most significant difference between someone who travels for leisure and someone who travels to learn is the way they travel.
If I talk about myself, almost 90% of my journeys are not planned because I don’t care where I go. I often lose track of time and days too. While some people may call it carelessness, I call it the virtue of a traveller.
3. “My life is shaped by the urgent need to wander and observe, and my camera is my passport.” ― Steve McCurry
Travellers have no itinerary. The world is our home. We need no passport, no identity. For us, a camera will do.
And that’s how it has always been for me too. For example, most people, while traveling to Ladakh in India will plan a careful itinerary. They would start planning a month. For me, a Manali to Leh or any other road trip in the Himalayan means gaining experiences rather than exploring a place.
4. The use of travelling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things maybe.” – Samuel Johnson
Travelling is a wonderful experience. When you’re on the road you learn more about yourself and your surroundings. No school and no job can ever teach you what a few months of travelling can.
If you are a full-time traveller like me, you can relate to such travel quotes well.
5. “Adventure is worthwhile.” – Aesop
I quit my corporate career in 2015 to travel around the world and make a living out of blogging. Back then, I didn’t know that one day I would eventually start making money from travel blogging. But I still decided to try.
And now when I look back at it, I cannot be more thankful that I did. Indeed, the adventure was worthwhile.
6. “Don’t tell me how educated you are, tell me how much you travelled.” – Mohammed
Travelling is more mind-invigorating than anything else. It schools you in more ways than you can imagine.
7. “The traveller sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see.” – Gilbert K. Chesterton
This is one of my favorite inspirational travel quotes. A perfect distinction between a traveller and a tourist is that a traveller wanders around to gain experiences and nothing else. He doesn’t care about top tourist highlights. A tourist, on the other hand, is all for ticking places off a bucket list.
8. “No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.” – Lin Yutang
One of the best feelings about travelling is when you return from a journey and think back on all the things you did on the road. Introspecting your days out there is a wonderful feeling indeed.
9. “I see my path, but I don’t know where it leads. Not knowing where I’m going is what inspires me to travel it.” – Rosalia de Castro
I love it when I take a trip but do not know what route map or what itinerary I am going to follow.
And that is when the real adventure has always happened in my life. From learning horse riding in Germany to something equally bizarre. Most of my journeys are not planned.
So stop planning. Stop thinking. Make it one of your favorite new journey quotes. And go!
10. “It is better to travel well than to arrive.” – Buddha
Another one of those travel quotes on introspection and growing more from within. Travelling is all about learning new things, understanding new philosophies, and meeting new people.
Don’t worry about all the places you’re going to see there. Travel for experiences.
11. “Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer.” – Unknown
This is certainly one of the famous trip quotes.
And well, isn’t it true what is said? Whatever else you invest your money in is only going to make you a little poorer. However, any money invested in travelling is like investing money in your education or buying a new book.
Travel only makes you (intellectually) richer.
By the way, this is a great caption on a road trip.
12. “I travel a lot; I hate having my life disrupted by routine.” – Caskie Stinnett
This is one of my favorite bike trip quotes that sum up my life when I was still doing a 9 to 5 job. I never hated my work or my job but I hated my life, until one day I decided to leave everything behind, pack my bag and go.
I cannot stand monotony.
And if you are wondering where is this beautiful place, I clicked this photo during my Sach Pass road trip.
13. “When overseas you learn more about your own country than you do the place you’re visiting.” – Clint Borge
I cannot relate more to such trip quotes. It happens every time that when I travel abroad I compare things back home. And in the process, I learn more about my country than I do when I am back home.
14. “If all difficulties were known at the outset of a long journey most of us would never start at all.” – Dan Rather
Travelling is not just sunshine and roses. This is one of those travel quotes that sums that statement aptly. When you travel, especially solo, you come across many difficulties.
Missing a flight or getting mugged in Slovakia are all inevitable parts of your journey. But how well you take them is what distinguishes you and makes you stronger.
16. “Man cannot discover new oceans unless he dares to lose sight of the shore.”― Andre Gide
Do you know what’s that one thing among people who love travelling? Fearlessness. If I talk about myself, I have done solo journeys across places that are otherwise considered as dangerous.
If you ask anyone in India, people will think that the Northeast Indian state of Nagaland is dangerous to travel to. But I travelled to Nagaland solo in 2017 and found it just as safe as any other place in India.
Unless you stop fearing, you cannot go explore oblivion.
17. “Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I took the one less traveled by.” – Robert Frost
Another one helping me look in the past, be happy at what I have in the present and feel hopeful about tomorrow.
I am happy that I did not think about following a well-drawn path, quit my corporate career, and became a full-time travel blogger.
So all you travel bloggers out there, remember such travel quotes and be happy about what you’re doing.
If you are looking for a caption on a road trip, there can’t be a better one.
18. “To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world.” ― Freya Stark
Isn’t change an amazing feeling? I love it when I land in a new country and come out of the airport. That first sight of a new country, a new world, is priceless.
19. “Let us step into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure.” ― J.K. Rowling
One of my favorite trip quotes talks about the wanderlust in us.
If I was settled, I would still be working for someone else’s dreams.
Never stop dreaming. Never stop pursuing that flighty temptress.
20. “All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveller is unaware.” ― Martin Buber
One of the things a new traveller should know is that you cannot imagine the ways your journey is going to surprise you. Sometimes, the experience will be good, sometimes it will be bad. Travelling is like stepping into oblivion.
Just keep enjoying it and leave the rest.
21. “A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.” ― John A. Shedd
Oh, yeah. Break free. Go. Explore.
And if you want a bit of inspiration, read my story of why I quit the job to travel.
This is one of those travel quotes that tell my story in a nutshell.
22. “I haven’t been everywhere but it’s on my list.” – Susan Sontag
This remains one of my favourite ones of all time.
It instils a kind of itchiness in my body and soul.
23. “Once you have travelled, the voyage never ends… The mind can never break off from the journey.” – Pat Conroy
This is one of my favotire bike trip quotes out there. I am sure everyone can relate to it if you ride a bike too.
Once you return from a journey, you keep thinking about it. Sometimes it makes us sad, and sometimes, it motivates us to travel again.
24. “Stop worrying about the potholes in the road and enjoy the journey.” – Babs Hoffman
Another one of those evergreen solo travel quotes out there.
If you ever feel sad or lonely, this one-liner will help. It’s the mantra to a happy life.
25. “Travel and change of place impart new vigour to the mind.” – Seneca
Travelling has changed me a lot. I am now more courageous, confident, visionary, extrovert, open to new ideas, ready to take risks, ready to accept failures… the list is long.
And that’s how travelling changes you. Indeed, travelling imparts new vigour to the mind.
26. “A traveller without observation is a bird without wings.” — Moslih Eddin Saadi
But I also think that those who travel without observation are not travellers in the first place. They’re more of seasonal tourists.
27. “You don’t choose the day you enter the world and you don’t choose the day you leave. It’s what you do in between that makes all the difference.” – Anita Septimus
Whether for travelling or just a little motivation in day-to-day life. This is one of my favourite ones of all time.
28. “The man who goes alone can start today, but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready.” – Henry David Thoreau
This is one of the best solo travel quotes out there.
I remember the first time I travelled solo (to Bhutan) I had no intention to do it. The only reason I did so was that my friends backed out at the last moment.
But had I backed out too that time, Bhutan would have never happened. So yeah, don’t let others hold you back.
Read Why I Travel Solo if you are thinking of traveling solo for some time but can’t find a compelling reason to do it.
29. “Travelling — it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.” – Ibn Battuta
Indeed, adventures make you a storyteller!
30. “I was not born for one corner. The whole world is my native land.” – Seneca
Those who are not familiar with me don’t know that before becoming a full-time blogger, I was working in England for a local media channel. For someone from India, working in England is a good achievement. But I think I was never born for it. I wanted to break free and travelling came as a rescue in my life.
31. “We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next to find ourselves.” – Pico Iyer
Again, one of the best self-introspective life travel quotes. It is possible that long-term travelling can make you feel a little lost. You may feel that you’re wasting your time and money. The world will tell you that you should focus your energy on things like raising a family and building a house. But will it make you happy?
Travelling may feel a little disorienting at times, but in the end, it’s a rewarding job.
I mean if I talk about myself, not that I started making money from blogging but I also started a hospitality business out of this lifestyle. Had I not plunged into the unknown, I would still be doing what I always hated.
And last but not least, this is one of those one-liners that can be used as a caption on a road trip.
32. “Travel can be one of the most rewarding forms of introspection.” – Unknown
I used to keep such trip quotes with me during my initial days of full-time solo travelling. It gave me a kind of warmth every time I read it.
33. “Tourists visit. Travellers explore.” – Unknown
Another one for differentiating us travellers from tourists.
34. “The first condition of understanding a foreign country is to smell it.” – Rudyard Kipling
If you visit a new country and don’t try to get under its skin and learn its culture, what’s the point?
35. “Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.” – Scott Cameron
This is one of my favourite inspirational travel quotes.
Before I gave up my corporate life, I always wanted to acquire more and more. But is that what we are born for? Isn’t material success unreal? No matter how much we acquire, it always feels less.
When you start travelling full-time you realise that you don’t need more than a suitcase of belongings.
36. “He who is outside his door has the hardest part of his journey behind him.” – Dutch Proverb
I still feel a little jittery every time I plan a new journey (so let’s call it my favorite new journey quote).
2 months in Thailand? 1 month in Cambodia? How will I ever survive on my own, without anyone to watch my back? What if I got bored? — All these insecurities have always played their part, but only until I actually left!
37. “People don’t take trips, trips take people.” – John Steinbeck
It doesn’t matter how much you pre-plan, once you step out, things happen at their own pace.
Everything in the world has its place. So stop wasting your time in creating travel itineraries and just go!
38. “You don’t have to be rich to travel well.” – Eugene Fodor
Another inspirational travel quote.
To all those people who think travelling is expensive, it is not!
I once travelled for two months in Europe for less than 70 thousand Rupees (about 800 USD). How? I volunteered.
So yeah, if you have decided you want to travel, nothing can hold you back. Not even money! Read: How To Travel World Without Money.
39. “The best journeys in life are those that answer questions you never thought to ask.” ― Rich Ridgeway
One of the reasons why I love travelling in India, despite being born in India is that travelling in India is a learning experience. Travelling in India magnifies all human emotions and in the process helps you get answers to questions you never thought of asking yourself.
If you are on a road trip, consider using this one-liner as your caption on a road trip.
40. “One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” – Henry Miller
When you travel to a new destination, you not only see a new place but also change the way you perceive things. Travelling to a new destination changes your thought process too. You start seeing things from a fresh perspective.
41. “I am not the same having seen the moon shine on the other side of the world.” – Mary Anne Radmacher
This is another one of those travel quotes that explain the life of all full-time travel writers.
Once you travel to a few places you become broad-sighted. You start appreciating people and cultures more.
42. “We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us.” – Unknown
Every time I come across such trip quotes, it makes me want to forward them to those who think travelling is a waste of time. Travelling is the best thing that has happened to me. Of course, I say it because it is my bread and butter, but even if not, I think travelling is that one thing that keeps us more alive, forget the ways that travel experiences change us.
43. “It is not down in any map; true places never are.” – Herman Melville
If you really want to explore, stop reading guidebooks. The road less taken has no route map.
44. “A person does not grow from the ground like a vine or a tree. Mankind has legs so it can wander.” ― Roman Payne
One thing that distinguishes man from other species is that we are an insatiable bunch. From Alexander to Ashoka, many great examples show humans are born to travel.
45. “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” – Helen Keller
This is my life motto. What good is life if there’s no adventure?
And I am sure you must have heard of this before. This is indeed one of the famous travel quotes.
Btw, this is my favorite Spiti Valley quote. Spiti Valley because I clicked this picture during my Spiti Valley bike trip.
46. “To travel is to evolve.” – Pierre Bernardo
Again, the best life lessons can only be learned when we journey around the world and explore.
47. “Travel, in the younger sort, is a part of education; in the elder, a part of the experience.” – Francis Bacon
And both – education and experience – help us grow.
If you are attracted to the picture, let me tell you that I clicked this picture during my Jakarta trip.
48. “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” – Marcel Proust
When I visit a new place I visit with no prejudices. I keep my mind and heart open for new experiences and let the place educate me in the ways it wants.
So far, I have been to over 25 countries (with at least a few weeks spent in each). I have volunteered, backpacked, luxury-travelled. For me, travelling is more than seeing new places but learning something useful.
49. “Experience, travel – these are as education in themselves” – Euripides
When I quit my job in 2015, I had no idea that I would soon start blogging. All I knew was that I wanted to travel for some time.
I remember during the initial few months of travelling I tried to become a community journalist and make it my permanent career. But I couldn’t. And I think it was because I tried and failed that in the end, I chose a more freestyle kind of writing – travel blogging.
When you travel, you introspect, and in the process, you discover yourself and your passion. And this is one of those motivational travel quotes that helps you understand that well.
50. “We travel, some of us forever, to seek other states, other lives, other souls.” – Anais Nin
True wanderers relate to such trip quotes on their own. They need no explanation.
The picture was taken before my Valley of Flowers trek, in India.
51.”The world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page.” – Saint Augustine.
People who travel very little in life develop very straightforward thinking. They think what they know and have always done is the only way to do right in life. But it’s not true.
52. “Not all those who wander are lost.” – JRR Tolkien
I just can’t stop repeating such interesting travel quotes to people who think all those who wander are lost. I mean think of it and tell me if some of the best thought-leaders of today were not great travellers once.
53. “Take only memories, leave only footprints.” – Chief Seattle
One of the biggest miseries of human life is what we want to acquire. Material happiness feels like the only ultimate. But it’s not true.
We are born to make memories and leave footprints. Everything else in between is a non-existent dream.
54.”20 Years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t try than by the ones you did” – H Jackson Brown Jr.
Every time I meet an elderly who hasn’t travelled much in their life, I read their eyes. And all do is echo such similar quotes about travel and life.
55. “Never go on trips with anyone you do not love.” – Hemingway
There’s no denying the fact that a bad companion can spoil the journey – whether it’s a holiday a business or something else. Choose your partners wisely. And if you’re not sure if that person you’re planning to go places with is the right one or not, you should go alone.
I have, throughout my life, travelled solo. Almost 90% of my journeys are done alone. From camping in Manali to a road trip in Germany, I prefer going alone.
56. “Like all great travellers, I have seen more than I remember and remember more than I have seen.” Benjamin Disraeli
This is one of those inspirational travel quotes that talk about self-introspection. Often, in the life of a traveller, places don’t exist.
57. “If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine, it’s lethal.” – Paul Coelho
The reason why I (and perhaps other travel writers out there too) decided to leave my 9-5 corporate job and become a nomad was that I couldn’t stand a fixed routine.
I knew that if I kept doing a desk job for a few years I would lose my mind. So one day, decided to change it all and became a travel influencer.
I just cannot stand monotony.
58. “Great things never came from comfort zones.” – Unknown
Something that I can call one of my favorite new journey quotes, as it talks about my life from being a corporate employee to being an Indian travel blogger.
59. “Fear is only temporary. Regrets are forever.”
Sooner or later you will become old. Once you cross 60s your body will start giving up on you. Then, it will either be ‘reminisce memories’ or ‘regret forever’. The choice is ours.
60. “Job fills your pocket, adventure fills your soul” – Jamie Beatty
It’s been about 6 years since I’ve got a university degree. I have friends in almost every big company. They are all in different positions and trades, but one thing that unites them all is discontentment.
It takes more than money to be happy in life.
61. “Drink heavily with locals whenever possible” – Anthony Bourdain
This is one of those travel quotes that I came across very recently and they instantly became my new favorite. If you want to enjoy travelling, you need to make friends wherever you go. Try to be as extrovert as you can. Speak to the bartender, invite the girl at the hostel reception for a drink, and do whatever it takes to make some friends whenever you go.
62. “Jet lag is for amateurs” – Dick Clark
If you are a real traveller at heart, things like jet lag will mean nothing to you. A traveller doesn’t care how tired he is. As long as he is exploring places, he is happy.
63. “Travel is glamorous only in retrospect” – Paul Theroux
When I come home from my travels, I always forget the tough times and difficult experiences. All I remember are the beautiful things. Bad stuff fades away.
No wonder, it is one of the best trip quotes out there.
64. “I would rather own a little and see the world than own the world and see little of it” – Alexander Sattler
We keep hearing such messages about possessing little and exploring more.
And I don’t think there can be many travel quotes that can say it better than this one.
65. “It’s better to see something once than to hear about it a thousand times” – Unknown
“Isn’t it?”
66. “When was the last time you did something for the first time?” – Unknown
For me, the best thing in life is trying something new. Learning a new sport or a musical instrument. I remember when I tried skydiving for the first time, I thought skydiving was scary and being a person who is scared of heights, going for it is a big thing. Yet I did it. And in the end, I loved the experience.
When you try something for the first time, you enjoy a sense of happiness.
67. “Someday I am going to be free and I am going to see the world” – Unknown
This is one of those sarcastic travel quotes that are meant for those who keep procrastinating things. There’s no Someday but today. If you want to break free, now is the time.
68. “Don’t quit your daydream” – Unknown
Those who stop dreaming are losers. Don’t be one.
69. “Oh, the places you will go” – Dr Seuss
Since 2016, I have been travelling around the world. This sense of nomadism is deep-rooted in me so badly that I just cannot sit in one place. But now and then I need to visit my parents and stay with them for a few weeks (of course, family and parents matter too). While I love meeting my family, I hate staying at home during that time.
This is one of my favorite travel quotes that helped me pass that phase.
And yea, if you are going on a road trip, this can be a great caption on a road trip.
70. “Try to be a rainbow in someone else’s cloud” – Maya Angelou
When you are on the road, try to be a better person. Spread happiness and laughter wherever you go.
And now, let’s ask ourselves…
“Where to next?”
I hope you loved the quotes shared above.
If you have missed some of them and are looking for…
Top funny travel quotes
See: 21, 34, 57, 61 and 62.
Popular ones for solo travellers
See 2, 10, 17, 22, 24, 29, 31, 35, and 42.
My favorite travel quotes
See 1, 9, 11, 20, 27, 36, 45, 54, 63 and 70.
New Journey Quotes
See 7, 16, 29, 38, 47, 52 and 65.
These were some travel quotes I loved. If you’ve any personal favourites, let’s share them in the comments below!
All images shared in this travel blog belong to me from one of my previous journeys
Really Love all the quotes.
Your adventure and love of travel is so inspiring! It was the best read of my day. Keep up the great work of traveling the dusty roads and silver shores. You are doing everything right!
Amazing Quotes
These road trip quotes are just amazing . I just love them. Good Work.
what lovely quotes
i love your blog and always like new things coming up from it.
Very inspiring quotes.