LOOKING FOR TRAVEL INSPIRATION?
Looking for travel inspiration? Follow the wise words of these thinkers!
Published on May 9, 2024
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Let's take pleasure in these pieces of advice that can encourage all of us, desktop travelers who often find ourselves lost in daydreams while exploring the world through those exciting apps and maps, hoping that, in some secret corner marked with an 'X,' we'll discover ourselves.
"Maps encourage boldness. They’re like cryptic love letters. They make anything seem possible."
Image: Stanislav Kondratiev
Mark Jenkins, world-renowned explorer, acclaimed author, and a foreign correspondent for National Geographic for three decades, knows maps.
Whether they are ancient scrolls illustrated with mythical creatures on their margins, warning 'There Be Dragons,' or the efficient digital versions that we carry in our pockets, fearlessly guiding us to our favorite bakery, maps offer us a challenge, the promise of an adventure, and, if we read them correctly, they always lead to a treasure.
"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to."
Image: Jesse Bowser
J. R. R. Tolkien, the legendary creator of The Lord of the Rings reminds us that the adventure begins when we decide to move from contemplation to action and set foot outside our comfort zone.
"Every dreamer knows that it is entirely possible to be homesick for a place you’ve never been to, perhaps more homesick than for familiar ground."
Image: Lisa Fotios
Judith Thurman, American writer, biographer, and poet, winner of the National Book Award for Isak Dinesen: The Life of A Storyteller, which served as the basis for Sydney Pollack's 1985 film Out of Africa, powerfully evokes the feeling of nostalgia for places completely unknown.
It's a mysterious call that resonates within us and refuses to be ignored.
"Without new experiences, something inside of us sleeps. The sleeper must wake up."
Image: Jill Wellington
Frank Herbert encourages us to awaken the traveler who sleeps within us.
Considering the success achieved by the world-famous author of Dune, one of the most influential and best-selling works of science fiction of all time, it seems wise to heed his words carefully.
"If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there."
Image: JanBaby
Lewis Carroll, the renowned author of_Alice in Wonderland,_ reminds us of the advantages of carefully planning our trip before starting it.
Or, maybe he encourages us to take the plunge and let ourselves be surprised along the way.
"I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list."
Image: Rahul Pandit
Few expressions overflow with as much optimism and capture the authentic spirit of the traveler as this luminous definition by Susan Sontag, the multifaceted New York writer, teacher, and film director, one of the great and challenging thinkers of the 20th century.
"Through we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us, or we find it not."
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Ralph Waldo Emerson, American essayist, philosopher, and abolitionist, author of great works such as The Conduct of Life, reminds us that beauty is in the way we look and that the experience we live depends much more on our own disposition than on the wonders we encounter along the way.
"Traveling it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller."
Image: Tomáš Malík
Ibn Battuta, the intrepid Moroccan explorer of the 14th century knew this well when he captured his travel memories of 40 countries and three continents in his work A Gift to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Traveling.
From those fascinating chronicles to today's social media posts, we all know that our travels come alive again, and sometimes they only make sense, when we share them with others.
"No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow."
Image: Kelly
When does a trip really end? After a life that took him from his native China to the east coast of the United States, France, Germany, and back to China and America again, Chinese inventor, linguist, novelist, philosopher, and translator Lin Yutang—author among others of _The Importance of Living_—fully appreciated the value of returning to the known places after a long journey.
"If you think adventure is dangerous try routine. It is lethal."
Image: Chris Curry
If these reflections haven't persuaded you to leave your seat and start packing your backpack right away, then keep in mind this final warning from Paulo Coelho, the renowned Brazilian author and creator of The Alchemist.
