Travel wisdom from a few of history’s most notable wanderers.
By Kim Bercaw
Nothing stirs up the wanderlust like a carefully crafted travel quote. The really good ones kick me square in the pants, and the result is nothing short of Pavlovian. I’ll politely refrain from comparing myself to a slobbering dog right now, but let’s just say this: The effects can be pretty profound. One minute I’m minding my own business, reading a Wikipedia article about St. Augustine, the next minute I’m hit with a zinger from the man himself:
“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.”
I am so moved, in fact, the only thing that stops me from grabbing my passport and cabbing it to the airport right then and there is, well… the five year old playing at my feet. And the bills. And reality. Oh, but how I DESPERATELY WANT TO READ THAT BOOK! FROM COVER TO COVER!
Why? Well, because travel, at its best, is an excellent excuse to live in the moment and squeeze every last drop out of the new experiences that present themselves. To travel is to leave the ordinary behind and replace it with the extraordinary. This is just as true whether you’re off to Outer Mongolia, or just to the outskirts of town. After all, as Marcel Proust so keenly pointed out:
“The real voyage of discovery lies not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”
Okay, Mr. Proust was a bit of a homebody, but you get the point. Travel—of any kind—is good for the soul. New locales heighten our powers of observation and awaken our senses. They give us perspective.
There are as many travel tidbits out there as there are destinations, but below are a few of my favorites. If, after reading them, you find yourself yearning for a journey, no worries: Your Travel Beyond consultant has all kinds of experience dealing with nomads like yourself.
“Not all those who wander are lost.”– J. R. R. Tolkien
“To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world.”– Freya Stark
“I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.” — Robert Luis Stevenson
“Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.”– Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Travel like a sponge, not a rock.” — Anonymous
“Like all great travelers I have seen more than I remember and remember more than I’ve seen.”– Benjamin Disraeli
“The open road is beckoning, a strangeness, a place where a man can lose himself.”– William Least Heat Moon
“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 Teran
“Bizarre travel plans are dancing lessons from God.”– Kurt Vonnegut
“I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list.” — Susan Sontag
“Don’t tell me how educated you are. Tell me how much you traveled.” — Mohammed
“It is solved by walking.” — Algerian Proverb
Amen.
Tags: Humor, Travel Quotes
