Top 5 Words to Travel By

Hopefully when you come to Expat-terns, you glimpse at the page called “Words to Travel By”. These are phrases, poems, or proverbs that I find to sum up my thoughts or offer advice about traveling. They range from depressing to optimistic, song lyrics to testaments, and are from prominent celebrities to religious disciples.

Listed below are my favorites so far. Really, I love all of them (that’s why they are on this website), but these few especially make me reflect or think about why I travel and document my Expat-terns. I hope that they are as introspective for you as me. 


Honorable Mention

“We travel, some of us forever, to seek other states, other lives, other souls.” – Anais Nin 

– I think this quote is just beautiful, and it’s also so true! I travel in order to experience other people, cultures, and change. Change happens wherever you are, but I find it’s more fun when you travel. I think it’s more visible, and it’s always enjoyable to return to your house a different man (or woman) after an odyssey.

Top 5 Words to Travel By 

5. “You are a perishable item. Live accordingly.” – E.P. Cutler 
– Though weird to think about, he’s right. We are perishable like persimmons. As a result, we have to explore, love, and respect the world in the time we have. There will be many others like us in the future, and that’s why it’s important for us to live – simply, happily, accordingly. This quote is #5 in this countdown because I love its bitter sweetness. It reminds us of our mortality, but brightens our minds with the idea of adventure. Or, it does at least for me. We are finite, so go out and live!
*The notion of YOLO and this quote are separate. Let me make that clear. I am not endorsing YOLO.

4. “The first condition of understanding a foreign country is to smell it.” – Rudyard Kipling
– This quote is informative and funny. Places can smell different, and in order to accustom oneself with a foreign land, it’s good to just take a big whiff! I do it whenever I travel. It puts me at ease. Use all your senses when you travel. I chose this quote as #4 because people can act too much like adults when they travel. Everyone has an inner youth; let yours smell foreign lands and new horizons.

3. “I am not the same having seen the moon shine on the other side of the world.” – Mary Anne Radmacher
– This quote is just so poetic. As stated before, change happens everywhere, but have you ever just stared at the stars thousands of miles away from your home? It makes an impact. The times I have, I have felt a sense of undeniable wonder. Same moon, same stars, but all seem to have been scrabbled differently. Of course I have changed since I have viewed the moon far from my home (that’s life), but its luminous glow from across the sea is still beautifully haunting to me. This quote is #3 because every time I read it, it gives me pause. I still don’t exactly know why.

2. “He has a passport,” my classmates would whisper. “Quick, let’s run before he judges us!” – David Sedaris
– We are getting close to #1! First off, I love David Sedaris. He is hilarious, blunt, and modest despite his experience and wisdom. If you haven’t read Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls (one of his critically acclaimed books), you should! It gets kind of gross when he starts talking about China, but it’s a good read. I find this quote hilarious because traveling can be a Petri dish for vanity and ego. We all, at least I do, know travelled people, young and old, who have immeasurable self worth and egos, enlarged to a maximum size through countless journeys. Personally, I think travel should do the opposite. Travel shows us that out of many, there are more and especially that we are not the only important people out there. This quote is #2 because it represents my, dare I say, disgust for people who embrace this path of traveler’s vanity.

1. “Travel and society polish one, but a rolling stone gathers no moss, and a little moss is a good thing on a man.” – John Burroughs 
– This quote is relatable to the previous more or less. John Burroughs really says it best. We can become sophisticated (ugh) and too cultured through our journeys, and it’s good to have a little chutzpah and meat on our bones. We should retain some tarnish – have a child’s heart, stare at the moon, and smell the sidewalk (maybe not literally) when you journey. Don’t forget, travel can only weaken ignorance. There is always more to see, explore, and embrace, and when you do experience what lays beyond, it’s good to have character – not be one.