Day 14 of BootsnAll’s 30 Days of Indie Travel Project is all about travel quotes and why they stand out to you. And as a person who is dangerously obsessed with any type of written inspiration, I decided to write down most of my favorite quotes (yes, plural!) and, whether they are travel related or not, how I connect them to my travels. Why they inspire me to go out there and see the world. How they inspire me to change the world. Hope you enjoy these and get inspired yourself!
So live that your memories will be part of your happiness
New Years in Times Square, NYC - memories like this one will always be part of my daily happiness!
I believe I stumbled upon this quote very early in my teenage years, while I was browsing the web looking for material to read in order to improve my English (as you know, I taught myself the language). And ever since that day…this quote has not left my life. It is a travel quote to me because ever since I can remember, I have dreamed about traveling the world, enjoying life to its fullest, day by day, do everything I can today and never leave things for “tomorrow” because that may never come. I’m the kind of person that not only says she will do something or work hard toward her happiness and wholeness — I’m one of the few people that actually do. I never allowed stupid money or negative people to hold me back from pursuing dreams that were meant to be impossible for a person like me. Oh, I couldn’t win a Boren scholarship because it was too competitive and English was my second language, my essays wouldn’t be good enough. I won and got the maximum amount. A woman apparently can’t travel the world by herself, especially the Middle East! I lived and wandered solo through those historic lands for 16 months. Not bragging or anything, just saying, I don’t allow life to go stale, I do not drown my passions and my happiness with them. I give them wings. I make them fly. Thus, I live in a way that once I’m old and wrinkly holding the hand of my life partner on a balcony in some remote beach, I can not only enjoy that very moment greatly, but also be able to simply close my eyes and rejoice by bringing back the memories of the full life I’ve enjoyed. This is one of several travel quotes that have become my life motto, which I recite when looking at myself in the mirror every morning I am blessed to live. The memories I build through the years will always be part of my happiness!
If you want to know where your heart is, look where your mind goes when it wanders
I'm is always in la-la land
I am a hopeless wanderer. Unless I’m traveling, my mind is always someplace else. My heart is always fluttering somewhere remote. That is, until I get moving. Until I’m helping people. Until I’m seeing beautiful things. Then, I’m living the moment. I’m absorbing the colors. I’m deeply inhaling the scents. I’m touching the softness of my surroundings. I’m smiling because of the kindness of people (which is so underrated in the Western world). I feel deeply and completely in touch with all my senses when I’m abroad. I even meditate more often. I don’t stress about the small little things. I feel alive. And while I could see, feel most of these things here, at home, or somewhere a little closer than I always think of, my mind is always wandering afar. Thus, my heart is always away, flying. This travel quote couldn’t describe me best…and I got the biggest grin on my face when I’m moving!
Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it. You must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it. If you don’t, you will leak away your innate contentment
–Elizabeth Gilbert
My favorite book ever, overflowing with a myriad of travel quotes. This happiness quote however, is the one that stood out to me the most. Liz traveled to forget, she traveled to find happiness. Then she discovered happiness truly flows from within, from following our own hearts, from seeking what it is that sparks us up, and that it is a journey rather than a destination. We must thrive to be happy daily. It may not come easy at one point or the other, but we must not drown in the dangerous ocean of mediocrity and negativity.
The normal make a living; the deranged make history
my favorite artist - "deranged" painter Salvador Dalí (Photo:Carl Van Vechten estate)
I wander because I know I’m not normal — and it is OK. My lifestyle could be frowned upon or even brought down by many, but what can I say? This I tell ’em, which I have defined as another inspirational travel quote in my book. I will change the world someday, you know? I won’t die before I make a positive impact on this Earth. I won’t rest until I have transformed someone else’s life, somehow. And not just people with my own DNA (or The One that I decide to share the rest of my life with). I feel that’s still kind of selfish. The world has billions of people and I was given too big of a heart to only share it with a few dozen. Here we go for the thousands. Or who knows, maybe even the millions. I am not on this Earth by accident! This innate curiosity and motivation that has made me move mountains since a very young age was given to me for a purpose. And many purposes I shall even find stemming from that one main purpose of me being here. And they are all related to travel, this I know. I’m not normal — I am deranged by this world’s standards, which is why I will make a difference and not just sit in front of my TV for years to come. ‘Nuff said!
Maybe some women weren’t meant to be tamed; maybe they need to run free until they can find someone, just as wild, to run with
—Carrie Bradshaw, Sex and the City
me at Kom Ombo temple - taken by a passerby as I traveled throughout Egypt solo (2009)
Being such an independent woman, this free has come with a price. I feel like friends, people that mean (or meant) a lot to me just kept dropping like flies when I decided to pursue my wildest dreams and passions. It is like, if there’s some distance, there’s no need for them to keep me in their lives. Naturally, even more so with relationships. Guys can never handle it…I am not seen as stable. Then when watching Sex and the City one day I just picked up what is one of my favorite love, and even travel quotes ever! I am wild, I am free — and I was not meant to be shaped into something else, but rather, be accepted and loved exactly by who I am. I was meant to run free until I can find someone, just as wild, to run with!
What do you say of taking chances,
what do you say of jumping off the edge
never knowing
if there’s solid ground below
or hand to hold
or hell to pay
what do you say?
As you’ve seen, I’m all about taking chances. While the above is more related to love and relationships, I also apply these lyrics to my lifestyle in general. So yah, I’ve just made a Celine Dion song an awesome compilation of travel quotes! 😀