A Way Abroad Logo
The ultimate resource for women dreaming of a life abroad

40 Wanderlust Quotes to Spark Your Next Adventure

write for us!

I’m always planning my next adventure. Years of living abroad and traveling the world has done nothing to quench my thirst for new sights, smells, and tastes, instead, it’s just left me wanting more and more. 

Instead of quieting that voice, I amplify it. 

I’ve gone from being a Peace Corps volunteer in Ecuador to a tour guide in Panama, hopping across the ocean to work on a yacht in the South of France then teaching English in South Korea. I most recently lived in Vietnam for 3 years and am now building out my van to give a vanlife a go. All while squeezing in as many trips as I can along the way.

If I believe in anything, it’s that life is for the living. And there are loads of different ways to live. For me, living means traveling and continuously putting myself out of my comfort zone, and testing my limits. And for you, since you’re here reading this, I’m going to guess you agree with me.

Whether you’re gearing up for your first big trip, solo or with your partner, or are years into a nomadic journey like me, let these travel quotes inspire you to continue to seek the next big adventure. 

Planning your first trip abroad or deciding to move abroad is bigger than feeling inspired by a few quotes though. Use these travel tips to plan your next trip, then when the wanderlust hits, you’ll have no excuse but to go:

  1. Go somewhere realistic. If you’re having trouble saving for a big trip or finding the time off work, start small. Plan a trip to somewhere you’ve never been that’s only a few hours away and you can visit in a weekend. Travel is more than resorts and spa days, save money by booking homestays or boutique hotels. Eat local and use local transportation to really immerse yourself (and save money). 
  2. Don’t listen to the doubters. People will give you unsolicited advice all day as to why you shouldn’t go all day long if you let them. Learn to know when to listen and when to kindly ignore their thoughts. Remember, it’s your life, not theirs, so chase your dreams, not their fears.
  3. Go ahead and book it so you can’t procrastinate. The sooner you have set dates and it’s in your calendar, the more likely you are to get on that plane, train, or car to take you on your next adventure.
  4. Save money by housesitting via TrustedHousesitters or volunteering with Workaway or Worldpackers.
  5. If you’re waiting for someone else to go, go solo! Even though I’m happily married, my husband and I still travel solo.  Why wait on someone else when you can have an amazing time on your own?
  6. Be flexible with where you go and what you do. Part of the excitement of traveling is that things hardly go as planned. Be ready for those curveballs by being flexible with your schedule and open to trying new things and meeting new people. Even being flexible with where you go can lead to some amazing adventures that you might never had imagined.
  7. Have fun! Traveling to new places is the most fun thing I can possibly do. Plan your trip with fun in mind. For me that means beaches, hiking, scuba diving and driving mopeds in new places. For you, that could mean spas, museums, big cities. Regardless, find your happy place and go there.


Let these 40 quotes push you take your 1st trip or your 30th. 

Need bonus inspo? Right-click on any image to save it and set it as your phone wallpaper to keep your favorite short travel quote as a close reminder. Or save them to your travel bucket list on Pinterest!

Starting off the list with a bang! This is my favorite travel quote and has become a personal mantra for me. Anytime you’re feeling stuck or unsure if you should make your next move or plan your next big trip, remember you don’t have roots for a reason.

“If you don’t like where you are, move. You are not a tree.” Jim Rohn

inspirational travel quote with a woman looking away at to the mountains


“Travel. As much as you can. As far as you can. As long as you can.” Unknown


travel quote for motivation to travel more overlay in front of Jordan


“If you don’t go after what you want, you’ll never have it.” Nora Roberts

wavy wanderlust travel quote over a travel picture of a woman looking at the coast

“Do what makes you feel alive.” Sarah Centrella

drone picture of a rocky coast covered in trees with a ralph waldo emerson quote


“Live in the sunshine, swim in the sea, drink the wild air.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

man walking on top of a mountain peak on a bright blue sky with a quote to get out of your comfort zone

“A comfort zone is a beautiful thing but nothing ever grows there.” Gina Milicia

a snowy hilltop overlooking more hills with a motivational quote to live the life you dream of

“And then there is the most dangerous risk of all- the risk of spending your life not doing what you want on the bet you can buy yourself the freedom to do it later.” Randy Komisar


“Dare to live the life you’ve always wanted.” Unknown


“But what I hope you’ll find in the end is that in leaving, you don’t just find love, adventure, or freedom. You find yourself.” Unknown

David Bowie quote stamped over a picture of someone doing a handstand on a cliff at sunset

“I don’t know where I’m going but I promise it won’t be boring.” David Bowie


“Life is meant for good friends and good adventures.” Unknown


“Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.” Mary Ritter Beard

adventure quote with a picture of a woman trekking solo in the snowy mountains

“Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

peach-santorini-views-with-travel-quote-a-way-abroad


“We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us.” Unknown

woman overlooking the coast of Portugal with houses below and a travel quote


“I have an insane calling to be where I’m not.” Unknown

mountain and lake natural beauty with a travel quote


“You can’t do anything about the length of your life, but you can do something about its width and depth.” Evan Esar

Tips
Serious about
Tips
?
browse all articles

palm trees in the sand with an Oscar Wilde quote

“Live life with no excuses, travel with no regret.” Oscar Wilde

Dark blue sky over the mountains by Bill Bryson


“I can’t think of anything that excites a greater sense of childlike wonder than to be in a country where you are ignorant of almost everything. Suddenly you are 5 years old again. You can’t read anything, you have only the most rudimentary sense of how things work, you can’t even reliably cross the street without endangering your life. Your whole existence becomes a series of interesting guesses.” Bill Bryson

a woman overlooking a historic building in the Czech Reublic


“It’s a funny thing coming home. Nothing changes. Everything looks the same, feels the same, even smells the same. You realize what’s changed is you.” Scott Fitzgerald

mountains at sunset with the moon already visible above mountain range


“I am not the same having seen the moon shine on the other side of the world.” Mary Anne Radmacher

snowy mountain peak with soft clouds behind


“Because in the end you won’t remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing your lawn. Climb that goddamn mountain.” Jack Kerouac

European town on a rocky peninsula at the sunset

“A nomad I will remain for life, in love with distant and uncharted places.” Isabelle Eberhardt

cloudy beach day with a palm umbrella and beach chairs and a red wanderlust quote over it


“A person susceptible to wanderlust is not so much addicted to movement as committed to transformation.” Pico Iyer

Coast of a Norwegian fishing village at sunset with mountains behind the town


“I  may not have gone where I intended to go but I think I have ended up where I intended to be.” Douglas Adams

empty road leading to the mountains


“The freedom of the open road is seductive, serendipitous, and absolutely liberating.” Aaron Lauristen

Beautiful Malta with brick buildings from above with the water all around

“Life itself is a privilege, but to live life to the fullest- well, that is a choice.” Andy Andrews

a woman in a bright skirt walking down a trail at the top of a hill


“She was free in her wildness. She was a wanderess, a drop of free water. She belonged to no man and to no city.” Roman Payne

a woman in a blue dress dancing in wildflowers with the sun setting behind a mountaina

“All good things are wild and free.” Henry David Thoreau

Santorini at sunset with the white and blue buildings overlooking the sea and mountains

“I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.” Robert Louis Stevenson

a pelican sitting on a rock overlooking the ocean


“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.” Andre Gide

an adventurous travel couple walking through the jungle to a waterfall


“A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.” John Steinbeck

white buildings with orange roofs in Portugal with the ocean in the background


“Life is short and the world is wide, the sooner you start exploring it, the better.” Simon Raven

cotton candy clouds outside of an airplane window

“To wander is to be free.” Roman Payne

dry, valley with mountains and a van driving offroad


“People don’t take trips, trips take people.” John Steinbeck

the caribbean coast with white sand, green trees, and bright blue water


“Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.” Henry David Thoreau

camels walking through the desert in the afternoon


“The traveler sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see.” G.K. Chesterton

northern lights in Iceland over the mountains and a lake


“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.” Mark Twain

someone jumping off a rock in the water


“Maybe the next moment of your life will be on your next big adventure.” Siya Zarrabi

Mauritius rocky coastline with boats and a travel quote


“Live with no excuses and travel with no regrets.” Oscar Wilde

a view of the Italian coast through a stone window


“If you think adventures are dangerous, try routine: it’s lethal.” Paulo Coelho


Read our disclaimer & privacy policy here.

keep a way abroad fueled!
Consider making a donation

A lot of effort went into making this amazing piece of journalistic genius. If it helped you out, send us a quick thanks by buying us a coffee. All the money donated through Ko-Fi goes towards keeping A Way Abroad awesome. Big thanks!

xx,
Pick an image to pin it!
Go back up arrow