travel like meaning

Synonyms of travel

• as in to trek
• as in to traverse
• as in to fly
• as in to associate
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Thesaurus Definition of travel

 (Entry 1 of 2)

Synonyms & Similar Words

• peregrinate
• road - trip
• knock (about)
• perambulate
• pass (over)
• cut (across)
• proceed (along)
• get a move on
• make tracks
• shake a leg
• hotfoot (it)
• fast - forward

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• hang (around or out)
• slow (down or up)
• collaborate
• take up with
• keep company (with)
• rub shoulders (with)
• fall in with
• pal (around)
• rub elbows (with)
• mess around
• be friends with
• interrelate
• confederate
• cold - shoulder

Thesaurus Definition of travel  (Entry 2 of 2)

• peregrination
• commutation

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Thesaurus Entries Near travel

Cite this entry.

“Travel.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/travel. Accessed 26 Mar. 2024.

More from Merriam-Webster on travel

Nglish: Translation of travel for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of travel for Arabic Speakers

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about travel

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7 Personal Benefits of Travel

Forget milling around in your finest evening wear, Singapore Sling in hand: You'll be lucky to get peanuts. Flying isn't quite the party it was in Sinatra's days, and lots of time, energy, and money are expended to leave home, so why travel? How long do the  personal benefits of travel last?

Getting away from home and stepping outside of your usual routine is beneficial for both mind and body. The long-lasting personal benefits of visiting a foreign country far outweigh the costs and time to get there.

The great travel writer Pico Lyer said: "Travel is not really about leaving our homes, but leaving our habits." Here are seven ways that travel, especially  international travel, will enhance your life.

Travel Sharpens the Mind

You've done your old routine for so many years that you could run through it on autopilot. Being dropped into a new environment engages a dormant part of your mind and gets those synapses firing again.

Suddenly, you'll be required to navigate unfamiliar places, read foreign languages , try new things, make quick decisions, and choose your new eating and sleeping schedule.

Unlike at home, all the new sights, sounds, and places will require mental processing and filing. Your brain will welcome the workout! Once you return home, you'll be sharper than ever for better organizing and sprucing up your daily routine.

A Shift in Perspective

"Nobody comes back from a journey the way they started it." — Unknown

Being exposed to new cultures and people will greatly shift your paradigm and create a healthier perspective once you return back home. Seeing different social classes creates compassion and really makes you feel more blessed and content. Large portions of the world's population have to deal with daily threats such as hunger, disease , and landmines .

A hard day at work suddenly doesn't seem so bad when you see people in developing countries toiling in sun-scorched fields from morning to dark, or begging for a drink of water.

A Chance to Try New Things

"Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." — Ralph Waldo Emerson

While you may branch out at home from time to time by trying new restaurants or splurging on expenditures, traveling kicks you out of the comfort zone and forces you, for better or worse, to try new things!

Even if you don't enjoy your first attempt at scuba diving , at least you'll be able to relate in a new way the next time you see it in a movie or hear someone talking about it.

Becoming a well-rounded individual enhances self-confidence and will help you find new material for conversation in social settings with a wider variety of people.

Who knows, you may accidentally discover your new favorite food or find out that you want to pursue a new career in karaoke!

Meet New People

"A journey is best measured in friends, not in miles." — Tim Cahill

You'll meet far more friendly people on the road than you will under ordinary circumstances at home.

Other travelers are always looking to share experiences, give tips on places to go, and meet people from all over. Striking up a conversation with other travelers is extraordinarily easy.

A polite "so where are you from?" breaks the ice quite easily and may lead to lasting friendships with people from all over the world.

See the Real Deal

"To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries." — Aldous Huxley

Until you visit a place and form your own opinions, your understanding only comes from what you were taught in school, read in books, or saw on media, which may or may not be a complete truth.

Don't over-research your upcoming destination in guidebooks. Do your best to avoid building a bias toward a place or installing mental filters before you visit. Wait to form your own opinion, remaining objective until you can make up your own mind.

Exercise and Sunshine

Sure, you could just go sweat in the gym under fluorescent lighting, but chances are that you'll be much more active from day to day while on the road, regardless of whether your trip is an adventurous one or simply a relaxing beach trip .

You could be exploring new cities on foot, hiking , swimming, walking between places, and hopefully soaking up some needed sunshine while doing so. And it's guaranteed to smell better than the gym.

Come Home Renewed

After stepping away from home for a while, you'll return with renewed energy, a new set of mental filters, and ready to take on the next big project or challenge. Call it a life reboot.

Getting away for some time, even though it requires effort, will greatly enhance your attitude and productivity once you return home. Sure, you may have some mail piled up and matters to attend, but those are simple challenges easily knocked out.

Breaking up the monotony for a while is a great way to reduce stress and give your life an injection of excitement. Don't be surprised if shortly after your return, you're already counting down days until the next trip!

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‘To Travel is to Live’: 24 Quotes that Will Inspire You to Wander the Globe

By silvia mordini.

In the spirit of full disclosure, you must know I am an admitted travel addict and spiritual explorer. My life and the traveled paths I have chosen have been inspired by the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Make as many experiments as possible.”

For me, travel is the greatest experiment. It brings forth curiosity and the urge to investigate the experience of being alive. When we travel we get out of the old and settled habits of our daily lives and feel inspired to see the world anew. This heightened sense of awareness stays with us when we go home and permanently influences our perspective on life.

As Kate Douglas Wiggins puts it, “There is a kind of magic about going far away and then coming back all changed.” Once you allow yourself to get a little lost, reduce any over-controlling tendencies, and lose the sense of urgency, you no longer want to return to your old habits. You feel like life is offering you a new beginning, and it is.”

Let these quotes bring travel inspiration to your life as they do to mine!

1. “Travel brings power and love back into your life.” – Rumi

2. “Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.” – Terry Pratchett,  A Hat Full of Sky

3. “Nobody can discover the world for somebody else. Only when we discover it for ourselves does it become common ground and a common bond and we cease to be alone.” – Wendell Berry. A Place on Earth.

4. “The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.” – Christopher McCandless

5. “To move, to breathe, to fly, to float,

To gain all while you give,

To roam the roads of lands remote,

To travel is to live.”

– Hans Christian Andersen. The Fairy Tale of My Life: An Autobiography .

6. “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.” – Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad/Roughing It.

7. “One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” – Henry Miller

8. “There are several ways to react to being lost. One is to panic. Another is to abandon yourself to lostness, to allow the fact that you’ve misplaced yourself to change the way you experience the world.” – Audrey Niffenegger. Her Fearful Symmetry.

9. “What is that feeling when you’re driving away from people and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing? – it’s the too-huge world vaulting us, and it’s good-bye. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies.” – Jack Kerouac. On the Road.

10. “But that’s the glory of foreign travel, as far as I am concerned. I don’t want to know what people are talking about. 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 five 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 a street without endangering your life. Your whole existence becomes a series of interesting guesses.” – Bill Bryson. Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe.

11. “It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.” – Ernest Hemingway

12. “Traveling outgrows its motives. It soon proves sufficient in itself. You think you are making a trip, but soon it is making you – or unmaking you.” – Nicolas Bouvier. The Way of the World.

13. “Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

14. “Personally I like going places where I don’t speak the language, don’t know anybody, don’t know my way around and don’t have any delusions that I’m in control. Disoriented, even frightened, I feel alive, awake in ways I never am at home.” – Michael Mewshaw

15. “We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next to find ourselves. We travel to open our hearts and eyes and learn more about the world than our newspapers will accommodate. We travel to bring what little we can, in our ignorance and knowledge, to those parts of the globe whose riches are differently dispersed. And we travel, in essence, to become young fools again- to slow time down and get taken in, and fall in love once more.” – Pico Iyer

16. “I travel light. But not at the same speed.” – Jarod Kintz. The Days of Yay are Here! Wake Me Up When They’re Over.

17. “I am infinitely curious and almost infinitely patient with mishaps, discomforts, and minor disasters. So I can go anywhere on the planet””that’s not a problem.” – Elizabeth Gilbert. Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage.

18. “Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things: air, sleep, dreams, sea, the sky – all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.” – Cesare Pavese

19. “There are as many worlds as there are kinds of days, and as an opal changes its colors and its fire to match the nature of a day, so do I.” – John Steinbeck

20. “The value of your travels does not hinge on how many stamps you have in your passport when you get home — and the slow nuanced experience of a single country is always better than the hurried, superficial experience of forty countries.” – Rolf Potts. Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel.

21. “Only it seems to me that once in your life before you die you ought to see a country where they don’t talk in English and don’t even want to.” – Thornton Wilder. Our Town.

22. “We want to make good time, but for us now this is measured with the emphasis on “good” rather than on “time”….” – Robert M. Pirsig. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values.

23. “There is a kind of magicness about going far away and then coming back all changed.” – Kate Douglas Wiggin. New Chronicles of Rebecca.

24. “Travellers understand, instinctively and by experience, that travel and adventure change and elongate time, even while navigating the deadlines of airline and train departures.” – Paul Sheehan

Love yourself, love your day, love your life! Silvia

ABOUT THE WRITER

Enthusiasm to love your life is contagious around Silvia.  Her expert passion connects people to their own joyful potential.  Silvia lives her happiness in such a big way that you can’t help but leave her classes, workshops, trainings and retreats spiritually uplifted!  Born in Ecuador, raised traveling around the globe, she is an enthusiastic citizen of the world and spiritual adventurer. She has over 10,000 hours and 15 years of teaching experience, owned a yoga studio for 9 years and after being run over by a car used yoga to recover physically and emotionally. Silvia leads Alchemy Tours Yoga Retreats and Alchemy of Yoga RYT200 Yoga Teacher Training. Join her on Twitter to keep inspiring greater happiness by answering the question #YRUHappy. Connect with Silvia on  Twitter  and  Facebook  and learn more about her story at  www.alchemytours.com  or  www.silviamordini.com .

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English By Day

Everything you need to know about learning english

103 Travel Idioms And Phrases (Meaning & Examples)

August 3, 2020 by Wes

Are you looking for some useful travel idioms to improve your English?

If so, you are in the right place.

In this post, we are going to look at 103 different travel idioms and how to use them.

Let’s get started…

1. Float One’s Boat

• Meaning : to make someone happy, excited or interested in something.
• Use In A Sentence : I don’t really want to go to Europe, but whatever floats your boat.

2. To Jump Ship

• Meaning : to suddenly stop doing something.
• Use In A Sentence : Joe was doing well on the project until he suddenly jumped ship without telling anyone.

3. One’s Train Of Thought

• Meaning : a person’s pattern of thoughts or sequence of thoughts on a matter.
• Use In A Sentence : I was making great progress until Mary came into my room and then I lost my train of thought.

4. To Step It Up A Gear

• Meaning : to work on something more effectively or with more energy than previously.
• Use In A Sentence : If you want this business to grow, you need to step it up a gear and start advertising.

5. Right Up One’s Alley

• Meaning : if something is up one’s alley it means it is something that appeals to them.
• Use In A Sentence : I didn’t like that movie, but I think it would be right up Amy’s alley. She likes romantic movies.

6. Just The Ticket

• Meaning : exactly what is needed or wanted.
• Use In A Sentence : That ham and cheese sandwich was just the ticket for lunch. I feel so much better now that I ate something.

7. A Mile A Minute

• Meaning : very fast.
• Use In A Sentence : I can’t keep up with Keith. He walks a mile a minute.

8. Bad News Travels Fast

• Meaning : bad news travels fast because people like to talk about these sorts of things.
• Use In A Sentence : How does everyone know that I got in trouble at school? Bad news travels fast I guess.

9. To Travel Light

• Meaning : to travel with very little luggage or baggage.
• Use In A Sentence : I always try to travel light because I hate having to check in my luggage at the airport.

10. To Go Off The Beaten Track

• Meaning : to travel to a place that isn’t well known or visited often by others.
• Use In A Sentence : I wanted to visit this lake on top of the mountain. It a little bit off the beaten track, but I heard it is beautiful.

11. Neck Of The Woods

• Meaning : an area or neighborhood nearby.
• Use In A Sentence : Hello Tom, tomorrow I am going to be up in your neck of the woods. Would you like to grab a cup of coffee ?

12. To Be Running On Fumes

• Meaning : to continue to do something even though one is extremely tired or lacking energy/enthusiasm.
• Use In A Sentence : We were running on fumes by the time we walked into our hotel room, but it was totally worth the trip up the mountain.

13. To Cover One’s Tracks

• Meaning : to hide one’s trail or footprints so as not to be followed.
• Use In A Sentence : We need to be careful to cover our tracks because I don’t want Mom finding out that we came up here.

14. To Lose Track Of Someone Or Something

• Meaning : to forget about someone/something. To misplace something. To lose contact with a person or friend.
• Use In A Sentence : I’ve lost track of how many times we’ve traveled to Europe.

15. To Be On Track

• Meaning : to do something as scheduled or planned.
• Use In A Sentence : If we can get to New Mexico by tonight, we will be right on track to get to Las Vegas by Wednesday.

16. To Have A One-Track Mind

• Meaning : to be fixated about one particular topic.
• Use In A Sentence : Fred has a one-track mind. All he ever talks about is sports.

17. To Go Off The Rails

• Meaning : used to describe a person that starts to behave strangely or uncontrollably.
• Use In A Sentence : I don’t know what happen to grandma. She started to go off the rails when she turned 65 years old.

18. At A Good Clip

• Meaning : quick or at a fast pace.
• Use In A Sentence : Wow we climbed that mountain at a good clip. It is only 11:30.

19. A Redeye Flight

• Meaning : a late-night flight. Usually, one that leaves really late at night and arrives early the next morning.
• Use In A Sentence : George caught a redeye flight from California to New York.

20. To Fly By The Seat Of One’s Pants

• Meaning : to rely on your judgment to do something that you have never done before.
• Use In A Sentence : Rather than sit down and think about something. Mary likes to fly by the seat of her pants and figure it out as she goes.

21. To Fly Under The Radar

• Meaning : to do something without being noticed.
• Use In A Sentence : Mark is a quiet person. He likes to fly under the radar and hope that nobody notices him.

22. Road Trip

• Meaning : a trip taken by car.
• Use In A Sentence : My wife and I hope to go on a road trip around the country before we are 30 years old.

23. To Be At A Crossroads

• Meaning : to be at a point where a decision has to be made.
• Use In A Sentence : After graduating from school, I am at a crossroads. I want to make the best decision for my future.

24. To Circle The Wagons

• Meaning : to become defensive.
• Use In A Sentence : Don’t circle your wagons. I am not accusing you of anything. I am just trying to find out what happened so that we can prevent it from happening again.

25. To Be In The Driver’s Seat

• Meaning : to be in control of a situation; to be in charge.
• Use In A Sentence : The company seems to be doing better ever since Jeff has been in the driver’s seat.

26. To Be In The Same Boat

• Meaning : to be in the same situation or problem as somebody else.
• Use In A Sentence : John and Mary are in the same boat. They both don’t like their jobs, but they are too afraid to quit.

27. To Jump/Leap/Climb On The Bandwagon

• Meaning : to start to follow something after it has become popular.
• Use In A Sentence : A few years ago, no one liked the Patriots. Now that they are winning, it seems like everyone is jumping on the bandwagon.

28. To Put The Brakes On Someone Or Something

• Meaning : to slow down or to stop some progress.
• Use In A Sentence : I don’t know why Jim decided to put the brakes on his business idea. I thought it had great potential.

29. That Ship Has Sailed

• Meaning : the opportunity has already passed; a missed opportunity.
• Use In A Sentence : Do you think there is still a chance that you could work for Greg? No, I am afraid that ship has sailed.

30. Backseat Driver

• Meaning : a passenger who tries to tell the driver how to drive. It can also refer to someone who always likes to take control of a situation.
• Use In A Sentence : Don’t be a backseat driver. I know how to drive.

31. Cool One’s Jets

• Meaning : to calm oneself down.
• Use In A Sentence : You need to take a moment and cool your jets. You aren’t thinking rationally right now.

32. Fall Off The Wagon

• Meaning : to return to practicing a damaging behavior. Examples: drinking, overeating, drub abuse, being lazy, etc.
• Use In A Sentence : Well it seems like Jerry has fallen off the wagon again. He doesn’t seem motivated to do anything.

33. A Country Mile

• Meaning : a long distance.
• Use In A Sentence : After the car ran out of gas, we had to walk a country mile to the nearest gas station.

34. A Fork In The Road

• Use In A Sentence : I am at a fork in the road. I can continue my schooling or I can start my own business. What do you think I should do?

35. To Hit A Roadblock

• Meaning : something has prevents you from making progress.
• Use In A Sentence : Dave was making good progress on the project, but it seems like he has hit some kind of roadblock.

36. To Hit The Road / To Hit The Trail

• Meaning : to leave. To start your trip.
• Use In A Sentence : Well, I guess we should hit the road if we want to get there before noon.

37. To Jump The Track

• Meaning : to suddenly change from one thought or activity to another.
• Use In A Sentence : It just wasn’t working for us so we decided to jump the track and try something different.

38. To Put The Pedal To The Metal

• Meaning : to drive as fast as you can.
• Use In A Sentence : Put the pedal to the metal or else we are going to be late.

39. Rocky Road

• Meaning : a difficult period of time.
• Use In A Sentence : Jack has been going down a rocky road ever since his move to LA.

40. Smooth Sailing

• Meaning : to make progress easily with little to no difficulty.
• Use In A Sentence : Initially, it was difficult to learn the new system. However, not it is nothing but smooth sailing for everyone.

41. Sunday Driver

• Meaning : an extremely slow driver. Someone who is driving slow to enjoy the view.
• Use In A Sentence : Sorry I am late. I got stuck behind some Sunday driver who didn’t want to let anyone pass.

42. The Jet Set

• Meaning : a group of rich people who like to travel the world.
• Use In A Sentence : His dream to join the jet-set came true after he was able to retire early.

43. A Wheel Within A Wheel

• Meaning : used to describe a situation or problem that is extremely complicated.
• Use In A Sentence : I can’t figure out this new computer system. It is really a wheel within a wheel . Can you help me?

44. To Throw Someone Under The Bus

• Meaning : to avoid blame or trouble for something by allowing someone else to take responsibility.
• Use In A Sentence : Mark always seems to throw me under the bus when something goes wrong.

45. A Tight Ship

• Meaning : A very well organized group of people.
• Use In A Sentence : I like working for Steve. He runs a tight ship.

46. To Miss The Boat/Bus

• Meaning : to miss out on something. To fail to take advantage of an opportunity.
• Use In A Sentence : You need to act fast or else you will miss the boat.

47. To Rock The Boat

• Meaning : to do something that will cause problems for others.
• Use In A Sentence : I don’t want to be difficult and rock the boat, but I can’t come into work tomorrow.

48. To Paddle One’s Own Canoe

• Meaning : to be independent.
• Use In A Sentence : Now that you are an adult, you are expected to paddle your own canoe. You can’t rely on your parents to make every decision for you.

49. To Drive Someone Up A Wall

• Meaning : to annoy or to irritate someone.
• Use In A Sentence : I don’t know about you, but every time she talks about work it drives me up a wall .

50. Hit The Beach

• Meaning : to go to the beach.
• Use In A Sentence : Do you have any plans for this weekend? If the weather is nice I would like to hit the beach before it starts to cool off.

51. Highways And Byways

• Meaning : major and minor roadways.
• Use In A Sentence : Mary spent the summer traveling all the highways and byways out West.

52. On The Home Stretch

• Meaning : the last part of a long journey.
• Use In A Sentence : We are on the home stretch. We have about 30 minutes before we get to our destination.

53. To Have Itchy Feet

• Meaning : used to describe a person who has the desire to travel.
• Use In A Sentence : Every time I go to the airport it gives me itchy feet to go somewhere new.

54. To Make One’s Way Back To Something

• Meaning : to slowly work one’s way back to something.
• Use In A Sentence : It was raining cats and dogs, but I slowly made my way back to the farm.

55. To Take Someone For A Ride

• Meaning : to deceive someone.
• Use In A Sentence : I can’t believe I let Joe take me for a ride like that. I should have known he wasn’t telling me the truth.

56. Road Rage

• Meaning : angry or violent behavior caused by stress from driving.
• Use In A Sentence : A driver who hit two people in a road rage attack has been arrested.

57. To Get The Show On The Road

• Meaning : to get things started. To start the journey. To begin to work.
• Use In A Sentence : Well, I guess we better get the show on the road if we want to be there before noon.

58. To Sail Close To The Wind

• Meaning : to do something that is risky or dangerous.
• Use In A Sentence : You are going to get yourself in trouble one day if you keep sailing close to the wind.

59. To Live Out Of A Suitcase

• Meaning : to briefly stay in several locations. Never staying in the same place long enough to unpack your bags.
• Use In A Sentence : I am tired of living out of a suitcase. I miss being at home.

60. To Hitch Your Wagon To A Star

• Meaning : to set high goals; to aim high.
• Use In A Sentence : My parents always encouraged me to hitch my wagon to a star and aim high in life. That is the reason I am where I am today.

61. Wheels Fell Off

• Meaning : slang for when an unexpected problem arises.
• Use In A Sentence : Everything was going as planned until the wheels fells off and we had to abort the mission.

62. Road Hog

• Meaning : a driver who takes up too much space making it difficult for others to pass.
• Use In A Sentence : This guy is a road hog. I can’t pass him.

63. To Send Flying

• Meaning : to cause something to be scattered about.
• Use In A Sentence : I quickly turned the corner and bumped into Mrs. Smith and sent all her books flying.

64. To Cross The Bridge When You Get To It

• Meaning : to address the problem when/if it happens, not before.
• Use In A Sentence : I am nervous that if Jack gets sick we will have to cancel our vacation. Well, we will cross that bridge when we get to it, but let’s not worry about it right now.

Additional Reading: 11 Useful Bridge Idioms – Meaning & Examples

65. All Hands On Deck

• Meaning : everyone needs to help with a certain task.
• Use In A Sentence : We only had half an hour before Mom and Dad are going to be here, it is all hands on deck . We need everybody’s help.

66. Bump In The Road

• Meaning : a problem that arises and slows down progress. Usually only temporary.
• Use In A Sentence : We hit a bump in the road when the materials were delayed 4 days, but in the end, we finished the project on time.

67. To Burn One’s Bridges

• Meaning : to do something that can’t be undone. Usually, it refers to leaving a situation (like a job) in an unfavorable way that you are no longer welcome back or you can no longer return. Opposite of building bridges .
• Use In A Sentence : Not only did he quit his job, but he started to work for our biggest competitor. He certainly burned his bridges. I hope it works out for him because he will never be able to work for us again.

68. To Give The Green Light To Someone

• Meaning : to give someone permission to do something.
• Use In A Sentence : Tom gave me the green light to tell the staff about the company’s upcoming projects.

69. To Go The Extra Mile

• Meaning : to do more than the necessary or to do more than expected to get something done.
• Use In A Sentence : Joe went the extra mile to make everything was perfect so that his wife would enjoy the trip.

70. To Be In One’s Wheelhouse

• Meaning : To be in one’s comfort zone or to match their abilities.
• Use In A Sentence : You need to get out of your wheelhouse and go meet new people.

71. Just Around The Corner

• Meaning : used to describe something that is going to happen very soon.
• Use In A Sentence : Our trip to the Bahamas is just around the corner. I can’t wait.

72. Light At The End Of The Tunnel

• Meaning : there is hope that a difficult situation is going to end very soon.
• Use In A Sentence : Now that the government is going to sit down and talk about it. There is finally light at the end of the tunnel that this situation will get better.

73. To Lower The Boom

• Meaning : to punish someone one. To put a stop to something someone is doing.
• Use In A Sentence : Mrs. Johnson lowered the boom on Jimmy and Byron for misbehaving during class.

74. To Be Off One’s Trolley

• Meaning : (slang) used to describe someone who is acting crazy or insane.
• Use In A Sentence : You must be off your trolley if you think you can get all that work done before Monday.

75. On The Fly

• Meaning : to do something quickly without much thought or planning in advance.
• Use In A Sentence : George just got up there and gave a speech on the fly.

76. Turn The Corner

• Meaning : to begin to see improvement in a difficult situation. 
• Use In A Sentence : After two days in the hospital, the doctor said that Jane has finally begun to turn the corner. He thinks she will be able to leave the hospital tomorrow.

77. Train Wreck

• Meaning : a major failure or complete disaster. It can also be used to describe a person whose life is in a complete mess.
• Use In A Sentence : The trip to the West coasts turned out to be a train wreck. Nothing went as planned.

78. Where The Rubber Meets The Road

• Meaning : a crucial test. The point where one’s efforts are put to the test.
• Use In A Sentence : This is where the rubber meets the road. Depending on how people react, we will know whether it was a good idea or not.

79. Walk The Plank

• Meaning : used to describe the action of forcing someone to accept the consequences of something.
• Use In A Sentence : Once we find the person who did this they will most certainly have to walk the plank.

80. Don’t Put The Cart Before The Horse

• Meaning : it is a nice way to tell someone to do things in the right order.
• Use In A Sentence : Don’t put the cart before the horse. First, look for a job that you like. After you have a job then you can start thinking about how you plan on spending your money.

81. To Spin One’s Wheels

• Meaning : to waste one’s time on something without seeing much progress.
• Use In A Sentence : Sam is just spinning his wheels. He isn’t getting anywhere in this job. He needs to look for something better.

82. To Take The High Road

• Meaning : to take a more ethical approach. An approach that is least likely to offend or upset others.
• Use In A Sentence : Even though Megan treated Paul bad at work. Paul decided to take the high road and not return the same treatment to her.

83. To Take The Wind Out Of Someone’s Sails

• Meaning : to discourage someone.
• Use In A Sentence : Brian was making great progress on the project until Mark came by and started to pick at the imperfections. He really took the wind out of Brian’s sails.

84. On A Wing And A Prayer

• Meaning : there is very little chance of success.
• Use In A Sentence : When we decided to quit our jobs and start this company we did it on a wing and a prayer.

85. Puddle Jumper

• Meaning : a small airplane that only travels short distances
• Use In A Sentence : Once we arrive on the island, we are going to hop on a puddle jumper and it will take us the rest of the way.

86. Fifth Wheel or Third Wheel

• Meaning : an unwanted extra person.
• Use In A Sentence : Jim was the only person without a date. He felt like a fifth wheel so he left early.

87. To Desert/Leave A Sinking Ship

• Meaning : to leave a situation in which one knows failure is imminent and it is better to leave before it is too late.
• Use In A Sentence : I hate to be the one who deserts a sinking ship, but I need to think about my future.

88. Any Port In A Storm

• Meaning : when in a difficult situation any solution is a good solution even though one may not like it.
• Use In A Sentence : Adam didn’t want to move back in with his parents, but after quitting his job he can’t afford a new place. Any port in a storm, I guess.

89. To Get One’s Wings

• Meaning : to get a pilot’s license.
• Use In A Sentence : John was over the moon to finally get his wings.

90. In Full Flight

• Meaning : to flee as quickly as possible.
• Use In A Sentence : The thieves left the scene in full flight, but eventually, the police caught them.

91. To Hit The Ground Running

• Meaning : to start an activity with a lot of energy and enthusiasm. To begin at full speed.
• Use In A Sentence : Today is a new day. We need to forget about what happened yesterday and we need to hit the ground running.

92. To Have Your Feet On The Ground

• Meaning : to remain calm in a difficult situation. To think practically in a stressful situation.
• Use In A Sentence : When he lost his job Joe really showed that he had his feet on the ground by not panicking and making wise decisions.

93. One’s Old Stomping Grounds

• Meaning : a favorite place where a person likes to go to often.
• Use In A Sentence : After talking for a little bit, we all went back to our old stomping grounds, our favorite restaurant where we used to hang out every Friday.

94. Pit Stop

• Meaning : a short break during a road trip to get food, refuel or rest up a bit before continuing.
• Use In A Sentence : Do you think we could take a pit stop? I really need to use the bathroom.

95. To Hitch A Ride

• Meaning : to ask for a free ride. To go somewhere in somebody else’s car.
• Use In A Sentence : Instead of taking the bus, I am just going to hitch a ride with Steve.

96. Make Headway

• Meaning : to make progress.
• Use In A Sentence : After working hard for several months, we are finally making headway and it looks like it will be done before the deadline.

97. To Part Ways

• Meaning : to go in different directions.
• Use In A Sentence : After working together for 15 years we decided to part ways and start our own separate companies.

98. To Pull Up Stakes

• Meaning : to pack up and leave a campsite.
• Use In A Sentence : It started to rain and it didn’t look like it was going to stop. So we decided to pull up stakes and start to move down the mountain.

99. To Set Up Camp

• Meaning : to prepare an area to sleep outside.
• Use In A Sentence : We need to set up camp before it gets dark. 

100. Tire Kicker

• Meaning : a person who appears to be interesting in buying something, but in the end, does not buy it. They tend to waste a lot of time.
• Use In A Sentence: I think he is just a tire kicker. He has no interest in buying that car.

101. To Walk It Off

• Meaning : to walk around in an attempt to feel better. Usually after an injury.
• Use In A Sentence : I tried to walk it off, but I think I seriously hurt my ankle this time.

102. Without A Hitch

• Meaning : to have no problems.
• Use In A Sentence : how was your trip? Perfect, everything went off without a hitch.

103. Clear Sailing

• Meaning : used to describe a situation that is free from obstacles or problems; easy going.
• Use In A Sentence : Now that we have the new part, it is clear sailing from here on out.

There you have it! 103 Travel Idioms! Which one is your favorite? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

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Meaning of travel in English

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travel verb ( MAKE JOURNEY )

• I like to travel but, then again, I'm very fond of my home .
• It's often quicker to travel across country and avoid the major roads altogether .
• Passengers without proper documentation will not be allowed to travel.
• The elderly travel free on public transport .
• We like to travel in the autumn when there are fewer tourists .
• The tragedy is that cultures don't always travel well, and few immigrant groups can sustain their culture over the long term .
• around Robin Hood's barn idiom
• baggage drop
• communication
• first class
• peripatetically
• public transportation
• super-commuting

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

travel verb ( MOVE )

• The objects travel in elliptical orbits .
• In 1947, a pilot flying over the Cascades saw nine metallic flying objects traveling at an estimated 1,200 miles per hour .
• The elevator traveled smoothly upward .
• White light separates out into its component wavelengths when traveling through a prism .
• As the material travels through the winding machine , excess liquid is squeezed out by rollers .
• Lead dust travels easily from hands to mouth and can't be seen .
• body English
• kinetic energy
• recirculate
• recirculation
• repair to somewhere

travel verb ( BREAK RULE )

• foul trouble
• free-throw lane
• free-throw line
• run-and-gun

travel noun ( ACTIVITY )

• They offer a 10 percent discount on rail travel for students .
• The price includes travel and accommodation but meals are extra .
• His work provided him with the opportunity for a lot of foreign travel.
• The popular myth is that air travel is more dangerous than travel by car or bus .
• Passes are available for one month's unlimited travel within Europe .
• break-journey
• circumnavigation

travel noun ( MOVEMENT OF OBJECT )

• It can be difficult to predict the travel of smoke from smouldering fires .
• The travel of the bullets and blood spatter showed that he was lying on the ground on his side when he was shot .
• This seemed to prove that light has a finite speed of travel.
• Striking the ball when the clubhead is already past the lowest point of its travel gives a slight overspin.
• The actuator then rotates its output shaft to the extremes of its travel.
• bring someone on
• non-competitor
• park the bus idiom
• play big idiom
• step/move up a gear idiom

travel | Intermediate English

Travel | business english, examples of travel, collocations with travel.

These are words often used in combination with travel .

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Translations of travel

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something dangerous or serious, such as an accident, that happens suddenly or unexpectedly and needs fast action in order to avoid harmful results

Paying attention and listening intently: talking about concentration

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33 Meaningful Reasons Why People LOVE to Travel

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“Do you like to travel?”

This is a question I’ve been asked so many times in my life.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been obsessed with seeing the world. In high school, I joined all of the clubs that had travel opportunities to out-of-state conferences.

In college, I studied abroad four times – and planned solo trips and trips with friends in between!

You could say that I LOVE to travel – it’s also one of the reasons I created this blog! Traveling is in my blood, and I have two major missions in life: 1. see as much of the world as possible, and 2. inspire others to do the same!

There’s even a word for people like me. I’m a hodophil e , which means “one who loves to travel.”

I could talk all day long about why I love traveling and the fulfillment that traveling has brought to my life. And there are tons of other travelers out there that feel the same as me!

To put together this ultimate list of reasons why people love to travel, I worked with some fellow travel addicts to tell stories of what travel means to us.

You’ll find stories of personal growth, checking off bucket list experiences, and learning new things – all thanks to travel.

So, if you’re thinking about traveling the world for yourself, or are just wondering about how traveling can change your life, keep reading for personal stories of why people love to travel!

Table of Contents

1. Travel helps you check things off your bucket list.

Written by Sydney from A World in Reach

Growing up in a small, rural town, I dreamed of one day flying across the ocean, visiting world-class cities, and seeing the landmarks I had only seen on TV in real life.

I had always found Stonehenge and its history to be so fascinating, and I thought that climbing the Great Wall of China would be one of the coolest things anyone could do.

Seeing the Eiffel Tower in Paris sparkle at night was something I often dreamed about, as was walking through the hectic streets of Tokyo.

At the time, all of these experiences seemed like a pipe dream. How would I ever be able to afford to visit such faraway places?

But now, thanks to the gift of travel, I’ve been able to check all of these things and more off of my bucket list. And thanks to learning how to travel on a budget, I’ve been doing it cheaply while still maximizing my experiences.

Today, my bucket list is never-ending – each time I check something off, something new gets added. I’m still dreaming of seeing the Pyramids of Giza, going on a South African safari, and eating my way through Mexico City.

I wake up each day thankful for the experiences I’ve been given, and I look forward each day to checking the next thing off my bucket list.

2. Traveling gets you out of your comfort zone.

One of the things I love most about traveling is that it gets me out of my comfort zone.

To me, travel is one of the most rewarding and enriching experiences in the world. Hopping off a plane and being in a completely new environment is a feeling unlike any other.

When I get stuck in my day-to-day routine, I crave the excitement (and sometimes, chaos) of a travel day.

Traveling forces you to do something difficult – you might have to navigate a city with a language barrier, get accustomed to cultural norms totally different from your own, or figure out how to get a spare key to your accommodation when you got locked out of your Airbnb late at night with a dying phone battery (if you’re wondering why that’s so specific, it’s because it was easily my most stressful travel experience to date!).

Thanks to travel allowing me to get out of my comfort zone, I’ve improved my critical thinking and decision-making skills. I’ve also become a more empathetic person, and striking up conversations with strangers doesn’t seem so intimidating since I do it regularly when traveling.

Travel is an incredible way to broaden your horizons and expand your worldview. It challenges you to step outside of your comfort zone, confront your fears and insecurities, and connect with others.

If you’re ever yearning for an escape from the routine, start planning a trip.

3. Travel lets you try new foods.

I travel for a lot of reasons – seeing iconic landmarks in person, learning something new at museums and historical sites, and meeting new people from different walks of life.

One of my favorite things about travel though is all of the different food!

I’ve always been a foodie, and traveling has opened me up to so many unique dishes and cuisines that I can’t get at home.

Some of my fondest travel memories include eating my way through Ueno Market (one of the best things to do in Tokyo ), trying cuy (guinea pig) in Ecuador, and taking a Hawaiian cooking class in Oahu.

When I’m planning a trip, I always keep a list of foods to try and the best restaurants to visit. I also love taking local cooking classes so that I can learn how to make the dishes at home!

One of the #1 pieces of travel advice I always give others is to always try a new food , even if it’s something out of your comfort zone. You never know, you might end up with a new favorite!

4. Travel lets you escape everyday life and discover yourself.

Written by Kristin from Tiny Footsteps Travel

Traveling helps you discover not only new places but yourself.

Having grown up in a small town that I never left where I faced bullying at school, it was hard to imagine life outside of my reality.

At 12 years old, I got on a plane for the first time, to visit family in Sweden. This was my first taste of international travel, and it taught me more than just that there are beautiful, breathtaking landscapes abroad.

In meeting my extended family members, I learned that life could look different from how I grew up. Travel became my passion that fired my spirit, and became the dream at the end of the tunnel whenever I faced hard days.

I pursued traveling in my teens and early 20s. I traveled back to Sweden and also lived abroad in France, Germany, Mexico, South Korea, and Australia.

Overseas in far-off countries, it didn’t matter whether I was popular in school or not. I got to meet people as a whole new person and discover what I liked and who I really was.

I empowered myself by doing adventurous things, like skydiving on the beach in Australia.

Now as an adult, I love to give the gift of travel to my own two children. Our most recent family trip was to Costa Rica , which is the perfect destination with kids, a partner, or on your own.

5. When you travel, you get to learn about other cultures.

Written by Cristina from My Little World of Travelling

One of the main reasons why I love traveling is learning about other cultures. Although you can read books, watch documentaries or hear other travelers’ stories, nothing is better than experiencing the culture yourself.

Each destination I’ve visited has taught me something about a culture, but Mexico stands out for me. Despite Spanish being my first language, Mexican Spanish and culture are very different from Spain’s.

Visiting places like Chichen Itza and eating at local restaurants inspired me to cook more Mexican foods at home, learn more about its gastronomy, and made me curious about their traditions.

I also love that you can take new habits and traditions from other countries. Having traveled and lived in the UK , I adopted new habits like drinking tea and using words and expressions from regions like Yorkshire.

6. Traveling allows you to meet new, interesting people.

Written by Tammi from Wander Healthy

Traveling is a fantastic way to meet new and interesting people, especially for first-time travelers.

It puts you outside of your usual routine, providing opportunities to interact with people who share unique insights and experiences about the places you’re visiting. This is an easy and awesome way to learn about different cultures and customs.

Whether it’s chance encounters or shared experiences, you’re likely to interact with others every time you turn around.

It could be striking up a conversation on a train, meeting someone in a coffee shop, or attending a local event, but the possibilities for meeting new people are endless.

Staying in hostels or going on tours, my personal favorites, have a way of leading to conversations and lifelong connections with friends you wouldn’t have met otherwise.

Whether you’re backpacking through Europe, exploring Southeast Asia, or taking a road trip across the United States, you’re likely to meet people with interests and hobbies similar to yours, and your community builds naturally.

Traveling is the only thing that does this so effortlessly, letting you meet new and interesting people from all walks of life and create memories for a lifetime.

7. Traveling lets you see unique landscapes unlike any you’ve seen before.

Written by Sierra from Your Guide to Wandering

Traveling has allowed me to see landscapes found nowhere else in the world.

There are many places on earth that, without protection, would have disappeared with time. I’m grateful for our protected lands and historic monuments to allow me to experience nature and history from a first-hand perspective.

The ability to see fossils along my hikes in Moab, Utah, bike along 75-foot sand dunes in Cape Cod , or stroll the grounds of 12th-century castles in Portugal is invaluable.

Travel allows every day to be a different story and a different adventure. I don’t have to read about history or natural wonders just in books – I can experience them in real life.

Traveling to unique landscapes sparks our curiosity and childlike wonder. How were humans able to build the Roman Empire in ancient days with the most primitive of tools? How were the caves in Carlsbad, New Mexico formed over millions of years by just wind and water?

Travel constantly inspires me and keeps me exploring the bounds of history, science, and nature. What a privilege we get to travel and see such unique historical and natural places on Earth.

8. Travel helps you see things from a new perspective.

Written by Jo from World Wild Schooling

One of the things that I love most about traveling is the ability to see things from a new perspective.

Whether it’s a different culture, a new environment, or simply a change of scenery, traveling has a way of opening up your eyes to the world around you.

When we’re stuck in our daily routines and familiar surroundings, it’s easy to become complacent and forget about the wider world.

Traveling helps to break us out of this bubble and expose us to new ways of thinking and living. It allows us to see how people in other parts of the world approach life, work, and relationships.

For example, I was surprised to find out that in Phuket, Thailand, buses have no glass in the windows due to the consistently warm climate. This may seem like a small detail, but it highlights the unique ways that different cultures adapt to their surroundings.

Similarly, my jaw dropped when I first visited Brussels, Belgium , and saw that all signs are bilingual, even the subtitles in cinemas (yes, this means 4 lines of text!). This reflects the country’s complex linguistic history and the ongoing efforts to maintain both French and Dutch as official languages.

9. Travel can make you feel alive.

Written by Michele from Adventures Abound

Traveling makes simple experiences feel momentous, it sparks creativity, and it makes me come alive!

My first time going to another country was when I studied abroad in Costa Rica , and I realized that even the smallest experiences like taking a bus to a cool landmark or walking to a neighborhood festival were suddenly interesting in a new country.

I loved meeting new people, learning about the culture and the language, and traveling around to see beautiful nature in Costa Rica. Even just taking a bus to go visit a coffee farm felt like the most fun adventure.

Once I went on that trip, I was bitten by the travel bug as they say.

I started seeking out ways to feel like I was exploring and that often meant getting out around where I lived.

It’s so fun to explore little towns, peruse around farmer’s markets and shop with local vendors with the lens that I am traveling like I would if I were further from home.

10. Traveling allows you to see art in the world’s best museums.

Written by Lisa from Waves and Cobblestones

One of the reasons that I love to travel is that it gives me the opportunity to visit world-class art museums and spend time looking at fabulous pieces of art up close.

It’s quite a special way to experience art when you can look at a statue from different angles to note and admire all of the fine details.

If you can, always walk around a sculpture to view it from all sides. You just can’t appreciate it in the same way from a photo.

In some museums, the way that the art is displayed improves the viewing experience. In the Musée de l’Orangerie (one of my favorite Paris attractions ), Monet’s Water Lilies paintings are displayed in a unique oval room for an immersive panoramic viewing experience.

Visiting museums is one of my favorite things to do when I travel. And it’s also a great option for a rainy day!

11. Traveling strengthens friendship bonds.

Written by Kristin from Global Travel Escapades

One of the biggest reasons why I love to travel is because it allows me to strengthen the bonds I share with friends.

My friends and I traveled together right after graduating from university.

Although we somewhat knew each other before going on the trip, we didn’t really know each other!

But on this trip, we spent over a week laughing our butts off, dealing with stressful situations, and generally going on all kinds of crazy adventures around French Polynesia together.

There was no shortage of mistakes during this intense period, but we all came out on the other side for the better!

Fast forward almost two years later, and we all still speak so fondly of that time together. In addition, we went from mere acquaintances to the best of friends.

So, for me, I love traveling because it helps strengthen the friendships and relationships I have with others!

12. Travel helps you learn about history and its impact on places you visit.

Written by Diana from Travels in Poland

Traveling has always been my passion, but when you visit a place where you really feel something you can’t explain, it can transform your perspective on travel.

This happened to me when I visited Auschwitz-Birkenau .

My family is Polish and my grandmother, who was there with me, couldn’t get herself to enter the camp fully for several hours. She lived through the occupation and knew people shipped off to the camp. I realized how deeply this impacted me when I visited.

I’ve long been captivated by the way events shape societies, leaving indelible marks on the fabric of their being.

Stepping onto the hallowed grounds of Auschwitz, I felt the weight of the past heavy on my shoulders.

My grandmother’s eyes, glistening with unshed tears, told a thousand stories. This was where she lost family and friends, their lives snuffed out by the unimaginable cruelty of the Holocaust.

It was in walking onto these grounds that I grasped the true power of travel: the ability to connect with the past, witness history firsthand, and gain insight into the myriad of ways it continues to shape our world.

Through this poignant journey, I found a renewed appreciation for the transformative potential of travel, and a deeper understanding of the impact places have on people. Learning not only about history, but about the way it has shaped our world, and how we can learn from it.

13. Traveling helps you find a home base.

Written by Mal from Where To Stay Bali

Traveling was always my passion, but since I quit my career in finance and my conventional life in my home country, traveling has a whole new meaning for me.

Slow travel has become my way of life and a search for somewhere I can one day settle.

Since the beginning of my digital nomad life, I’ve lived part-time in Greece, Albania, Mexico, and the Netherlands.

I loved each of these places for different reasons – for their weather, culture, food, and people.

But, there has been one place that felt different to me, more special, a place that I want to keep coming back to. I found a place in Bali , which is now my second home.

If you keep an open mind during your travels, you may also find a place like that – a second home that can change your life!

14. Travel gives you the chance to study and learn in a new culture.

Written by Amber from Amber Everywhere

I love to travel because it allows me to experience new cultures and ways of living.

In particular, I had wonderful experiences studying abroad when I was in college because it gave me a chance to learn and live in a new place.

I stayed with a host family during my first two trips abroad, once in Guatemala and again in Jordan.

Living with a local family gave me a chance to experience the culture, try different foods, and see entirely different parts of those cities that I would’ve otherwise found.

Studying abroad also gave me a chance to travel slowly, and I stayed in each place long enough to have a favorite restaurant or route to take to school.

There were smaller cultural nuances that I learned, either because they were explained to me by locals or because I just picked them up as I went.

15. Travel teaches self-confidence and self-acceptance.

Written by Chelsea from A Wandering Redhead

I want to personally thank travel for the self-love and self-acceptance that it has taught me. 

Pre-travel, I was shy, people-pleasing, and disbelieving if someone called me pretty. 

Post-travel, I am confident, I love my body and what it can do for me, and I’m overall more radiant and bubbly. 

Without travel, I may have never started my self-love journey and I certainly wouldn’t be where I am today. 

I love the progress that I have made and believe that everyone should solo travel at some point in their life.

16. Traveling fulfills childhood dreams.

Written by Colleen from Then We Walked

As a girl, I would watch Whicker’s World on our black-and-white TV.

Every week, Alan Whicker would appear on screen like a traveling James Bond, complete with his very correct English accent, and transport me to a new exotic corner of the globe.

I was enthralled. It lit a flame. I wanted to explore, too. I dreamed of Table Mountain, Fisherman’s Wharf, the Sphinx, the Parthenon, Hal Long Bay, and the Cook Islands.

But ordinary people didn’t travel in the 1960s, and I was a child.  I started work, married, bought a house, and had a family. Inside, I still dreamed.

We traveled a little, ticking off some of my bucket list, but last year, our children had flown the nest and we retired.  Now, we’re traveling and exploring in earnest!

I’ve waited half a lifetime to go exploring and I’m beyond excited about our plans.

My advice to the girl who watched the TV: don’t wait.

17. Traveling allows you to connect with nature.

Written by Taryn from Happiest Outdoors

One of my favorite things about traveling is connecting with nature.

I love the simplicity of hiking and wilderness camping because it removes all the chaos and distractions of everyday life. It’s just me and the mountains.

It’s also a great way to understand the local ecology. I find it fascinating to learn about the way glaciers and volcanoes work or what unique animal species live in the area.

Instead of just looking at a spectacular view, I can understand the way the landscape came to be, and that deepens my relationship with the place.

Spending time traveling in nature has also been pivotal in my life.

Back in 2019, I had some time to think while hiking the 65-kilometer Overland Track in Tasmania, Australia . The trek made me realize that it was the right time to leave my 9-5 job and write full-time.

Since then I’ve expanded my outdoor adventure website, written a hiking guidebook, and moved to a small mountain town so I can hike every day. 

18. Travel increases feelings of gratitude.

Written by Kristin from World on Wheels Blog

One of the reasons I love to travel is that it makes me more grateful.

When you are constantly in the same country or even environment, it’s easy to take things for granted.

As a traveler who uses a wheelchair and lives in the United States, it’s easy to forget that not all countries have ADA laws that guarantee access.

When I travel to places like South America, I am reminded how little things like curb cuts make a huge difference in how hard or easy it is to navigate a town. I can’t help but feel sad for the people with disabilities that actually live there.

Aside from reminders about how lucky I am to live in a country that encourages accessibility for all, I also feel a sense of gratitude that I’m able to explore the world and witness some of the immense beauty it has to offer.

There’s something incredibly special about seeing the power of Iguazu Falls and realizing how small you are in this massive world of ours. It’s a feeling and experience that photography just cannot seem to capture.

Travel is important for so many reasons, but helping to feel more gratitude is one of the things that I love the most.

19. Travel humbles you.

Written by Milijana from World Travel Connector

Gustave Flaubert, a literary genius and a wise man, once noted: “Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.”

And indeed, it is one of many lessons that traveling teaches you. Traveling puts you into a broader perspective of time, place, and the universe.

Visiting fascinating archeological sites like Petra in Jordan, Angor Wat in Cambodia, Giza in Egypt, and Pompeii in Italy made me see what a tiny place I occupy in today’s world and question the knowledge of contemporary times. It made me think.

Meeting other cultures while traveling showed me how oblivious I could be to other customs and traditions and how much there is always left to learn.

Traveling made me aware of the prejudices that I thought never existed. Travel shamed me. However, it also taught me the importance of being always open to learning while keeping the ego in check. 

I found it especially rewarding to hike Camino de Santiago in Spain. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims walked the trail before me. The Camino reminded me of the importance of modesty, effort, perseverance, and purpose. And, most importantly, what a tiny place I occupy in the world.

So, if you like meaningful travels, prepare your  Camino de Santiago packing list and walk the Camino. Let the Camino teach you valuable life lessons! 

20. Traveling helps you de-stress and recharge.

Written by Paulina from UK Everyday

Traveling is an excellent way to de-stress and recharge.

Discovering new places can allow you to reconnect with yourself. It can also help reduce stress levels by providing a change of scenery and an escape from the mundane routines of everyday life.

Traveling can also provide people with a sense of freedom from their work-related responsibilities, allowing them to relax surrounded by natural landscapes.

Exploring some of the best beaches in Wales can be a great way to disconnect from the stresses of everyday life.

Additionally, traveling can help boost creativity, as it encourages new ideas and perspectives. This can help spark creativity by introducing fresh ideas that you might not have otherwise thought of when stressed.

For these reasons, traveling is great to help de-stress and recharge.

Furthermore, travel also provides a break from your daily routine, allowing you to step away from your comfort zone and explore the unknown without worrying about your daily problems.

21. Travel lets you connect with other cultures through the arts.

Written by Dawn from Culture Feasting

If you consider yourself an artistic person, know that traveling can be a total game-changer.

As a creative person myself, I’ve found that exploring new destinations has the power to expand my spirit and give me all sorts of new artistic opportunities.

Over the years I have come to crave the stimulation of experiencing different cultures and their unique art forms.

From visiting local museums to catching a traditional dance performance, there are so many ways to connect with the arts while on vacation.

It’s not just about admiring pretty paintings or sculptures, either. It’s about immersing yourself in a foreign environment and gaining a whole new perspective on the world.

I’ve found that this can really inspire me to incorporate new artistic elements into my own creative projects.

So next time you’re planning a trip, consider how it could enhance your love for the arts and help you connect with other cultures on a deeper level.

22. Travel gives you a change of scenery.

Written by Tina from Veganderlust

I grew up in a small village in Austria, a country with beautiful lakes and mountains, but also a landlocked country.

The best part about traveling is the change of scenery. My favorite places to go to are cities next to the ocean, which is a completely different scenery from landlocked Austria.

There’s nothing better on your holiday than exploring a city and then relaxing at the beach.

That’s why I really loved my last trip to Barcelona . There’s so much culture and history to discover in this city, and afterward, you can go swimming in the sea.

By visiting different places with a change of scenery, you also develop a new appreciation for your own home scenery – one of the many positive side effects of traveling.

As much as I love traveling to coastal destinations, I always love seeing the mountains when I come back home.

23. Travel can strengthen your romantic relationships.

Written by Amy & Liam from Plain2Plane

There are so many wonderful reasons to travel.

If you’re in a relationship then there is nothing better than sharing experiences with your significant other.

Imagine waking up in Egypt with your partner, ready to go out for the day. You are going parasailing together, enjoying cocktails, quad biking – the list really is endless. You get to enjoy all of this with someone that you love and care about.

Traveling can be challenging at times and you have to make many different, sometimes difficult, decisions.

You have the luxury to share these moments together and form a closer relationship unlike any other. This will help you create a deeper bond with your partner.

You will also be able to step out of your comfort zone and try new things together. This will ultimately bring you closer together too!

24. Travel is inspiring.

Written by Chelsea from Adventures of Chels

One of the reasons I enjoy traveling is because of the many ways it inspires me.

Traveling inspires me to better myself physically, mentally, and emotionally.

I’m inspired physically when I’ve committed to a trip that involves physical effort. One example would be hiking the Inca Trail in Peru.

When I learned that the trail involved miles of steady incline at high altitudes I felt motivated to prepare for that physically. This resulted in healthier eating habits and weeks of exercising leading up to my trip.

I’m inspired mentally by the way traveling increases my desire to do even more of it. This usually prompts me to tighten my budget to save for my next trip.

It also helps put into perspective the things I need vs. want and how that plays into not only my budget but also my overall happiness.

Emotionally, traveling inspires me to be a better person. When I see the way people in other parts of the world live, many times with very little, I feel humbled.

I feel inclined to be more grateful for the things I have and the experiences I’m afforded. It contributes to my overall well-being when I’m reminded of how little I need to truly be happy.

There are many reasons why I love traveling; but, the way it inspires me is definitely high on the list.

25. Travel turns kids into global citizens.

Written by Brodi from Our Offbeat Life

As full-time digital nomads, my family has seen so many places and experienced so much that I never thought possible when I was younger.

My son is learning about different cultures, languages, and ways of life that he would have never been exposed to if we had stayed in one place.

Traveling as a family has allowed him to gain a greater appreciation for the world around him.

He’s able to see how people live differently in different parts of the world and understand why those differences exist.

He is also learning valuable lessons about resilience, adaptability, and problem-solving as he navigates through unfamiliar places and situations.

Most importantly, traveling has given him the opportunity to explore his own identity as a global citizen.

He is developing an understanding of what it means to be part of something bigger than himself – a global community – and how he can contribute positively to it.

26. Traveling helps you find new opportunities in life.

Written by Min from Amsterdam Travel Blog

Traveling is not just visiting new places, experiencing new cultures, and trying local food. It can mean much more than that; it allowed me to find new opportunities and has changed my life forever.

When traveling to Europe for the first time at 18 years old, I noticed how big the world was, and life was so different on the other side of the world.

Because of that, I became more motivated to embrace the world. I decided to travel and meet more people.

While traveling in Amsterdam , luckily, I met some friendly people, including international students from Paraguay and South Africa. They studied in the Netherlands with a full scholarship.

They told me that the Netherlands was their first choice since they could have more connections with people around the world quickly while studying, and easier to find a job here after graduation as a non-European.

I came from Taiwan and grew up there all my life. After working for a few years, I quit my job and studied in the Netherlands. Now, I finally moved to The Netherlands permanently on my own, and if I didn’t travel, I would not know that it was possible to move here.

I encourage you to travel more and be open to meeting new people. The world is so big – people you meet can help you see the world from a different perspective and get valuable information about your life.

27. Travel can help you create change in your own community.

Written by Annie from Your Friend the Nomad

Travel is not just about the place you visit, but the transformation you experience and how you transform your community in response.

I learned this when I spent a few months volunteering with a reconciliation organization in the Middle East.

Despite decades of violence between their communities, I saw ordinary people working together to build bridges across social divides.

As an outsider looking in, I only saw the tip of the iceberg of the challenges locals were facing—yet I could see that peacemaking was not an easy or quick task.

After a few months, I returned to the US completely changed. The framework for reconciliation that I learned abroad guided how I navigated the aftermath of George Floyd’s death, conversations about immigration, and even interpersonal conflicts.

Personal transformation is available to you as you travel whether you’re traversing war zones or relaxing on  tranquil tropical beaches . You just have to lean in and allow your biases to be broken.

28. Travel lets you see the vast landscapes of the world.

Written by Jessica from Uprooted Travel

As an outdoor adventure lover, one of the primary reasons I love to travel is to experience the vast array of landscapes the world has to offer.

This can take shape in so many different ways, from exploring the lush rainforests and rugged beaches of my own backyard in the Pacific Northwest to checking out any of the best hikes in Arches National Park in Utah, with unique sandstone fins and dramatic natural arches.

Of course, this takes me beyond my home country of the United States—there’s endless natural beauty to explore, like the turquoise waterfalls of Costa Rica , the luscious highlands of Iceland, or the sweeping grasslands of the Serengeti.

Along the way, of course, I get to enjoy all of the other aspects of travel, like trying new cuisines, befriending locals, and seeing the world through a new perspective.

But for me, getting to step foot in a uniquely stunning landscape propels me to keep traveling and seeing this big, beautiful world.

29. Travel helps you make the world a better place.

Written by Chloe from Passport Down Under

Traveling has allowed me to positively impact the world by leaving the country in a better position than when I entered it, which is what I love most about traveling.

Traveling has allowed me to give back by supporting local businesses and economies.

By choosing to buy locally-made products and using local services, I have helped to create jobs and support the growth of small businesses. This can contribute to the development of sustainable tourism and the preservation of cultural heritage.

Furthermore, traveling has allowed me to give back through volunteering and community service.

I have participated in activities such as clean-up projects on the beaches of Byron Bay, wildlife conservation projects in Cambodia, and teaching English to local children in Thailand.

These experiences not only allowed me to contribute to the community but also to gain a deeper understanding of the challenges and needs of the local people, especially in counties such as Cambodia.

Overall, traveling has allowed me to leave the world a better place by positively impacting the communities I visit.

30. Travel is great for learning a new language.

Written by Diana from Avagu Press

Learning a language is a huge reason to travel. While textbooks and classrooms might work for math and literature, learning a foreign language requires a bit of independent study and a lot of practice time.

The best way to get that practice time?

Immersion — spending hours, days, weeks, and even longer completely immersed in a foreign language, using it to live.

Unless you happen to live somewhere where multiple languages are spoken, travel is key to immersing yourself in a foreign language.

For the most effective language-learning, language-learning resources that specifically target your travel plans (like a Swahili-learning guide specifically for safari ) will help you make the most out of your experience.

Focus on communication, and don’t worry too much about mistakes.

The beautiful thing about being a novice in a foreign language is that nobody expects too much, so the pressure is off! Enjoy your trip, and enjoy your language learning.

31. Travel brings adventure.

Written by Melissa from My Beautiful Passport

One of the reasons I love to travel is for adventure and trying adventurous activities.

When traveling to new destinations, not only do you get to immerse yourself in different cultures and try new foods, but you have the chance to participate in exhilarating adventure sports that will leave you breathless.

From snorkeling with turtles to parasailing over beautiful coastlines, and volcano boarding down an active volcano, the rush of excitement is unmatched.

For adventure-seekers like myself, traveling to participate in activities like these create memories that last a lifetime.

I have chosen many of my vacation locations specifically for the fun adventure sports I can try there, and often, it is the first time I’m trying each activity.

The thrill of adventure travel is hard to beat, and the rush of excitement that comes with it is truly unforgettable.

32. Travel inspires me to write about and share my experiences.

Written by Wayne from Always On The Shore

The biggest reason that I love to travel is because it inspires me to write about places I’ve visited and my experiences, so I can motivate others to travel and do the same.

I have always liked traveling but I never had the money to travel until my mid-30s.  Once I started traveling more consistently, I fell in love with the idea of warm-weather locations, such as Florida.

Since I’m from Minnesota and half the year is snowy, cold weather, beach vacations became something that I became obsessed with. Later, that became writing about all things Florida and even the Caribbean.

I know that other people can relate and have similar reasons for wanting to get away, but maybe there’s something stopping them. Like maybe they’re too nervous to fly, which I also experienced, until I did research on flying, and learned ways to cope with flight anxiety.

The main takeaway is that if you’re passionate about seeing amazing places and the world like I am, don’t let anything stop you. If I can inspire others to do the same by sharing my experiences, then I’m happy.

33. Traveling gives me a creative outlet.

As I was growing up, I always assumed that I wasn’t creative. I couldn’t draw, didn’t play an instrument, and I certainly couldn’t sing or dance.

I always did great in English class, but I never enjoyed the creative writing assignments. Coming up with fictional stories just wasn’t my strong suit.

When I finished my undergraduate degree, I had studied abroad four times in four different countries. I had also gone on several independently-planned trips, both international and domestic. At that same time, I also discovered a new creative outlet: travel blogging.

In school, I was always great at writing research papers and writing travel guides was a fun way to use my strengths. Plus, I had always enjoyed giving travel advice to friends and family, so why not share my stories and tips with the world?

Since starting A World in Reach in 2018, I’ve learned and grown so much. I’m so glad that I have a creative outlet where I can share about one of the most important aspects of my life – travel – and help others explore the world on a budget.

Reasons Why People Love to Travel: Final Thoughts

As you can see, there are SO MANY reasons why people love to travel.

For some, traveling sparks creativity, brings personal growth, and helps them escape the routine. For others, traveling brings bucket-list-worthy experiences, delicious food, and adventure.

The question “Why do you love to travel?” has no right or wrong answer. Traveling is a deeply personal experience that can bring happiness to different people in many different ways.

So, if you’re thinking about traveling in the future, I hope this post and the stories told within have shown you all of the positivity that travel can bring to your life.

If you were asked, “Why do you love to travel?”, what would your answer be?

After traveling outside of the US for the first time while studying abroad, I quickly developed a love for travel and an obsession for exploring as much of the world as possible. Now, I'm on a mission to teach college students, young adults, and anyone else who wants to see the world how to travel while minimizing their expenses and maximizing their experiences.

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How to Travel Like a Local – 25 Secrets

• In the City

What’s the difference between visiting a place and truly experiencing it? These days, it’s common to see travelers ditch tours and embrace more authentic experiences. They’re dropping the “tourist” label, instead opting to “travel like a local”… but what does that really mean?

This is our fifth year of traveling full-time and we’ve made plenty of mistakes along the way. But we’ve also mastered the art of traveling like a local and it’s had a major impact on our lives! Turns out, being a doer passionate about authentic travel experiences can teach you how to be a better local in your hometown, too. That being said, for those of who’d like to adopt the ways of a local, learn to blend in a little more and dig deeper into a destination– you’ve come to the right place!

A big thank you to Kleenex Wet Wipes for sponsoring this post. All opinions are always our own. Thank you for supporting the brands that make Local Adventurer possible.

13 Secrets on How to Travel like a local

1. let locals plan your day.

Tours can be great if you don’t have time to plan your trip, if new places make you nervous and you’d rather get your feet wet before diving in, or if you just want everything taken care of for you. However, it’s not the best way to see a city from the eyes of those who live there. So don’t be shy!  Talk to locals and discover their favorite spots. Even if you are a thorough researcher, there are still great gems only the locals know about.

Ask your cab driver or the valet for restaurant recommendations instead of the concierge. Often times, hotels partnerships with local businesses and promote them exclusively. They also don’t want to send guests anywhere that might be off-putting or not as polished. Instead, talk to waiters, shopkeepers or doorman about the places they love–we’ve discovered some of the best Italian food by talking to our taxi driver. If we find particular restaurants we love, we’ve also asked the chef for their favorite eats in the city.

2. Or Even Better, Have a Local Friend Show You Around

When we visit a new destination, we always try to connect with old friends or go to places where a friend already lives. You can also make friends on forums, dating apps, and social media. Lately, we’ve met a lot of people through Instagram and they’ve become real life friends.

Besides the popular dating apps, you can also try these: Bon Appetour , Global Greeter Network , PartyWith , Skout , WithLocals .

3. Explore Neighborhoods vs Attractions

Rather than running all over the city to see different sights, try sticking to one neighborhood to get a feel for what it’s like to live there. It makes the trip way less stressful and more enjoyable too. When we visited NYC in the past, we had a love-hate relationship with it mainly because we were going all over the place. It wasn’t until we moved here and started exploring the neighborhoods that we really fell in love with the city.

4. Take Public Transportation

You should absolutely take public transportation in any city that has a good system, like London , NYC , or Tokyo . Yes, it can be intimidating if you’re not used to it, but it’s a great way to see the city and provides unique opportunities to interact with all sorts of locals. Plus, taking a bus or train is a great cost saver– even short trips can be incredibly expensive in some cities. You can make navigating local transit systems less intimidating by downloading transit maps and apps to your phone ahead of time.

Bonus transit tip: bring Kleenex Wet Wipes on your ride so you can clean yourself and germy surfaces!

5. Ditch Your Room Key

If you’re staying in a hotel, you’re most likely surrounding yourself with other tourists. While our friend was out in NYC for a play, he rented out an apartment on the Lower East Side for an extended time. Every time we visited, we left feeling like we’d visited their home. Staying in the rental let his family become familiar with the neighborhood too.

Note : In NYC, Airbnb’s are a little tricky. They’re technically only legal if you’re staying for a month or if the homeowner is present.

You can also try FlipKey or even smaller boutique hotels that give you more personalized service. In our experience, they gave us better recommendations.

6. Cook for Yourself

Most people eat out the whole time they travel, and we’ll admit that we usually do too. But we love visiting the neighborhood supermarket to pick up local snacks for friends back home. At local farmer’s markets, we love learning about the nearby farms.

7. Do More, Fret Less

When we’re out of town, we always bring along a few key necessities so we’re prepared for anything. Bringing these items with us gives us more time to explore new places, avoiding time consuming trips to the store for supplies or mid-day refreshes back in our room. That list includes sunblock, extra batteries, memory cards, cash, a map and items that serve a duel purpose and Kleenex Wet Wipes – they’re perfect for cleaning your hands and face after a sweaty day of exploration where running water is out of reach. Try them for yourself here .

8. Learn the Lingo

If you’re traveling to a foreign country, it always helps to learn a few basic phrases. Even if you’re nowhere near fluent, locals usually appreciate visitors who try to speak their language.

Even if you’re vacationing in a different state, try to pick up on the local lingo and pronunciation. Here are a few key examples:

• Calling San Francisco “San Fran” will surely annoy the locals.
• Houston St in NYC is pronounced “HOW-ston” instead of like the city in Texas.
• In Portland, Couch St is “COOCH” and Portlander’s like to remind visitors that Wilamette is “Will-AM-it Dammit.”

9. and the Dress Code

I remember when we first moved to NY, we still wore our bright red jackets and we would constantly get asked where we were visiting from. We soon learned that all black was the way to go in this city. Generally speaking, wearing neutral colors in most cities help you blend in. 

10. Volunteer at a Local Organization

Volunteering when you travel is a great way to contribute to the local community while getting to know it. From building an urban garden in South America to conserving wildlife just a few states away, your options are endless. You’ll spend time instead of money doing something meaningful, learning about your new environment in a hands-on way no tour experience could offer. 

We’ve taken trips with the sole purpose of giving back to local communities in the Philippines and Haiti and formed strong, meaningful relationships with locals because of it. Make sure to check the integrity of the organization you’re volunteering for through tools like Charity Navigator .

More recently, we like to volunteer at local animal shelters. If you’re ever in Atlanta and love cats and dogs, connect with FurKids .

11. Be Respectful

I wish this was obvious, but it seems like we always read or hear about another tourist doing something offensive or dumb. Remember to always respect the local culture, whether you’re far off overseas or just in another city. Each city and town has it’s own rhythm and feel, and sometimes all it takes is to pay attention to what’s going around you to figure out what that unspoken culture is.

12. Workout at a Local Gym

We hate working out, but we do like visiting different climbing gyms everywhere we travel. Whatever you’re into, whether it’s crossfit, yoga, or rock climbing , visit the local gym. It’s usually easy to start up conversations with the locals and get some insider tips too.

This was a climbing gym we visited in Tokyo.

13. Extend Your Stay

We still visit the popular and touristy spots when we visit a new destination, but if we can, we try to extend our stay so we can explore more of the city. Try slow travel like us!

We took this tip to heart when we decided to move to a new city every year. If there is a city you visit regularly, make it a point to explore a new spot every time you’re there rather than going to the same places again and again. This way it gives you time to get lost and wander.

If you’re headed to NYC, you can also check out:  21 Things You Need to Know Before Visiting NYC  &  Local Tips for Moving to NYC .

What does traveling like a local mean to you?

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ESTHER + JACOB

Esther and Jacob are the founders of Local Adventurer, which is one of the top 5 travel blogs in the US. They believe that adventure can be found both near and far and hope to inspire others to explore locally. They explore a new city in depth every year and currently base themselves in NYC.

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RedWeek Hacks: How to Travel Like A Local

What does it mean to travel like a local? It means that you’re experiencing a destination in a more authentic and less-touristy way. You’re uncovering the hidden gems and insider favorites throughout your trip. You’re getting to know the heart and soul of a place. It’s a rewarding way to go deeper during a vacation. Here are RedWeek’s tips for escaping the ordinary on your next getaway. 

Learn The Lingo

No matter where you’re traveling, each destination has its own unique phrases and shorthand. Before your trip, do a little research on how residents refer to different neighborhoods, public transportation, and other quirks of language. Once you know some of the slang, you’ll be able to keep up better with the locals. And of course, if you’re visiting a place where English is not the primary language, it’s a good idea to at least learn the basics of the local language: “Thank you,” “Please,” “Good morning,” etc. If you want to get even more ambitious, download a language app like Freestyle Languages for a crash course. 

Use Public Transportation

Public transportation isn’t just a budget-friendly travel option. It’s also an ideal way to explore a destination — and some destinations are simply easier to explore via bus, subway and light rail, often getting travelers to places that are less accessible by car. While you’re on your way you’ll be able to enjoy the scenery, rather than worry about traffic and following directions in a new area. Don’t be intimidated. Public transportation is easier to use than ever. There are many apps that can help you use local transit, including Moovit and Citymapper . One more bonus: public transportation is more eco-friendly, ensuring that these locales will be available to enjoy for generations to come. 

Explore Local Cuisine

Food & drink is one of the easiest — and most fun — to really get to know a destination. Make an effort to get out of your comfort zone. Avoid the familiar chains you know from back home and seek out the cuisine that is unique to the destination, whether it’s Po’ Boys in New Orleans or poi in Hawaii . You may find your new favorite dish! You’ll also get off the beaten path a bit, discovering unusual spots and mingling with the locals. Wondering where to start? Eater.com offers insight into the culinary worlds of dozens of destinations .

Find The Festivals

Local festivals can you give an authentic flavor of a destination in one tidy package, from cuisine to music to arts & crafts. Be sure to check the events calendar before you leave for your trip to see what’s happening in your chosen vacation spot while you’re there, from something as straightforward as a farmer’s market to a big outdoor music fest. Soon enough, you’ll be immersing yourself in local culture, all in a fun and welcoming atmosphere. A few upcoming ideas: the Vail Wine Classic in Vail, CO , the San Diego County Fair in San Diego, CA , or the Cherry Blossom Festival in San Francisco, CA .  

Get To Know The Locals

Don’t be shy! One of the best methods to get to know a place is to get to know the locals. Ask questions, engage in conversation, chat it up! Most people are excited to share their tips for how to experience their hometown, giving you dos and don’ts that you won’t find in any guidebook. Whether you’re talking with your Uber driver, a waiter or waitress or just someone you meet on a hiking trail, you’re sure to pick up some valuable info for the rest of your trip. 

Go Where The Tourists Aren’t

“Overtourism” has been a buzzword for several years now, with popular attractions being mobbed by tens of thousands of visitors daily. Of course, you’re going to want to check the big names off your bucket list — who goes to Paris and doesn’t visit the Eiffel Tower, after all? But be sure to seek out those lesser known, more under-the-radar destinations. RedWeek boasts inventory in some spectacular spots that you may not have considered: Gatlinburg, TN ,  Williamsburg, VA , and  Big Sky, MT , among them. Wherever you end up, you’ll be able to do find under-touristed experiences by asking locals one simple question: “What’s the best thing to do here that no one else knows about?” You’ll get all kinds of answers and in no time be armed with an itinerary that’s packed with hidden gems. 

Start planning your next trip with RedWeek now.

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• THE BIG IDEA

Why travel should be considered an essential human activity

Travel is not rational, but it’s in our genes. Here’s why you should start planning a trip now.

In 1961, legendary National Geographic photographer Volkmar Wentzel captured two women gazing at the surf off Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia. This and all the other images in this story come from the National Geographic image collection.

I’ve been putting my passport to good use lately. I use it as a coaster and to level wobbly table legs. It makes an excellent cat toy.

Welcome to the pandemic of disappointments. Canceled trips, or ones never planned lest they be canceled. Family reunions, study-abroad years, lazy beach vacations. Poof. Gone. Obliterated by a tiny virus, and the long list of countries where United States passports are not welcome.

Only a third of Americans say they have traveled overnight for leisure since March, and only slightly more, 38 percent, say they are likely to do so by the end of the year, according to one report. Only a quarter of us plan on leaving home for Thanksgiving, typically the busiest travel time. The numbers paint a grim picture of our stilled lives.

It is not natural for us to be this sedentary. Travel is in our genes. For most of the time our species has existed, “we’ve lived as nomadic hunter-gatherers moving about in small bands of 150 or fewer people,” writes Christopher Ryan in Civilized to Death . This nomadic life was no accident. It was useful. “Moving to a neighboring band is always an option to avoid brewing conflict or just for a change in social scenery,” says Ryan. Robert Louis Stevenson put it more succinctly: “The great affair is to move.”

What if we can’t move, though? What if we’re unable to hunt or gather? What’s a traveler to do? There are many ways to answer that question. “Despair,” though, is not one of them.

In this aerial view from 1967, wall-to-wall seaside sunbathers relax under umbrellas or on beach towels in Ocean City, Maryland .

A 1967 fall festival in Guadalajara, Mexico , starred traditionally costumed musicians and dancers.

We are an adaptive species. We can tolerate brief periods of forced sedentariness. A dash of self-delusion helps. We’re not grounded, we tell ourselves. We’re merely between trips, like the unemployed salesman in between opportunities. We pass the days thumbing though old travel journals and Instagram feeds. We gaze at souvenirs. All this helps. For a while.

We put on brave faces. “Staycation Nation,” the cover of the current issue of Canadian Traveller magazine declares cheerfully, as if it were a choice, not a consolation.

Today, the U.S. Travel Association, the industry trade organization, is launching a national recovery campaign called “ Let’s Go There .” Backed by a coalition of businesses related to tourism—hotels, convention and visitor bureaus, airlines—the initiative’s goal is to encourage Americans to turn idle wanderlust into actual itineraries.

The travel industry is hurting. So are travelers. “I dwelled so much on my disappointment that it almost physically hurt,” Paris -based journalist Joelle Diderich told me recently, after canceling five trips last spring.

(Related: How hard has the coronavirus hit the travel industry? These charts tell us.)

My friend James Hopkins is a Buddhist living in Kathmandu . You’d think he’d thrive during the lockdown, a sort-of mandatory meditation retreat. For a while he did.

But during a recent Skype call, James looked haggard and dejected. He was growing restless, he confessed, and longed “for the old 10-countries-a-year schedule.” Nothing seemed to help, he told me. “No matter how many candles I lit, or how much incense I burned, and in spite of living in one of the most sacred places in South Asia, I just couldn’t change my habits.”

When we ended our call, I felt relieved, my grumpiness validated. It’s not me; it’s the pandemic. But I also worried. If a Buddhist in Kathmandu is going nuts, what hope do the rest of us stilled souls have?

I think hope lies in the very nature of travel. Travel entails wishful thinking. It demands a leap of faith, and of imagination, to board a plane for some faraway land, hoping, wishing, for a taste of the ineffable. Travel is one of the few activities we engage in not knowing the outcome and reveling in that uncertainty. Nothing is more forgettable than the trip that goes exactly as planned.

Related: Vintage photos of the glamour of travel

Travel is not a rational activity. It makes no sense to squeeze yourself into an alleged seat only to be hurled at frightening speed to a distant place where you don’t speak the language or know the customs. All at great expense. If we stopped to do the cost-benefit analysis, we’d never go anywhere. Yet we do.

That’s one reason why I’m bullish on travel’s future. In fact, I’d argue travel is an essential industry, an essential activity. It’s not essential the way hospitals and grocery stores are essential. Travel is essential the way books and hugs are essential. Food for the soul. Right now, we’re between courses, savoring where we’ve been, anticipating where we’ll go. Maybe it’s Zanzibar and maybe it’s the campground down the road that you’ve always wanted to visit.

(Related: Going camping this fall? Here’s how to get started.)

James Oglethorpe, a seasoned traveler, is happy to sit still for a while, and gaze at “the slow change of light and clouds on the Blue Ridge Mountains” in Virginia, where he lives. “My mind can take me the rest of the way around this world and beyond it.”

It’s not the place that is special but what we bring to it and, crucially, how we interact with it. Travel is not about the destination, or the journey. It is about stumbling across “a new way of looking at things,” as writer Henry Miller observed. We need not travel far to gain a fresh perspective.

No one knew this better than Henry David Thoreau , who lived nearly all of his too-short life in Concord, Massachusetts. There he observed Walden Pond from every conceivable vantage point: from a hilltop, on its shores, underwater. Sometimes he’d even bend over and peer through his legs, marveling at the inverted world. “From the right point of view, every storm and every drop in it is a rainbow,” he wrote.

Thoreau never tired of gazing at his beloved pond, nor have we outgrown the quiet beauty of our frumpy, analog world. If anything, the pandemic has rekindled our affection for it. We’ve seen what an atomized, digital existence looks like, and we (most of us anyway) don’t care for it. The bleachers at Chicago ’s Wrigley Field; the orchestra section at New York City ’s Lincoln Center; the alleyways of Tokyo . We miss these places. We are creatures of place, and always will be.

After the attacks of September 11, many predicted the end of air travel, or at least a dramatic reduction. Yet the airlines rebounded steadily and by 2017 flew a record four billion passengers. Briefly deprived of the miracle of flight, we appreciated it more and today tolerate the inconvenience of body scans and pat-downs for the privilege of transporting our flesh-and-bone selves to far-flung locations, where we break bread with other incarnate beings.

Landscape architects work in their Rio de Janeiro, Brazil , studio in 1955.

A tourist photographs a towering century plant in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, in 1956.

In our rush to return to the world, we should be mindful of the impact of mass tourism on the planet. Now is the time to embrace the fundamental values of sustainable tourism and let them guide your future journeys. Go off the beaten path. Linger longer in destinations. Travel in the off-season. Connect with communities and spend your money in ways that support locals. Consider purchasing carbon offsets. And remember that the whole point of getting out there is to embrace the differences that make the world so colorful.

“One of the great benefits of travel is meeting new people and coming into contact with different points of view,” says Pauline Frommer, travel expert and radio host.

So go ahead and plan that trip. It’s good for you, scientists say . Plotting a trip is nearly as enjoyable as actually taking one. Merely thinking about a pleasurable experience is itself pleasurable. Anticipation is its own reward.

I’ve witnessed first-hand the frisson of anticipatory travel. My wife, not usually a fan of travel photography, now spends hours on Instagram, gazing longingly at photos of Alpine lodges and Balinese rice fields. “What’s going on?” I asked one day. “They’re just absolutely captivating,” she replied. “They make me remember that there is a big, beautiful world out there.”

Many of us, myself included, have taken travel for granted. We grew lazy and entitled, and that is never good. Tom Swick, a friend and travel writer, tells me he used to view travel as a given. Now, he says, “I look forward to experiencing it as a gift.”

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Travel Like A Local: 10 Easy Ways to Have More Local Travel Experiences

Have you ever found yourself watching a travel show where the hosts are living this truly magical and local travel experience that you never seem to have on your vacation? They're sitting down to a fabulous meal with a local family and you're thinking that would be so great but this sort of thing only happens on TV. And they're exploring a city with a local guide who shows them all of these hidden gems that you'd never find in your guidebook. They're sharing these authentic experiences without waiting in long lines and you're left wondering why your trips never look like that.

That used to be me.

When Wes and I first started travelling, we'd watch all sorts of travel shows together on long bus rides or before bed and I would feel more and more inspired after each episode. Seeing others have these memorable local travel experiences convinced me that quitting my job to travel the world wasn't a huge mistake because I felt I was truly fueling my passion. But despite all of the amazing places we visited during our first backpacking trip, I somehow felt like I wasn't doing it right. I was so focused on seeing the top 10 sites of every city and getting that fairy tale castle photo that I missed out on the type of experiences that truly inspired me. I wanted to travel like the people in my favourite shows instead of spending half the day standing in line. But I didn't know how.

Well, after two years of travel and dozens of lessons learned, I can say I've had those truly memorable local travel experiences that I was missing the first time around. From spontaneous road trips in Croatia to watching Rick and Morty in Polish, I've shared moments with locals that mean more to me than any photo could. Now I want to share everything I've learned about travelling like a local in the hopes that you can have more remarkable travel experiences as well.

1 • Avoid Hotels

I used to work at a hotel and I'm still going to put this at the top of the list. There are definitely some perks to staying at a hotel but we usually only book them when we need a place close to the airport for a long layover or early flight. If you're looking to travel like a local and experience more of what a city has to offer, consider booking your accommodations through sites like VRBO, Airbnb or HomeAway where you can stay in someone's home instead of a hotel room. In most cases, you'll find yourself experiencing life as a local would in a neighbourhood with the parks, markets and shops you might have otherwise missed. Most listings on these sites have a full kitchen so you'll be able to cook your own meals instead of having to eat out all the time. Some offer shared accommodations where you have a private bedroom but share common spaces with the homeowner or other travellers. And if you're really committed to travelling like a local, you can reach out to locals who host travellers for free on sites like Couchsurfing.

How we did it: During our month in Bangkok, we opted to stay at an Airbnb in the Chatuchak area instead of where the backpackers usually stay. We were the only tourists in our building and truly felt like we were experiencing a different side of Bangkok. There was a corner restaurant that we would go to every day and, even though we could barely communicate with the staff, they would always wave to us and would have our usual meals prepared without us even having to order! We've stayed in a number of Airbnbs with locals and found that most are incredibly helpful, especially when it comes to restaurants nearby that serve good local food. I can't even count how many great meals we've had at small family restaurants or hole-in-the-wall diners all because of recommendations from our hosts.

2 • Learn the Language

If I could choose a super power, it would be to speak and understand every language in the world. I think language enhances one's travel experiences in a way few other things can. Before arriving to a new country, it certainly helps to try and learn a few words in the local language. One phrase that would definitely come in handy is at least being able to say, "Excuse me, I don't speak _____. Do you speak English?"

How we did it: The first words we learn in any language are thank you. Beer is a close second (lol) but knowing how to say some greetings and polite phrases in a new country will really go a long way. Wes likes to prepare a little cheat sheet that we can both resort to quickly when ordering food or visiting a market which is more fun for us than always relying on our phones.

3 • Opt for Local Transportation

If you really want to travel like a local then it helps to literally start travelling like a local. Try using the local modes of transport instead of hailing a cab or Uber right away. It may not always be as quick (or as comfortable) but to miss out on experiences like the metro in Tokyo or the iconic trams in Lisbon would be a pity. My dad likes to joke that local bus rides in Puerto Vallarta are an adventure in themselves which is especially true when there's someone serenading passengers in Spanish, accordion and all.

How we did it: Instead of taking a double decker tour bus in Mexico City, we just hopped on a public bus on Paseo de la Reforma which also happens to have two storeys. If you manage to get a front seat on the top deck, you can get a great view of the sites along this route at a fraction of the price.

4 • Creep the Comments Section

This is probably the most valuable piece of advice I have and it happens to be absolutely free. Sometimes an online audience loves nothing more than to share their favourite places with travellers visiting their home country and that's when it pays to read what people are suggesting. Let me tell you, there is GOLD hidden in the comments sections of YouTube videos and Instagram posts. If you like to research a destination by watching videos or looking up cities on Instagram, dig through the comments section for advice from locals. Chances are they know what's trending and they genuinely want you to see the best of their city. But take every suggestion with a grain of salt. We've had trolls suggesting certain things that no tourist should ever do so definitely do your homework before booking based on someone's comment.

How we did it: It was through the comments section that we met Marta in Lodz, hung out with Marie & Alan in Ireland, discovered Mexico City with Daniel and had dozens of other experiences with locals. And even though these interactions were a result of our own YouTube audience, some of our viewers have connected with each other through the comments section, met abroad and shared their stories with us.

5 • Attend the Festivals

Another great and easy way to have a more local travel experience while abroad is to be in town for the unique festivals and celebrations. If you have a travel destination in mind, do a quick search to see if the country or city is known for a specific festival and decided if it’s something you can work your itinerary around. This is an easy step to add when planning your perfect trip and one that can be incredibly rewarding!

There are of course some downsides to being in town during a festival as the city will be busy and this can make it harder to find accommodations. For popular festival like La Tomatina and Oktoberfest, it’s best to plan well in advance or consider staying outside of the city centre to avoid some of the mayhem. We were fortunate to experience the water festival of Songkran in Bangkok one year and this is still one of our most fun travel memories to date.

6 • Work for Room and Board

The concept of working in exchange for a place to stay isn't for everyone but that's what sites like Workaway and WOOF are all about. These are both great ways to immerse yourself into a culture while travelling, meeting like-minded people and volunteering a few hours each day to cover your food and accommodation. There are thousands of opportunities all over the world with jobs ranging from taking care of animals on an organic farm in France to helping out at a surf school in Costa Rica. If you're interested in experiencing local life but working less, pet sitting is an alternative that we used in the UK between travels . We had a great week living in the countryside while caring for 5 pets in a cozy home. For free :)

How we did it: A couple of years ago, Wes found a pretty sweet Workaway listing in Poland . A family was looking for help around the house as well as native English speakers to practice conversational speaking with clients of their family-run language school. For three weeks we lived in the countryside, fed (and rode!) horses, ate fruits straight from the trees and were well taken care of by our host family. Most of the work didn't feel like work at all and the experience of living with a local family was pretty priceless.

7 • Don't Miss the Local Markets

When you only have a couple of days to spend in a city, chances are you'll be dining out most of the time but if you enjoy cooking and want a real local travel experience, head straight to the market and see what's in season. It may be tempting to avoid the familiarity and convenience of a Walmart but I love that feeling accomplishment when you walk out of a local market in a country where you don't speak the language and manage to get what you were looking for. It can be challenging (like having to mimic a chicken if you're trying to buy chicken) but markets are a great way to interact with vendors and try news foods and local dishes.

8 • Join the Online Groups

You'd be surprised at how helpful locals can be in Facebook groups and Reddit threads. I'm a part of several travel-related groups online and some are great for asking questions like "What's a good bar to go to on Wednesdays in Toronto?" or "Where can I find good vegan food in Budapest?"

How we did it: When deciding whether or not it would be a good idea to hibernate in Croatia , I joined a couple of local groups on Facebook to see what the country was like in the winter. The online community was so incredibly helpful offering tips on everything from long-term rentals to festivals and events. I made a great friend through one of these groups and we instantly clicked after our first coffee. One year later, Wes and I were playing charades with her 3 beautiful kids at their family home overlooking the Adriatic sea.

9 • Atlas Obscura & Like a Local

It's safe to say that locals avoid tourist attractions at all costs so how do you travel like a local if those popular sites are all you know? Like a Local Guide is a site where locals share their favourite spots in a city which often include things that are free or sites that won't be crowded. When you really want to head off the beaten path, take a look on  Atlas Obscura. The site is known for revealing unusual attractions and hidden gems all over the world which will likely result in some interesting travel stories you can share once you return home.

How we did it: We first came across Atlas Obscura during our month in Lviv, Ukraine and have since used it so many times featuring unique sites in many of our YouTube videos over the years. Some of the places we've learned about and visited include Ireland Park (Toronto), Liban Quarry (Krakow), the Mummy Museum (Guanajuato) and even an island full of rabbits in Japan (Okunoshima).

10 • Deconstruct the Tours

While guided tours and group excursions are a great way to explore a region, nothing screams tourist more than being herded around with dozens of others while following the guide holding an umbrella high in the air. One big downside of these packaged trips is that the schedule is often set in stone with little free time and even less flexibility. If you'd like to explore more of a city or country, have a look at what tours are offering and then DIY your own day trip or itinerary. This will give you inspiration on where to go and what to see but allows you to tweak your travels based on your interests (more hiking, less beach time, etc). You can book local transportation between sites and cities and will often end up saving hundreds of dollars in the process. This might not be for you if you don't like travel research and planning but it's a tip that we use in every country to have more local travel experiences.

How we did it: When planning for our Japan trip, I honestly felt so overwhelmed and didn't know where to start. I knew about Tokyo and Kyoto but wanted to include other stops on our itinerary that were less touristy. That's when I started looking at group travel itineraries in Japan to research where the expensive tours were stopping. I couldn't find an affordable option that included both Okinawa and Hiroshima so I decided to plan it myself. Once I had an idea of the main hubs listed in the packaged tours, I planned for day trips from those hubs and booked local transportation between each city.

11 • Ditch the Plans

The best of local travel experiences are often a result of completely spontaneous events. When you're too caught up on a bucket list, you might miss out on moments that no itinerary could possibly prepare you for. Don't hold on too tightly to plans and schedules, even the ones recommended above! If a chatty fisherman happens to start babbling about life in Croatia and his experience hosting travellers, listen to his tales - even if it means having to wait for the next bus.

How we did it: Years ago, in Guanajuato, Wes and I were having coffee at a cafe and browsing rental listings online. The clock was ticking and if we didn't find a lead soon, we'd have to check out of our hostel and move onto the next city. Just as we were getting frustrated, an older lady starting chatting with us and we found out she was renting an apartment nearby. Had we kept our conversation short and focused only on our online research, we would have missed out on a cute little apartment and several chats with her on the roof of our rental for the month.

A couple of years ago, I sat down with a talented Japanese photographer in Croatia. I had been following him on Instagram and he agreed to meet with me when I found out we'd both be in Split at the same time. We went for coffee (as locals do in Croatia) and talked about our passions and our travels. I was so grateful for all of the tips and insights he was sharing with me and expressed something along the lines of "I wish there was a way to repay you." His reply has always stuck with me: information is meant to be shared . And I truly believe the world is made better when we share what we know with others. Whenever I need a reminder of this blog's purpose, I circle back to sharing information that will help others, like ways to have more local travel experiences ;)

All this to say, if you have any other tips on how to travel like a local, please share them below!

100 Unique and Creative Travel Words with Beautiful Meanings

Disclaimer: This article includes affiliate links to the products we earnestly love and recommend, meaning at no extra cost to you, we might make a teeny-weeny commission if you click on the link and decide to buy something. The money will be used to sustain this little cozy blog we call our virtual home.

Everyone (who knows me) knows how I love words. I hoard words . Everyone also knows how I love to travel. I eat, drink, and sleep travel 🙂 Here, in this post, I’ve blended two of my passions – words and travel. The post rounds up the creative travel words that describe wanderlust perfectly. You’ll never be at a loss for words while narrating your travel experiences once you equip yourself with these unique words about travel.

Unusual Travel Words with Beautiful Meanings

Wanderlust (n.).

Origin: German Pronunciation: vawn-duh-luhst Meaning: a strong desire to travel

Resfeber (n.)

Origin: Swedish Pronunciation: race-fay-ber Meaning: the restless race of the traveler’s heart before the journey begins, when anxiety and anticipation are tangled together; the nervous feeling before undertaking a journey

Related Read: 27 Cool Swedish Words You Must Know

Strikhedonia (n.)

Origin: Greek Pronunciation: strik-he-don-e-a Meaning: the joy of being able to say “to hell with it”

Eleutheromania (n.)

Origin: Greek Pronunciation: eleuthero-ma-nia Meaning: an intense and irresistible desire for freedom

Origin: Hawaiian Pronunciation: ak-i-hi Meaning: listening to directions and then walking off and promptly forgetting them

Exulansis (n.)

Origin: The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows Pronunciation: exu-lan-sis Meaning: the tendency to give up trying to talk about an experience because people are unable to relate to it — whether through envy or pity or simple foreignness—which allows it to drift away from the rest of your life story, until the memory itself feels out of place, almost mythical, wandering restlessly in the fog, no longer even looking for a place to land.

Hodophile (n.)

Origin: Greek Pronunciation: hodo-phile Meaning: a lover of roads; one who loves to travel

Saudade (n.)

Origin: Portuguese Pronunciation: sau-da-de Meaning: a nostalgic longing for something or someone that was loved and then lost, with the knowledge that it or they might never return; “the love that remains”

Fernweh (n.)

Origin: German Pronunciation: feirn-veyh Meaning: an ache for distant places; a longing for far-off places; an urge to travel even stronger than wanderlust; being homesick for a place you’ve never been

Selcouth (adj.)

Origin: Old English Pronunciation: sel-kooth Meaning: unfamiliar, rare, strange, and yet marvelous

Serendipity (n.)

Origin: English Pronunciation: seh-ruhn-di-puh-tee Meaning: finding something good without looking for it

Pilgrimage (n.)

Origin: Latin Pronunciation: pil-gruh-mij Meaning: a journey, especially a long one, made to some sacred place as an act of religious devotion

Gökotta (n.)

Origin: Swedish Pronunciation: yo-kot-ah Meaning: literally translates to the early cuckoo morning or dawn picnic to hear the first birdsong; the act of rising early in the morning to hear the birds sing at sunrise and appreciate nature

Schwellenangst (n.)

Origin: German Pronunciation: shwel-en-ahngst Meaning: fear of embarking on something new; fear of crossing a threshold

Voyage (n.)

Origin: Latin Pronunciation: voy-ij Meaning: a long journey involving travel by sea or in space

Origin: Japanese Pronunciation: yoo-gehn Meaning: a profound awareness of the universe that triggers emotional responses too deep, powerful, and mysterious for words

Origin: Danish Pronunciation: hue-gah Meaning: the Danish practice of creating warmth, connection, and well-being; a complete absence of anything annoying or emotionally overwhelming; taking pleasure from the presence of gentle, soothing things; celebrating the everyday

You Might Like: Cool Danish Words We Need in English Now

Vagary (n.)

Origin: Latin Pronunciation: va-ga-re Meaning: an unpredictable instance, a wandering journey; a whimsical, wild, and unusual idea, desire, or action

Origin: Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows Pronunciation: mo-rii Meaning: the desire to capture a fleeting experience

“With every click of the shutter, you’re trying to press pause on your life. If only so you can feel a little more comfortable moving on living in a world stuck on the play.”

Musafir (n.)

Origin: Arabic Pronunciation: mu-sa-fir Meaning: traveler

Musafir remains one of my most favorite words associated with travel.

Odyssey (n.)

Origin: Greek Pronunciation: aw-duh-see Meaning: a long and eventful or adventurous journey or experience

Sonder (n.)

Origin: The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows Pronunciation: sohn-dehrr Meaning: the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own—populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and inherited craziness—an epic story that continues invisibly around you like an anthill sprawling deep underground, with elaborate passageways to thousands of other lives that you’ll never know existed, in which you might appear only once, as an extra sipping coffee in the background, as a blur of traffic passing on the highway, as a lighted window at dusk.

Gadabout (n.)

Origin: Middle English Pronunciation: gad-uh-bout Meaning: a habitual pleasure-seeker; a person who moves about restlessly and aimlessly, especially from one social activity to another; a person who travels often or to many different places, especially for pleasure

Acatalepsy (n.)

Origin: Greek Pronunciation: ey-kat-l-ep-see Meaning: incomprehensibleness; the impossibility of comprehending the universe; the belief that human knowledge can never have true certainty

Origin: Greek Pronunciation: noh-mad Meaning: a person who does not stay long in the same place; a wanderer

Cockaigne (n.)

Origin: Middle English Pronunciation: ko-keyn Meaning: an imaginary or fabled land of luxury and idleness

Origin: The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows Pronunciation: o-ni-sm Meaning: the awareness of how little of the world you’ll experience

“The frustration of being stuck in just one body, that inhabits only one place at a time, which is like standing in front of the departures screen at an airport, flickering over with strange place names like other people’s passwords, each representing one more thing you’ll never get to see before you die—and all because, as the arrow on the map helpfully points out, you are here.”

Nemophilist (n.)

Origin: Greek Pronunciation: ni-mo-fi-list Meaning: a haunter of the woods; one who loves the forest for its beauty and solitude

Trouvaille (n.)

Origin: French Pronunciation: troo-vee Meaning: a lucky find; a chance encounter with something wonderful and valuable

Safarnama (n.)

Origin: Persian Pronunciation: su-fur-nama Meaning: travelogue; an account of the travels

Smultronställe (n.)

Origin: Swedish Pronunciation: smool-tron-stall-uh Meaning: literally translates to place of wild strawberries; a special place discovered, treasured, returned to for solace and relaxation; a personal idyll free from stress or sadness

Livsnjutare (n.)

Origin: Swedish Pronunciation: livs-noo-tuhreh Meaning: literally translates to enjoyer of life; someone who loves life deeply and lives it to the extreme

Wayfarer (n.)

Origin: Old English Pronunciation: wey-fair-er Meaning: someone who travels, especially on foot

Kopfkino (n.)

Origin: German Pronunciation: kof-kino Meaning: literally translates to head cinema; the act of playing out an entire scenario in your mind

Hireath (n.)

Origin: Welsh Pronunciation: her-rith Meaning: a homesickness for a home to which you cannot return, a home which maybe never was; the nostalgia, the yearning, the grief for the lost places of your past

Peripatetic (n.)

Origin: Greek Pronunciation: per-uh-puh-tet-ik Meaning: a person who travels from place to place

Luftmensch (n.)

Origin: Yiddish Pronunciation: looft-mensh Meaning: literally translates to an air person; an impractical dreamer with improbable plans and no business sense; one with their head in the clouds

Solivagant (adj.)

Origin: Latin Pronunciation: soh-lih-va-ghent Meaning: wandering alone

Waldeinsamkeit (n.)

Origin: German Pronunciation: vahyd-ahyn-zahm-kahyt Meaning: literally translates to woodland solitude; the feeling of being alone in the woods

Ecophobia (n.)

Origin: English Pronunciation: eco-phobia Meaning: a fear or dislike of one’s home

Origin: Japanese Pronunciation: u-key-yo Meaning: literally translates to the floating world; living in the moment, detached from the bothers of life

Meraki (n.)

Origin: Greek Pronunciation: may-rah-kee Meaning: to do something with soul, creativity, and love; when you leave a piece of yourself in your work

Wabi-sabi (n.)

Origin: Japanese Pronunciation: wabe-sabe Meaning: finding beauty in imperfections; an acceptance of things as they are

Vorfreude (n.)

Origin: German Pronunciation: vor-froy-dah Meaning: the joyful, intense anticipation that comes from imagining future pleasures

Cosmopolitan (n.)

Origin: English Pronunciation: koz-muh-pahl-i-ten Meaning: belonging to all the world; not limited to just one part of the world; someone who has traveled a lot and feels at home in any part of the world

Peregrinate (v.)

Origin: Middle English Pronunciation: per-i-gruh-neyt Meaning: to travel or wander from place to place

Sojourn (n.)

Origin: Latin Pronunciation: soh-jurn Meaning: a temporary stay

Shinrin-yoku (n.)

Origin: Japanese Pronunciation: shin-rin-yo-ku Meaning: literally translates to forest bathing; a leisurely trip to the forest for recreation, relaxation, meditation, and therapy

Origin: Thai Pronunciation: ti-eow Meaning: to wander or roam around in a carefree way

Origin: Serbian Pronunciation: mir-ak Meaning: enjoyment of the simple things in life; the feeling of bliss and sense of oneness with the universe that comes from the simplest of pleasures; the pursuit of small, daily pleasures that all add up to a great sense of happiness and fulfillment

Dépaysement (n.)

Origin: French Pronunciation: de-pe-iz-ma Meaning: the feeling that comes from not being in one’s home country; disorientation due to experience of unfamiliar surroundings; being out of your element like a fish out of water

Itinerant (n.)

Origin: Latin Pronunciation: ai-ti-nr-uhnt Meaning: one who travels from place to place

Numinous (adj.)

Origin: Latin Pronunciation: noo-muh-nuhs Meaning: having a strong religious or spiritual or supernatural quality; indicating or suggesting the presence of divinity; describing an experience that makes you fearful yet fascinated, wed yet attracted – the powerful, personal feeling of being overwhelmed and inspired

Heimweh (n.)

Origin: German Pronunciation: haim-ve Meaning: homesickness; nostalgia; a longing for home

Sprachgefühl (n.)

Origin: German Pronunciation: shprahkh-guh-fyl Meaning: the character and spirit of a language; an intuitive sense of the rule and rhythm of language

Mångata (n.)

Origin: Swedish Pronunciation: mo-an-gaa-tah Meaning: the glimmering, roadlike reflection of the moonlight on water

Dromomania (n.)

Origin: Greek Pronunciation: dro-mo-ma-nia Meaning: an uncontrollable impulse or desire to wander or travel

Sehnsucht (n.)

Origin: German Pronunciation: zen-zukt Meaning: the inconsolable longing in the human heart for we know not what; a yearning for a far, familiar, non-earthly land one can identify as one’s home

Dérive (v.)

Origin: French Pronunciation: de-rive Meaning: literally translates to drift; a spontaneous and unplanned journey where the traveler leaves their life behind for a time to let the spirit of the landscape and architecture attract and move them

Absquatulate (v.)

Origin: English Pronunciation: ab-skwoch-uh-leyt Meaning: to leave abruptly without saying goodbye

Thalassophile (n.)

Origin: Greek Pronunciation: thal-as-o-fahyl Meaning: a lover of the sea; someone who loves the sea or ocean

Yoko meshi (n.)

Origin: Japanese Pronunciation: yoh-koh-mesh-ee Meaning: literally translates to a meal eaten sideways; refers to the peculiar stress of speaking a foreign language

Forelsket (v.)

Origin: Norwegian Pronunciation: phor-rel-sket Meaning: the euphoria you experience when you are first falling in love

Read More: 14 Beautiful Norwegian Words We Need in English Now

Rückkehrunruhe (n.)

Origin: The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows Pronunciation: rukee-ren-ruhee Meaning: the feeling of returning home after an immersive trip only to find it fading rapidly from your awareness—to the extent you have to keep reminding yourself that it happened at all, even though it felt so vivid just days ago—which makes you wish you could smoothly cross-dissolve back into everyday life, or just hold the shutter open indefinitely and let one scene become superimposed on the next, so all your days would run together and you’d never have to call cut.

Eudaimonia (n.)

Origin: Greek Pronunciation: u-de-mon-e-a Meaning: literally translates to human flourishing; a contented state of being happy, healthy, and prosperous

Sturmfrei (adj.)

Origin: German Pronunciation: stirm-fra Meaning: literally translates to storm-free; the freedom of not being watched by a parent or superior; being alone in a place and having the ability to do what you want

Origin: Mandarin Chinese Pronunciation: yu-yi Meaning: the desire to see with fresh eyes, and feel things just as powerfully as you did when you were younger-before expectations, before memory, before words

Photophile (n.)

Origin: English Pronunciation: pho-to-phile Meaning: Derived from the biological term “photophilic” for an organism that thrives in full light, it means a person who loves photography and light

Traipse (v.)

Origin: Unknown Pronunciation: trayps Meaning: to walk or go aimlessly or idly or without finding or reaching one’s goal

 Neophile (n.)

Origin: Greek Pronunciation: neo-phile Meaning: one who loves or has a strong affinity for anything new or novel

Ballagàrraidh (n.)

Origin: The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows Pronunciation: bal-la-ga-rye Meaning: the awareness that you are not at home in the wilderness

Vacilando (v.)

Origin: Spanish Pronunciation: vah-see-lan-doh Meaning: to wander or travel with the knowledge that the journey is more important than the destination

Quaquaversal (adj.)

Origin: Latin Pronunciation: kwey-kwuh-vur-sul Meaning: moving or happening in every direction instantaneously

Coddiwomple (v.)

Origin: English Pronunciation: kod-ee-wom-pul Meaning: to travel in a purposeful manner towards a vague destination

Vemödalen (n.)

Origin: The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows Pronunciation: ve-mo-da-len Meaning: the fear that everything has already been done

“The frustration of photographing something amazing when thousands of identical photos already exist—the same sunset, the same waterfall, the same curve of a hip, the same closeup of an eye—which can turn a unique subject into something hollow and pulpy and cheap, like a mass-produced piece of furniture you happen to have assembled yourself.”

Commuovere (v.)

Origin: Italian Pronunciation: com-muo-ve-re Meaning: a story that touches or stirs you and moves you to tears

Natsukashii (adj.)

Origin: Japanese Pronunciation: nat-soo-kash-ee Meaning: of some small thing that brings you suddenly, joyously back to fond memories, not with a wistful longing for what’s past, but with an appreciation of the good times

Querencia (n.)

Origin: Spanish Pronunciation: keh-rehn-syah Meaning: a place from which one’s strength is drawn, where one feels at home; the place where you are your most authentic self

Novaturient (adj.)

Origin: Latin Pronunciation: no-vah-ter-y-ent Meaning: desiring or seeking powerful change in one’s life, behavior, or situation

Komorebi (n.)

Origin: Japanese Pronunciation: koh-moh-ray-bee Meaning: sunlight that filters through the leaves of trees

Flâneur (n.)

Origin: French Pronunciation: flah-nœr Meaning: one who strolls around aimlessly but enjoyably, observing life and his surroundings

Hanyauku (v.)

Origin: Kwangali Pronunciation: ha-ahn-yoh-kuu Meaning: to walk on tiptoes across the warm sand

Dès Vu (n.)

Origin: Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows Pronunciation: des-vu Meaning: the awareness that this will become a memory

Gallivant (v.)

Origin: English Pronunciation: gal-uh-vant Meaning: go around from one place to another in the pursuit of pleasure or entertainment

Nefelibata (n.)

Origin: Portuguese Pronunciation: ne-fe-le-ba-ta Meaning: literally translates to cloud-walker; one who lives in the clouds of their own imagination or dreams, or one who does not obey the conventions of society, literature, or art; an unconventional or unorthodox person

Petrichor (n.)

Origin: English Pronunciation: pet-ri-kawr Meaning: a distinctive scent, usually described as earthy, pleasant, or sweet, produced by rainfall on very dry ground; the smell of earth after rain

Circumnavigate (v.)

Origin: Latin Pronunciation: suh-kuhm-na-vuh-gayt Meaning: to sail or travel all the way around the world

Hitoritabi (n.)

Origin: Japanese Pronunciation: hitori-tabi Meaning: traveling alone; a solitary journey

Torschlusspanik (n.)

Origin: German Pronunciation: tursh-luss-pan-ik Meaning: literally translates to gate-closing panic; a sense of anxiety or fear caused by the feeling that life’s opportunities are passing by and diminishing as one ages

Globetrotter (n.)

Origin: English Pronunciation: globe-trawt-uh Meaning: a person who travels widely

Menggonceng (v.)

Origin: Indonesian Pronunciation: menggon-ceng Meaning: to travel by getting a free ride, usually on the back of a friend’s bicycle

Vagabond (n.)

Origin : Old French Pronunciation: va-guh-baand Meaning: a person who wanders from place to place without a home or job

Gemütlichkeit (n.)

Origin: German Pronunciation: guh-myt-likh-kahyt Meaning: a feeling of cozy warmth, friendliness, and good cheer with a sense of belonging

Erlebnisse (n.)

Origin: German Pronunciation: ayr-leeb-nis-eh Meaning: an experience that one feels most deeply, and, in a sense, ‘lives through’ – not just mere life experience, but something memorable which happens to someone

Livslogga (v.)

Origin: Swedish Pronunciation: Meaning: literally translates to life log; continually capturing and documenting one’s life through pictures

Poudrerie (n.)

Origin: French Pronunciation: pu-dre-ri Meaning: fallen snow blown by the wind from the ground, appearing like fine powdery particles across the streets and highways

Yeoubi (n.)

Origin: Korean Pronunciation: yu-bi Meaning: literally translates to fox rain; a sunshower – the event of having a light rain while the sun is still shining

Morriña (n.)

Origin: Galician Pronunciation: mo-rina Meaning: a very deep, nostalgic, and melancholic homesickness experienced as one intensely longs to return home; “a ‘saudade’ so strong it can even kill”

 Víðsýni (adj.)

Origin: Icelandic Pronunciation: vith-see-nee Meaning: a panoramic view

Xenophilia (n.)

Origin: Greek Pronunciation: zen-uh-fil-ee-uh Meaning: love for, attraction to, or appreciation of foreign people, manners, customs, or cultures

Do you have other words that describe travel? Send them over! We’d be happy to add them to our list of words for travel lovers.

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Want to really ‘travel like a local’? Read this first

What does ‘travel like a local’ really mean? We’re often lured by words such as ‘locally made’ and ‘locally sourced’, but it’s always not so straightforward. Columnist JoAnna Haugen takes a closer look and offers her tips on making smarter decisions which lead to a better, richer trip as a result.

On a recent visit to Dubrovnik, Croatia, I popped into a self-proclaimed ‘local’ shop advertising goods made by artisans. A bag caught my eye, so I asked the shopkeeper a question I commonly ask when I travel: Can you tell me about the maker? She said the woman was a member of a women’s cooperative in Uganda, but that’s all she was able to tell me.

The answer surprised me, as I was expecting to hear something about a maker living in Dubrovnik, or at least in Croatia. I didn’t buy the bag, but since the encounter, I’ve revisited the conversation several times in my mind.

Everywhere you turn in the tourism industry these days, all eyes are on ‘local’—locally-focused travel experiences, supporting local businesses, listening to local stakeholders, eating locally sourced food, and shifting to local narratives and storytellers. I’m no different: The lure of local is what pushed me through the shop door in Dubrovnik.

Finally, after years of relying on a traveler-centric, mass tourism model, this emphasis on ‘going local’ feels like a positive shift in perspective. But, as is the case with so many nebulous terms, I’ve found it hard to pin down what this actually means—and that poses a dilemma to us as travelers. So how we can ensure our intentions to ‘support local’ do just that?

Here’s the crux of the challenge: ‘Traveling like a local’ or ‘supporting local’ has no clear and shared definition. This could mean spending money at businesses or staying at accommodations that are unique to a place and not part of a chain. It could mean hiring residents of a particular place as tour guides. It could also be a mindset of sorts: Traveling ‘local’ could be affiliated with not being in spaces or circumstances contributing to overtourism.

The most nefarious consequence of this trend is what I call ‘local washing’. That is, when companies intentionally use clever language or tactics to convince people that services or products represent, support, and benefit communities and the people who live there—when this isn’t actually the case.

For some travelers, it may mean only participating in activities or eating in establishments that local residents do. In other words, not doing what ‘tourists’ do and, instead, having more intimate or “authentic” experiences .

Generally speaking, I think travelers mean well when it comes to ‘local’ travel, but there are some unintended consequences that have popped up in the wake of this trend. Neighborhoods previously flying under the tourism radar are becoming gentrified, and staged authenticity may inappropriately frame places and cultures.

The lack of a shared definition is also a problem. Some businesses might legitimately be defined as local, such as the store in Dubrovnik, which may have been owned by a resident, even if not all its products were what you might expect as ‘local’. And that’s the issue: When there’s a misalignment between different definitions of ‘local’, it can lead to disappointment or disillusionment.

The most nefarious consequence of this trend is what I call ‘local washing.’ That is, when companies intentionally use clever language or tactics to convince people that services or products represent, support, and benefit communities and the people who live there—when this isn’t actually the case.

When compared to mass tourism models, we know more locally focused (and community-based) tourism is good—but ‘how good’ is good enough? And is there a way for travelers to know whether they are genuinely ‘going local’, regardless of how it’s defined? To untangle this web of complexity, I asked several people for their perspectives on and tips for approaching the issue (with a special shoutout to colleagues from the Travel Foundation ).

Beyond local finances, think positive impacts

Money tends to be at the heart of supporting local businesses. Spending money with independent, locally owned businesses recirculates a larger percentage of money within a community in comparison to businesses with absentee owners. Tourism leakage —when money generated by tourism doesn’t stay in a destination—is a compelling reason to intentionally spend money with a locally owned business.

However, you should also look beyond the money. Look at environmental policies, labor practices, and community partnerships as they can also benefit local people and the place. While some chain establishments may not be locally owned, they may benefit local residents in other ways: Career training and progression; Using and purchasing local ingredients and materials; Enhancing the quality of life or creating opportunities due to their presence and contributions to the community. Additionally, some branded businesses may be operating as franchises, so they appear as a chain but are actually locally owned.

Here’s the truth: Travelers are not locals. They are guests who have the privilege to travel. Acknowledge that, and then put it to use by being more thoughtful both during the planning stages of a trip and while on the ground.

Look for companies and businesses reporting on impact

In an ideal scenario, there would be a tool that takes into account the myriad of economic, environmental, social and cultural factors that benefit a place, then it would spit out a score we could use to know whether something is or is not impactful. But of course, it’s not that simple. The next best option is to seek out organizations who are transparently reporting on these issues, then you can decide whether they align with your values and expectations.

Several tour operators (including Exodus , Adventure Tours UK , Intrepid , G Adventures’ ripple score (relaunching in early 2024) and Byway Travel now publish detailed impact reports. Fogo Island Inn takes a different approach with its Economic Nutrition label .

Shop with your conscience, not your wallet

Everyone loves to save money, but the cheaper deal can mean someone is getting the short end of the financial stick. Unfortunately, that is likely to be a destination-based supplier. Booking directly with local suppliers— from activity providers to accommodations—puts more money right in their hands instead of a third-party company, like an online booking agency.

Additionally, be mindful when traveling in places where bargaining is the norm. Vendors expect travelers to haggle, but do so respectfully.

Take guidance from knowledgeable resources

Dive into the mind hive by asking friends and colleagues familiar with your destination for recommendations about the best ways to ‘go local’. Some people may not know—after all, this can be tricky ground for any of us—but they may have insider knowledge that steers you in the right direction.

Also, keep in mind that destinations with thriving local businesses are good places to live, as well as good places to visit. This means that an increasing number of destinations specifically call out these organizations. Examples include the Central Coast’s (New South Wales) Love Local Guides ; Revelstoke’s (British Columbia, Canada) Sustain the Stoke campaign highlighting local businesses as well as agricultural and non-profit organizations; and Kelowna’s (British Columbia, Canada) food and wine passes featuring local producers.

Acknowledge your privilege and put it to use

Here’s the truth: Travelers are not locals. They are guests who have the privilege to travel . Acknowledge that, and then put it to use by being more thoughtful both during the planning stages of a trip and while on the ground.

Knowledge is power, so move beyond the words of ‘going local’ or even ‘doing what the locals do’, and think more broadly about how your choices impact the place you visit and the people who live there.

Approach travel experiences with a holistic perspective and seek to maximize your positive impact by financially benefiting the local economy while also respecting the local people, their culture, and the environment. The knock-on benefit will almost certainly be an even more enjoyable discovery of the memorable experience you’re seeking to find in the first place.

Adventure.com strives to be a low-emissions publication, and we are working to reduce our carbon emissions where possible. Emissions generated by the movements of our staff and contributors are carbon offset through our parent company, Intrepid. You can visit our sustainability page and read our Contributor Impact Guidelines for more information. While we take our commitment to people and planet seriously, we acknowledge that we still have plenty of work to do, and we welcome all feedback and suggestions from our readers. You can contact us anytime at [email protected]. Please allow up to one week for a response.

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JoAnna Haugen is an award-winning writer, speaker, consultant, and solutions advocate. She is also the founder of Rooted, a solutions platform at the intersection of sustainable tourism, social impact, and storytelling.

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28 Beautiful Travel Words that Describe Wanderlust Perfectly

Describe your travels with these unique and beautiful travel words from different languages around the world.

I love travelling and I love languages, so imagine my excitement when I came across a treasure trove of travel words and wanderlust synonyms that describe how we feel before, during, and after we travel. 

Just like a photo can’t fully capture what it feels like to stand on the edge of a fjord , neither can ‘wanderlust’ fully express how we feel when we crave our next adventure. These travel words are literary gems which have been gathered from languages around the world. From Japanese to Swedish , Latin to Greek , travel brochures of the future will be peppered with travel words like of resfeber , livsnjutare, and coddiwomple .

Wanderlust meaning

As you’ll see in the list below, every language has its own variation of how it explains and defines what wanderlust is. In English, wanderlust means to have a strong desire for or impulse to travel, wander and explore the world.

Learn a language from home

During these times it can be bittersweet to think about travelling when we have to stay at home and practice social distancing, let this list of wanderlust-filled words inspire you to a learn a language from home and prepare yourself for your next trip. Being travel fluent is the best way to enrich your travel experiences.

Without further ado, here are 28 beautiful travel words you should slip into your vocabulary. When you’re done, take and look at this collection of inspirational travel quotes . I’d love to hear which ones are your favourites in the comment section below.

1. Resfeber  (n.)

Origin: Swedish

Definition: The meaning of resfeber refers to the restless race of the traveller’s heart before the journey begins when anxiety and anticipation are tangled together.

It’s that moment just after you buy your plane tickets and excitement and fear floods in all at once, creating a mixture of emotions that make you feel anxious or physically ill.

For more inspiration, don’t miss my guide to cool gifts for language learners and the best travel accessories and travel gadgets here.

2. Sonder (v.)

Origin: Unknown

Definition: The realisation that each passerby is living a life as complex as your own.

The full definition, taken from The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows reads:

[Sonder is] the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own—populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries, and inherited craziness—an epic story that continues invisibly around you like an anthill sprawling deep underground, with elaborate passageways to thousands of other lives that you’ll never know existed, in which you might appear only once, as an extra sipping coffee in the background, as a blur of traffic passing on the highway, as a lighted window at dusk.

I often feel this way when I pass groups of strangers, speaking a language that is completely foreign to me, and realise just how incredibly big the world is. We all have a life that is full of different connections, memories and possibilities. That’s sonder.

The internet suggests this may not be a real word, either way, the concept is beautiful.

3. Solivagant (adj.)

Origin: Latin

Definition: Wandering alone. A solitary adventurer who travels or wanders the globe.

Not all those who wander are lost, but all those who wander alone are definitely solivagants . From the Latin word solivagus , meaning lonely or solitary, solivagant describes anyone who enjoys meandering around new countries, alone, in order to take it all in.

4. Fernweh (n.)

Origin: German

Definition: This German word,means an ache to get away and travel to a distant place, a feeling  even stronger than wanderlust. If wanderlust wasn’t poetic enough for you, allow me to present fernweh , a German word that literally translates to “distance-sickness.”

While someone with wanderlust might sit at home and happily fantasise about all the places they might visit, someone with fernweh would feel a deeper sense of longing, a sort of homesickness but for foreign lands.  For me, it’s wanting to be back in Rome . Fernweh is one of most those beautiful untranslatable words I’ve ever come across.

Carry this beautiful word with you with my Fernweh T-Shirt available in men’s and ladies styles and black or white. Buy it here.

5. Sehnsucht (n.)

Definition: A wistful longing and yearning in the heart for travels past and future.

One author translated it as the “ inconsolable longing in the human heart for we know not what .” Another compared it to “ a longing for a far-off country, but not one which we could identify.”

When you return from travelling and wish you could do it all over again and experience every moment like it was the first.

6. Eleutheromania (n.)

Origin: Greek

Definition: An intense and irresistible desire for freedom.

We all want to be free, and travelling shows us how the freedom in the lives of others that is different from our own. Eleutheromania describes a person who has a strong desire and obsession for freedom.

7. Cockaigne (n.)

Origin: French , Middle French

Definition: An imaginary land of luxury and idleness.

Every destination seem like a wonderland or cockaigne before you set foot there and see it for yourself.

The term c ockaigne ” comes from the Middle French phrase pais de cocaigne, which literally means “the land of plenty.” The word was first popularised in a 13th-century French poem that is known in English as “The Land of Cockaigne.”

8. Quaquaversal (adj.)

Definition: Moving or happening in every direction instantaneously.

This perfectly describes my state when I’m in a new place and want to see and do everything at once.

9. Dérive (n)

Origin: French

Definition: A spontaneous and unplanned journey where the traveller leaves their life behind allows themselves to be guided by the landscape and architecture.

Literally translated as “drift”,  dérive is the idea that even if you drift you will end up on the right path. This could describe life in general, but it also describes small journeys. When you’re wandering through a new city and you just happen to wander on a path that takes you to great discoveries.

10. Ecophobia (n.)

Origin: English

Definition: This word came into English word via Greek and means a fear or dislike of one’s home.

I don’t dislike my home, but recently I can’t stop thinking about going back to Lofoten, Norway.

11. Numinous (adj.)

Definition: A powerful feeling of both fear and fascination, of being in awe and overwhelmed by what is before you.

Originally, this word refers to having a strong religious or spiritual quality; but it can also be used to describe how you feel when you see things that are so beautiful that you realise how wonderful the world is and the small part you play in it.   Hiking Trolltunga was a numinous moment for me.

12. Schwellenangst (n.)

Definition: Fear of crossing a threshold to begin a new chapter.

From s chwelle (“threshold”) and a ngst (“anxiety”), this word explains that feeling you get before deciding to set out on a new journey. Argh! Did I make the right decision?

13. Strikhedonia (n.)

Definition: The pleasure of being able to say “to hell with it”.

Another personal favourite word on this list. Not only is it the joy I feel, but the freedom to be able to say “to hell with it” and book that next trip and embark on your next adventure.

14. Vagary (v.)

Definition: A whimsical or roaming journey.

From Latin, vagārī meaning “ to roam”, is an unpredictable idea, desire or action to travelling without knowing the destination, and not caring.

15. Livsnjutare (n)

Definition: Literally meaning, “enjoyer of life”, this describes a person who loves life deeply and lives it to the extreme.

If you’re reading this, that’s probably you!  Need more inspiration?

16. Commuovere (v.)

Origin: Italian

Definition: To stir, to touch, to move to tears.

Just like the euphoric emotions I felt whilst whale watching.

17. Sturmfrei (adj.)

Definition: The freedom of being alone and being able to do what you want.

Literally translating to “stormfree”, this describes the freedom of not being watched by others and being alone in a place where you have the freedom and ability to do what you want.

Another great German word. Travelling solo can be especially rewarding because you have complete control. No compromises, no one else to please. Just you and the big wide world.

18. Saudade (n.)

Origin: Portuguese

Definition: This Portuguese word describes the emotional state of nostalgia and longing for someone or something distant. S audade  was once described as “the love that remains” after someone is gone.

Saudade  is the recollection of feelings, experiences, places, or events that brought excitement and happiness but now triggers the senses and makes one live again.

19. Yūgen (n.)

Origin: Japanese

Definition: A profound and mysterious sense of the beauty of the universe.

An awareness of the Universe that triggers emotional responses too deep and powerful for words.

20. Acatalepsy (n.)

Definition: The impossibility of comprehending the universe.

Henry Miller said “ One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things. ” Do we ever really understand the world and what we see on our  travels,  and how they mould us? Sometimes, if at all, it takes time to discover how these things change our lives.

21. Trouvaille (n.)

Definition: A chance encounter with something wonderful.

Whether it’s stumbling across a hidden back street, a quaint cafe, or connecting with a local, trouvaille describes those magical moments we experience in our journeys. 

22. Hygge (n.)

Origin: Danish

Definition: Pronounced hue-guh , hygge describes the warm feeling you get while enjoying the company of great friends and all life has to offer.

Hygge is the conscious appreciation of recognising everything you have and enjoying to the present moment.

23. Onism (n.)

Definition: The world is a big place as not everyone will get to see it. Onism describes understanding that we’ll never get to see it all. It’s the frustration of being stuck in just one body that can only inhabit one place at a time. I felt this way before going to Copenhagen !

Similar to the Swedish word ‘resfeber’, onism describes the feeling of knowing that you’ll never be able to see it all. They say that the more you travel, the harder it gets to stay in one place.

24. Novaturient (adj.)

Definition: A desire to change and alter your life.

This was exactly how I felt when I quit my job and moved to Rome . There was this strong urge that pulled me towards my dream of pursuing a life of speaking Italian and travelling. I knew I  wouldn’t be living my life if I didn’t go.

25. Yoko meshi (n.)

Definition: This untranslatable gem describes the stress of speaking a foreign language .

The Japanese word ‘meshi’ literally means ‘boiled rice’ and ‘yoko’ means ‘horizontal,’ together it means ‘a meal eaten sideways.’ The Japanese have created a beautiful way of describing the unique kind of stress you experience when speaking a foreign language. Furthermore, ‘yoko’ also references the fact that Japanese is normally written vertically, whereas most foreign languages are written horizontally. Clever, right?

Related: 69 Wonderful Japanese Expressions That Will Brighten Your Day

26. Selcouth (adj.)

Origin: Old English

Definition: When everything you see and experience is unfamiliar and strange, yet you find it marvellous anyway.

It’s that feeling you get when you travel to a foreign land and food, culture, customs, or language, is strange and different to everything you’ve experienced before, yet you love it and find it fascinating.

27. Eudaimonia (n.)

Definition: A state of being happy whilst travelling and everything feels great.

That intense excitement and appreciation when you travel and everything feels great. Seeing the Northern Lights was one of the best experiences of my life, a feeling I won’t forget.

28. Coddiwomple (v.)

Origin: English slang

Definition: To travel purposefully towards an unknown destination.

A brilliant word, coddiwomple is when you have a vague idea of your destination within a care for how long it takes to arrive. A great example is when you go hiking, you know you’ll eventually reach the summit, but every part of the trail along the way is just as beautiful.    Like the time I hiked Norway’s Trolltunga.

If you enjoyed these words, then let wordsmiths Stephen King, Mark Twain and the Dalai Lama transport you around the world with these inspirational travel quotes or start using some of the beautiful untranslatable words from other languages.

Want to know more about learning languages? Start here!

• 18 Unexpected Advantages & Health Benefits of Learning A Foreign Language
• The World’s Most Beautiful Untranslatable Words from Around the World: The Ultimate List A-Z
• 13 Ways to Seamlessly Integrate Language Learning into Your Daily Life
• What Type of Language Learner Are You? Your 4-Step Personalised Learning Plan
• 15 Top Language Learning Resources You Should Use
• 7 Reasons Why You Should Go on a Language Holiday
• 11 Life-Changing Reasons Why You Should Learn a Language
• How to Learn Your First Foreign Language in 8 Simple Steps: A Beginner’s Guide
• 42 beautiful Inspirational Quotes for Language Learners
• Language learning tips: 11 Polyglots Reveal The Secrets of Their Success
• Top 10 Best Ways to Learn a Language Better and Faster
• How to Learn Italian Before Your Trip
• Free Travel Phrase Guides
• How a ‘Potato’ improved my French Pronunciation
• How Many Languages are there in the World?
• Hilarious Idiomatic Expressions that Will Brighten Your Day
• 78 FREE Dictionaries to Learn a Language Fast [Free eBook Download]
• 22 KEY Travel Phrases That Will Transform Your Travels [Free Guide]

Over to you!

Which one of these travel words do you identify with the most? What others would you add? Let me know using the comments section below or join me on social media to start a conversation.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed this post.

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Michele creates language learning guides and courses for travel. What separates her from other instructors is her ability to explain complex grammar in a no-nonsense, straightforward manner using her unique 80/20 method. Get her free guide 9 reasons you’re not fluent…YET & how to fix it! Planning a trip? Learn the local language with her 80/20 method for less than the cost of eating at a tourist trap restaurant Start learning today!

Italian Cognates & Loanwords: 17 Rules to Italianizing English Words You Already Know

124 inspirational travel quotes that’ll make you want to travel in 2022, 12 comments.

Amazing list! One word I’d add is the Dutch word “gezellig” or “gezelligheid” – similarly to hygge, it describes a feeling of warmth/comfort/coziness/quaintness in certain settings or around certain people.

Thank you so much for sharing this Heba. So interesting to learn that Dutch has a similar word :)

This is such a fun article! Love these words and phrases!

Glad to hear it! Thank you so much, Eric :)

So many of these describe me or my feelings about seeing the world. But, if I had to pick one, the one that best describes how I choose my destinations would be “selcouth”. I so want to be a stranger in a strange land. To have my belief that there is no such thing as “normal” affirmed again and again and over again.

What a beautiful word. Thanks for sharing, Janet :)

Thanks Michele what a wonderful list of inspirational words. It nearly made me cry as I realised that I suffer from acute eleutheromania! ha

Thanks Juliana :) I’m so glad you enjoyed this list. Eleutheromania? I know how you feel hehe

Unique list i must say – If you want to add one more word than check this !

In Hindi language (India) traveler called as “Musafir”

thanks Niraj :)

Thanks for sharing this! Really enjoyed it a lot ❤

Thanks Donah, I’m so glad you enjoyed it ;)

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Which one is right: A) I like to travel, or B) I like travelling?

• Post author: Travel Expert
• Post published: May 21, 2020
• Post category: Miscellaneous
• Post comments: 0 Comments

Travelling always comes spiced up with some linguistics and creative use of words.

Now, we all enjoy a dose of travelling and pleasant trips, but which one is the right way to say it:

• I like to travel
• I like travelling

Let’s try and find the right answer by observing it from different perspectives. The easy part is that the correct answer is both. Both options are grammatically correct, but the slight difference in meaning could only be felt when you put the phrases in specific contexts. Both depend on and reflect differing emotional states to the act of changing position.

Let’s put them in a real sentence and provide an example:

like + verb ‘ing’ = This is a gerund form and it has characteristics of both noun and verb. These verbs are used at the place of noun/pronoun to describe something you enjoy

• I like having long walks in the afternoon.
• I like eating noodles with soup.
• I like travelling. It’s my favorite thing to do.

like + to ‘infinitive’ = this is better for me

• I like to pack my clothes a few days before a trip. (This isn’t something I necessarily enjoy.)
• I like to defrost meat in the morning so it’s ready to be cooked and served in the evening. (This isn’t something I necessarily enjoy.)
• I like to wake up early so I have plenty of time to get myself up and running. (This isn’t something I necessarily enjoy.)
• I like to travel without any luggage. (This is more practical and not necessarily related to enjoyment.)

To sum it up, travelling refers to the experience of going somewhere or visiting a place, the sheer enjoyment of the actual movement, almost independent of the destination.

To travel refers to getting to a specified destination and so the intervening process is not important.

Finally, in ordinary everyday communication one may sound more natural than the other one but in fact both are often used interchangeably with no real difference in meaning.

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Why Do We Travel?

• Written by Nicolás Valencia
• Published on September 13, 2019

Everyone wants to travel the world, whether it's to meet new people, taste new food, or visit new places. Travel is consequently an extremely lucrative industry, but tourist destinations are getting more crowded than ever and associated pollution emissions are only worsening the climate emergency .

Why do we travel? In this edition of Editor's Talk , four editors from ArchDaily based in Lebanon, the United States, and Chile share their thoughts on the meaning of travel, and why tourists enjoying a beach in a location like Brazil should also care about the cities they visit.

Nicolas Valencia: Travel was June's Monthly Topic . Back then we published articles about architecture guides and travel-related typologies, but we didn't talk about the experience of traveling. What does travel mean to you?

Dima Stouhi : I was born and raised in Lebanon, but I'm moving to Switzerland next month. This will be the first time that I experience living abroad. Because Lebanon is so different from any other country, traveling is incredibly important for me to see how other people live and what other cultures are like.

Eric Baldwin: I often introduce myself by saying that I’m a farm kid from rural Iowa. My idea of the world, including different cultures and ways of working, was limited for much of my youth. In college, that worldview expanded greatly. I was able to study and travel around the world, in places like China, Italy, and Greece. I believe that context is everything; travel is one way to expand your context.

Christele Harrouk : I was born in Beirut too, coming from French roots, so It was always easier for me to travel, and it was always an option for me to live abroad. Nevertheless, I never opted for this choice: I did spend a couple of months here and there, but to me, the notion of home was more important. Traveling has opened my eyes to what this world holds, and it has also made me better appreciate what I had and took for granted.

Nicolas Valencia:  But it's still a luxury nowadays.

Eric Baldwin:  Travel has been priceless to me, but it’s also become terribly destructive to our environment. In many ways, it is a luxury. As Greta Thunberg showed when sailing across the Atlantic on a zero-emissions yacht, we have to come up with better ways to travel. Our current conditions are becoming more and more unsustainable.

Dima Stouhi:  Traveling is definitely a luxury now. Especially for people who need visas to travel, like me.

If you travel, you are a loser

Nicolas Valencia: In June we published an article titled The Age of Travel is Over . The author says that "if you travel to earn your living, you are a loser. If you travel to see places, or to learn, you are an enemy of the planet."

Eric Baldwin: I think it was meant to be a sort of provocation. Travel is still so important, but that doesn't mean there aren't better ways to travel. Or that we shouldn't continue to imagine new modes of connection that bring us together and expand our context without harming the environment.

Christele Harrouk:  Traveling is a pure form of learning, possibly the most genuine way of getting information, but I always go back to the idea that if you don't do anything with these experiences, they become useless and the whole process becomes futile in a way. The more I meet people, the more I discover that a lot of them, who pretend to roam the globe, are so closed into themselves.

Dima Stouhi:  The idea of traveling is different now. People want to travel to show everyone that they traveled or just for the sake of traveling. There isn't much thought to what they harm along the way.

Nicolas Valencia:  Dima has a point. Traveling has become a sort of meta-traveling:  visit  a place to say you visited a place.  I'm very critical of those who don't learn anything from traveling, but then, I think, "Why should they experience it the same way I do?"

Dima Stouhi:  That's the thing, it's a matter of perspective. I doubt that people "never learn" from traveling. Regardless of how different each individual is, at least one experience, building, or even meal is going to get stuck in their head. It's just a matter of what people are paying attention to while traveling.

Eric Baldwin:  We travel to work, to discover, to connect with family or friends, to get the perfect Instagram post, to escape. As long as we continue to question why, and whether we are doing so responsibly, I think travel will continue to have meaning. Beyond location, I think being a "good" vs. a "bad" tourist is part responsibility and part perspective. If you travel to escape your daily life and enjoy a beach in Brazil, but you don’t care to learn about the city, people, or culture you visit, is that inherently bad? Again, it’s a matter of context.

Cities for rich tourists

Nicolas Valencia: Bloomberg published a chart on Instagram a few days ago explaining that "tourist destinations are only going to get more crowded," especially in Europe. We recently saw Venice ban large cruises from its historical center . How do we think other cities are going to deal with tourism?

Dima Stouhi:  I support Venice's decision. I went to Vatican City last year in August. I remember at one point I just wanted to leave because of how crowded it was. We couldn't even stop for one second to look around us. There was no place to stand in the Sistine Chapel. It's sad.

Eric Baldwin:  It’s a tricky thing. It’s tied to preservation: when does saving something relegate it to becoming frozen, functionless scenery? Again, I go back to context. What does tourism give to a city, and what does it take away? Does heritage have a part to play? No city remains the same, and in turn, tourism and travel have to change too.

Dima Stouhi:  But Eric, the way we see it, preservation comes first because we know and appreciate the value of historical sites. The majority of people don't.

Eric Baldwin:  I question the value of historical sites. How do we measure relevance or heritage? Why are the pyramids worth preserving? It’s a question — and battle — of values and those things that define us. In turn, it’s directly related to why we travel.

Nicolas Valencia:  Countries such as Spain rely strongly on tourism — the industry accounts for around 13% of its GDP. It's hard to regulate if your city's economy relies so strongly on tourism. Anyway, I'd assume that restricting access to tourists will eventually punish middle-class tourists. 

Christele Harrouk:  Well, I'm not sure about this. Maybe not restrict accesses but make them more organized.

Dima Stouhi:  I don't believe that increasing prices and limiting access to rich tourists is the way to solve it. I think it's like what Christele said: it's how governments organize it that might make a difference.

Christele Harrouk:  This is the responsibility of the cities: they have to advertise different areas. It's not difficult, but they just don't take the initiative. Changes in marketing strategies can indirectly reduce the concentration of tourists in one place and divide it into many regions, making new areas grow and develop as well.

Nicolas Valencia:  If I'm going to Venice, I'm going to visit downtown, not a peripheral neighborhood.

Christele Harrouk:  But if there is a Zaha Hadid building in the periphery, you will go there, and spend less time downtown.

I Love City Branding

Nicolas Valencia:  We have been talking about Europe, but what about Latin America? Africa? Asia? Have you visited these regions?

Dima Stouhi:  Dream destinations, big budgets!

Nicolas Valencia:  In Latin America, we are more interested in visiting Europe and the US, rather than our own region. This is despite the fact that airfare has plummeted in this region, so it's cheaper than ever to travel across Latin America.

Christele Harrouk:  This may be global, but don't you think this is where city branding comes in hand?

Nicolas Valencia:  Sure, city branding defines what we think about them. But one thing that freaks me out about traveling is that after spending a week abroad, people think they gain a certain power to explain what a whole country is like. We each have different backgrounds of emotions, ideas, and expectations, so a gay man visiting a city after breaking up might have a totally different experience from a heterosexual woman who meets a guy in that same city. Each person's visions of the same city are completely unique, which means these narratives can't be universal.. 

Dima Stouhi:  I think these assumptions are a normal human reaction. Whatever is different from what they usually see, they pin-point it as if it were a flaw..

Eric Baldwin:  I think that's a very hard thing to change. You inherently have more perspective than someone who has never been there, but at the same time, you have an inherently limited understanding as well. I think the after-visit stereotypes will continue to happen, as Identity is always tied to travel and context. How that context is shaped happens in a myriad of ways, and defines who we are.

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What Slow Travel Is and Why You Should Try It

A personal perspective: when you do slow travel, your trips become more exciting..

Posted March 25, 2024 | Reviewed by Abigail Fagan

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I always wanted to be like explorers Marco Polo or Ibn Battuta. They traveled the world with wide eyes, curiosity, and a desire to share with others the marvels they discovered. Everything was new, fresh, and surprising, and they were constantly learning and having unexpected experiences.

They had no Internet, guidebooks, social media , blogs, vlogs, reviews, or slideshows. And with so much information available, how can one possibly be like these travel writing pioneers?

The answer may shock you as it did my travel journalism students. I plan nothing in advance except for a place to stay, especially for the first few nights. I just show up in a place and let it reveal itself to me on its own terms. And how does that work out? I have contributed to 130 international publications with articles about what I discovered.

I do not recommend this approach to everyone. But what I do suggest is that you give up your desire to have everything planned in advance. That you stop obsessing about all the trip details and trying to make it a perfect trip. Whether you are traveling with a tour group, friends, family, or solo, leave unstructured time so magic can happen. To me, travel should be transformative. It should lift you out of your daily life and transport you to a place where the food, the language, the customs, the culture may be different from yours. And that’s where the excitement begins.

Many people I know approach travel like a job, and a stressful one at that. They scour the Internet, read what everyone else says, plan a detailed itinerary, and make reservations. They want to make sure they cover all the bases and don’t miss anything. But in my opinion, they are missing a lot if they bring all of their information and expectations to a trip before they’ve even gotten on a plane or into their car. They replicate what others have done before them and check each site off on a list.

So how do you make your trip unique? I call it slow travel. It’s not just about slowing down. When you decelerate, your trips get more exciting. Instead of running from place to place, you look around you, you take your environment in, you notice things that perhaps no one has ever noticed before. And you start talking to people. Random people you meet and talk to are a key element you cannot plan for. They may tell you about places and events that will enrich your trip. They give you local insider tips. They may even accompany you or invite you to join them for an experience. They have enriched every trip I have taken. And the more you talk to people — even if you are shy — the more you develop the self-confidence to do more of it. And then you are really in the present, having an experience that is uniquely yours.

During the pandemic, my husband — a photojournalist — and I couldn’t travel around the globe like we always did, so we regrouped. We decided to travel around New Mexico, where we live. And we would look for special experiences.

We did this for two years. The experiences were artistic, historical, and culinary. We went on special hikes, attended indigenous ceremonies, met healers, naturalists, ecologists, and the manager of a natural wildlife refuge. We picnicked inside an ancient volcano. We saw the tracks of animals who lived tens of millions of years before the dinosaurs. We rode in a lowrider. And the question we always asked was, can other people do this as well?

If the answer was yes, we included the experience in our new book, Slow Travel New Mexico: Unforgettable Personal Experiences in the Land of Enchantment. The name of the book includes New Mexico, but the slow travel lessons are applicable anywhere.

It was a dream of mine to teach readers how to do slow travel. And now it’s a reality.

Once people ditch their over-planned approach to travel, who knows? They may even begin to consider changing their over-planned approach to life.

You don’t have to travel halfway around the world to have an exciting, meaningful trip. It can happen every time you leave your house, even to go to the grocery store, or when you visit the town next to yours. Start with talking to people — really talking with them — and you’re already well on your way.

Judith Fein is an award-winning international travel journalist who has contributed to 130 publications, the author of three books about transformative travel, an inspirational speaker, and an opera librettist.

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‘Vacation like a Visitor’: A BG Spring Break guide

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) - Spring has sprung in the commonwealth, meaning spring break is right around the corner.

Visit BGKY has helped WBKO gather a list of the city’s hot events and attractions this spring to help encourage everyone to “Vacation like Visitor.”

The National Corvette Museum is already revving engines with their spring break deal, offering a discounted $15 admission for parents and guardians from select counties, as well as a complimentary scale diecast car for visiting children.

Tickets must be bought on-site to receive the promotional offer.

Residents of the following counties, with proof of valid ID, will be eligible for this offer from March 25 - April 14:

- Adair County

- Allen County

- Barren County

- Breckenridge County

- Butler County

- Christian County

- Clinton County

- Crittenden County

- Cumberland County

- Daviess County

- Edmonson County

- Grayson County

- Green County

- Hancock County

- Hardin County

- Hart County

- Henderson County

- Hopkins County

- Larue County

- Logan County

- Marion County

- Mclean County

- Meade County

- Metcalfe County

- Monroe County

- Muhlenberg County

- Ohio County

- Russell County

- Simpson County

- Taylor County

- Todd County

- Union County

- Warren County

- Webster County

- Whitley County

In the spirit of Easter, Providence Coffee House and Marketplace will be hosting an “ Easter Loaf and Paint ” Thursday, March 28, at 6 p.m. The shop will provide edible paint to paint sourdough loaves, which will then be baked on site while guests can sip and paint on canvas.

The Aviation Heritage Park will be hosting a grand opening for their Thunderbirds Exhibit Saturday, March 30, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Visitors will have the opportunity to meet the Thunderbird pilots that flew from 1997 to 1998, as well as see the actual gear they used.

Also happening March 30, Beech Bend Raceways is gearing up for car show season with the local Bowling Green Cars and Coffee Meet at 8 a.m. Then they plan to follow it up with ‘Send it Saturday’ from noon to 5 p.m., where a special guest speaker will preview the raceway’s upcoming season.

The BG Hot Roads are prepping for their upcoming season in early April, hosting an open practice with the chance for visitors to meet the 2024 Hot Rods Wednesday. April 3. from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. That will be followed up by a special opening weekend April 5 - 7, kicking off the Hot Rods 15th Anniversary Season.

No vacation is complete without good eats, with Taste of Bowling Green at the Sloan Convention center Thursday, April 11, at 7 p.m., where guests can sample from the best food and drink vendors in the city.

For those wanting to be out in the sunshine, Visit BGKY recommends attractions like the Baker Arboretum or Lost River Cave.

More From Forbes

Travel the u.s., discovering the literal meaning of states and cities.

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Places were often named after descriptions of the local geography or stemmed from the local ... [+] language.

We often associate places with the historical events we know happened there and sometimes it might be the reason we travel, to commemorate and to visit these sites and museums. Places in the U.S. were also named after cities, towns and people in the old world or sometimes they simply described the geography of a place, often in local languages.

Some are easier than others—Germantown speaks for itself, but this map might help travelers identify other interesting aspects of the places they visit. Syracuse, for example, is known to be named after an Italian port on the Ionion Sea but its name stems from the Phoenician word 'serah', which can be translated as 'to feel ill' because it was located near a swamp.

Many cities are named after people. Think Colombia in South Carolina, named after Christopher Columbus or North Charleston being named after King Charles II. Erie in Pennsylvania is named after the Eriez Indians and there are lots of places still named after generals and colonels.

Some places were named after places in the Old World. Boston is named after a town in England, in the county of Lincolnshire, which itself was named after the patron saint of boundaries, Botolph, from the 7th century—who in turn became recognised as the patron saint of trade and travel.

Many places are named after the positive qualities of the land, such as Anchorage (a place good for anchoring) and Portland (the land surrounding a harbor). It is thought that Honolulu gets its name from the Hawaiian language, where 'lulu' means calm and 'hono' means port, although its original name was 'Ke ʻAwa O Kou' meaning 'the harbor of the Kou'.

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Boise in Idaho gets its name from the French word 'bois' meaning 'wood', and one of the possible reasons that Buffalo is called Buffalo is because it stemmed from the U.S. pronunciation of the French name 'beau fleuve' meaning 'beautiful river'.

Many more place names though, are named from local languages, often from the geographical features of the place and the rich indigenous heritage. Kansas and Kansas City were named after the Kansa tribe (where the river gets its name) which means 'People of the Southwind'.

It seems that Chicago was named for its scent, its name coming from the quantity of wild garlic found in the area near the lakes and streams, well before the city was established in 1833—possibly named from the Algonquian word 'sheka:ko:heki', meaning 'place of the wild onion'.

Likewise, Minneapolis' name comes from the Sioux words 'minne' for 'water' and 'minnehaha' meaning 'waterfall' plus the Greek word 'polis' that means 'city'. Or think about the city of Topeka in Kansas that many believe translates from the Kansa tribe's use of the Siouan language meaning 'a good place to dig potatoes'.

Legend has it that the city of Baton Rouge in Louisiana was named for the many 'red sticks' that French explorer Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville found in the area in 1699 that had fish and bear heads attached to them, possibly marking the frontier between the tribes of the Bayou Goula and the Houma. The city of Tampa is also named after sticks—the native Calusa tribe called it 'tansa' meaning 'sticks of fire' in their native Calusa language, because of the lightning that was frequent in the area.

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My Tour Operator Is a B Corp. What Does That Mean? Should I Care?

A growing number of travel operators are undergoing the B Corp certification process, which can offer insight into a company’s environmental and social initiatives.

By Sophie Stuber

Tanya Dohoney has worked on sustainability initiatives for decades. A retired attorney from Texas now living in Paris, she even started the recycling program for her workplace. When it comes to travel, she also values environmentally and socially responsible companies, which led her to choose Intrepid Travel , a certified B Corp company, for a tour in Morocco in 2019.

The sheer number of sustainability certifications for the travel and tourism industry is almost overwhelming and certainly confusing. Certified B Corp enterprises must meet standards set by B Lab , a Pennsylvania-based nonprofit founded in 2006 that awards for-profit companies with certifications for social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability. It can take years — and thousands of dollars — to achieve this accreditation. Globally, there are only 62 certified B Corps in the travel industry and 76 in accommodation and hospitality.

“When you see the B Corp logo, I know it’s been at least semi-vetted,” Ms. Dohoney, 64, said. “I do worry about greenwashing, but you have to start somewhere.”

Other travelers, increasingly concerned about the environmental and social impact of their planes, trains, food waste and more, feel the same way, and a growing number of travel operators are undergoing the B Corp certification process, joining multimillion dollar brands like Patagonia and Athleta, to differentiate themselves from competitors.

Aurora Expeditions , a small ship tour operator focused on polar travel, became certified in 2024, joining other travel companies like the lodging company Sawday’s , and tour companies Selective Asia and Byway . But Hayley Peacock-Gower, Aurora’s chief marketing officer, said the company has focused on sustainable travel since its inception.

“Much of this work we were already doing, but we have now committed to much more accountability and made a legal agreement to sustainability,” she said, adding that Aurora also amended the company’s constitution and formalized internal policies as part of the B Corp process.

What’s the certification process?

Companies are scored on five criteria — governance, workers’ rights, community impact, environmental impact and “stewardship of its customers” — and must achieve an assessment score of 80 or above to pass B Lab’s “Impact Assessment.” Once approved, a company must pay an annual fee based on gross annual revenue and location. For U.S.-based enterprises, this ranges from $2,000 for companies with under $500,000 in gross annual revenue to $50,000 for companies with revenue from $750,000 to $1 billion. (Some organizations, like those owned by women or veterans, can also qualify for discounted fees .)

“B Corp certification offers tourists confidence that they’re visiting and using providers that are responsible,” said Jorge Fontanez, chief executive at B Lab for the United States and Canada.

With more than 2,909 employees, Intrepid Travel is the largest B Corp in the travel industry, earning its certification in 2018.

“When there is so much green fatigue and so many certifications, it’s really hard to discern what’s best,” said Mikey Sadowski, Intrepid’s vice president of global communication. “We felt that B Corp really did have this disproportionate edge and level of trust.”

To meet B Corp standards, Intrepid, which offers trips in 120 countries on seven continents, focuses on initiatives like hiring local guides, sourcing local ingredients and materials, and reducing carbon emissions by planning train-based itineraries — instead of using air transit — when possible.

The Australia-based company recently completed its B Corp re-certification, which in 2024 includes an annual fee of 51,750 Australian dollars ($33,625) and another 900 Australian dollars ($585) for a submission fee, Mr. Sadowski said. For their original certification in 2018, the company also paid a one-time verification fee of 14,500 Australian dollars ($9,573).

Who gets left out?

While this certification can offer insights into a company’s environmental and social initiatives — and perhaps maximize profits, by winning the business of like-minded travelers — these tours and accommodations are often geared toward customers with deep pockets.

For budget travelers or those of less economic means, it can be challenging to find affordable travel companies with B Corp certifications.

“The reality is, B Corps generally skew to the luxury side of the market. And the idea of having any B Corp hostels, for example, is very rare,” said Nick Pinto, a 31-year-old Colorado-based marketing manager who spends several months a year working and traveling abroad.

Mr. Pinto calls himself a “budget conscious traveler” and has found he’s priced out of B Corp accommodations.

“It’s tricky because you want programs like B Corp to be inclusive to create a broader movement,” he said. Mr. Pinto recently spent several weeks in Mexico, but had noted that there were only two certified B Corp hotels in the country.

A third company, Hoteles BF , has since been certified.

What other certifications are out there?

Plenty, along with guidelines, verifications and “ecostars.” The last, a certification doled out by the for-profit Ecostars , evaluates hotels’ environmental impact per visitor stay. This certification, free to receive and apply for, is a fully digital process that takes two days on average to receive. Other certifications gauge sustainability efforts for short-term accommodations, tour groups and other subsectors of the travel industry.

To receive certification from the 1% for the Planet nonprofit, which was co-founded by the Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard and Craig Mathews, of Blue Ribbon Flies, a fly-fishing outfitter, member companies must commit to donating 1 percent of their gross proceeds to environmental organizations. Annual dues start at $500.

The Global Sustainable Tourism Council nonprofit, which includes among its members government tourism boards, travel companies, tour operators and N.G.O.s, vets sustainability certificates.

Organizations also rely on guidelines and resolutions issued by the United Nations as part of the entity’s sustainable development agenda . The guidelines call for biodiversity and climate action initiatives, as well as energy efficiency and renewable energy usage in accommodations. Courses and webinars, which are free to enroll in and to view, charge a per-course fee of 49 euros ($53) if a user wants to complete assignments and receive a certificate of completion.

Many tour operators and travel companies have additionally announced efforts to reach net carbon neutrality, but carbon offsets have been shown to rarely capture or reduce real emissions, or reduce future emissions. The tour operator Run the Alps used to offset the flight emissions for travelers coming to its tours, but the company is re-evaluating the practice.

“Offsetting is not the panacea we hoped it was,” said Hillary Gerardi, the sustainability director at Run the Alps. “We’re trying to move from being good to doing good, which means beyond reducing our footprint, we’re trying to leave some positive impact in our community.”

The tour operator is a member of 1% for the Planet and works with the local research center and citizen-science organizer, CREA Mont Blanc .

But even when a travel company is committed to sustainability, B Corp certification can be a big ask for smaller operations.

“We’re entirely aligned with B Corp status, but up until this year, we were a really tiny company. The certification and process would have been too onerous,” said Doug Mayer, the company’s founder.

But with the company’s growth, Mayer is considering taking the step.

“I can see it coming up for us,” he said.

Follow New York Times Travel on Instagram and sign up for our weekly Travel Dispatch newsletter to get expert tips on traveling smarter and inspiration for your next vacation. Dreaming up a future getaway or just armchair traveling? Check out our 52 Places to Go in 2024 .

Open Up Your World

Considering a trip, or just some armchair traveling here are some ideas..

Italy :  Spend 36 hours in Florence , seeking out its lesser-known pockets.

Southern California :  Skip the freeways to explore the back roads between Los Angeles and Los Olivos , a 100-mile route that meanders through mountains, canyons and star-studded enclaves.

Mongolia : Some young people, searching for less curated travel experiences, are flocking to the open spaces of this East Asian nation .

Romania :  Timisoara  may be the most noteworthy city you’ve probably never heard of , offering just enough for visitors to fill two or three days.

India: A writer fulfilled a lifelong dream of visiting Darjeeling, in the Himalayan foothills , taking in the tea gardens and riding a train through the hills.

52 Places:  Why do we travel? For food, culture, adventure, natural beauty? Our 2024 list has all those elements, and more .

Boeing's CEO is leaving: What does that mean for the plane manufacturer?

Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun is set to step down by the end of the year, and he’s not the only one. Other top executives are also leaving the company as questions of safety mar its reputation following the January incident when an Alaska Airlines 737 Max lost a door plug mid-flight.

Experts said that travelers first need to know that Boeing planes largely remain safe , but only time will tell if the company’s C-suite shakeup results in real, positive change.

“It’s a headline change. I’m not sure it makes a difference on the factory floor, and that’s really where the value or the damage is created,” Robert W. Mann, Jr., a former airline executive officer and current president of R. W. Mann and Company, an independent airline consultancy, told USA TODAY. “It’s changing the motivation structure, which has favored rate of production over absolute quality. At the same time, they’re pushing to increase production rates. They have to demonstrate they can produce quality before they can think about producing at higher rates. If this change contributes to that, wonderful; if it doesn’t, they are where they are, and they’re going to be there for a long time.” 

But that kind of culture change can be hard to implement in a company as sprawling as Boeing.

“A new CEO will feel vulnerable. They will want to show that they can implement quick fixes, they’ll want to show immediate results. The problem is not going to be fixed by quick fixes,” said Ashley Fulmer, an assistant professor of management at the Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University. Fulmer’s research focuses on trust in business, and she said Boeing’s new CEO will have a long way to go to restore the company’s reputation.

"The issue for the public, especially, is that it’s kind of a show for accountability, but the question now we’re asking is who is really responsible?” Fulmer said. “We need to see more tangible evidence of accountability.” 

For Robert Clifford, senior partner at Clifford Law in Chicago, these changes at Boeing couldn’t happen soon enough.

Clifford represents the families of victims of the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max 8 crashes in their litigation against Boeing. He said he and his clients are gratified to see executives held accountable, but that more changes are needed at the manufacturer.

“The families from the Max 8 disasters have been calling for a cleaning of the house of the C-suite for some time. It’s finally coming, it’s here,” he said. “This is not a day to rejoice; this is a day for a reckoning of what should have occurred long ago.” 

Experts agreed Boeing needs to return to its roots as an engineering-first company that prioritizes the quality of its products over shareholder returns. 

“You can be a good company without having just focus on the bottom line, they’re not mutually exclusive concepts,” Clifford said.

Mann added that Stephanie Pope’s appointment to lead Boeing’s Commercial Airplane division is curious and likely to come under increased scrutiny since she does not have an engineering background.

“If there’s a consistent complaint at this point, whether it’s commercial or space or any other aspect of (Boeing’s) business it’s that they don’t have the engineering people to oversee (production),” he said. “It’ll be a long time before anything really changes.”

Cruising Altitude: I've covered Boeing's 737 MAX for years. A quick rundown of the issues

The leadership change comes as a Department of Justice criminal investigation into Boeing is seemingly expanding. Passengers on the Alaska Airlines flight reportedly received letters from the FBI last week alerting them that they may be victims of a crime.

Clifford said he’s seen copies of the letter and said it contained few details about the exact nature or scope of the investigation, but that it was still an encouraging sign the government is taking Boeing’s issues seriously.

“In product liability litigation circles, there’s this concept of graveyard engineering, that products get safer but only after people die,” he said. “Now we have these passengers of the two Max 8 crashes perished needlessly so, but now other people are getting recognized as potential victims. That’s one of the consequences that is a positive.

Mann emphasized that even as Boeing remains under intense scrutiny and upheaval at the top, travelers should be assured that its planes are safe to fly on.

“I personally have the view that there are professionals there that want to do the right thing, that’s what keeps the industry as safe as it has become,” he said. “I have faith in airplanes and faith in the people operating them.” 

Clifford, who represents Boeing crash victims, agreed that its planes are safe but hopes the latest incidents create further incentive to improve the quality and oversight of its production lines.

“The Max 8 right now might be the safest plane in the sky because of the preventable deaths that occurred,” he said. “There will be a renewed focus, hopefully, on quality engineering at Boeing.”

Zach Wichter is a travel reporter for USA TODAY based in New York. You can reach him at [email protected]

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It’s like travelling back 700 years: healthy pleasures in rural Andalucía

A group of seven Moorish villages in southern Spain are the perfect place to recharge – offering mountain air, sparkling springs and any excuse for a party

O n our first morning in Atalbéitar, I walk into the kitchen to make coffee and wonder if I’m feeling the effects of the previous night’s festivities. Then I remember it’s not me; it’s the kitchen floor, which is on a gentle slope. I have to be careful carrying the coffee back to bed as the steps are at different heights, and the doorways are small enough to bump your head on. As I lie there, beneath a ceiling constructed of woven chestnut branches and stone slabs, I survey my surroundings, and come to the pleasing conclusion that there’s not a single right angle in sight.

We are staying in a Moorish house in this Andalucían village, and I may as well have travelled back the 700 years to when it was first built. I’ve been visiting Spain for years, as my husband leads wilderness tours here and we’ve travelled from one end to the other, seeking out hidden corners and mountain trails. But arriving in Atalbéitar at night, negotiating its tangle of passageways, ducking under ancient covered walkways while spring water rushes past our feet, we both agree, we’ve never been anywhere quite like this. The village gives the impression of having grown out of the land, rather than been imposed upon it. Its streets are too narrow for cars, the village cats roam freely, and the only sound is the occasional bleating of goats across the slopes. As I look out over the valley on this crisp winter’s morning, the sun is blazing in a solid blue sky and early almond blossom adds splashes of pastel pink to the rocky hills. Everything is still and silent.

Atalbéitar is part of La Tahá, a group of seven villages in the Alpajurras region of Andalucía. It’s a tiny speck on the map of Spain, on a southern slope of the Sierra Nevada overlooking the deep gorge of the Trevelez River. Settled by the Nasrid dynasty of Granada, the people who built its Alhambra, the whitewashed villages of Pitres, Atalbéitar, Capilerilla, Mecina, Mecinilla, Fondales and Ferreirola have retained their Moorish feel thanks to their unique architecture and remote location. Access into the valley is by a winding mountain road that passes through Pitres, the main town, but all the other villages are reached by spurs off this road, so there is no passing trade.

In Atalbéitar, this is no cause for concern. There is no trade to be had. It has a population of 31, and no shop or restaurant, although there is an improvised social club/bar, run by village stalwart Jesus, who opens up his home on the main square when the mood takes him. That’s not to say there isn’t a lively social scene. La Tahá boasts a busy calendar of festivals, many of them relating to Easter and various Saint’s days, but some are specific to the region, such as an autumn chestnut festival called Mauraca, and the summer Santa Cruz fiesta, which includes a traditional “burial of the fox”, with a fancy dress parade culminating in a bonfire cremation of a mock fox stuffed with fireworks.

Our arrival, in mid-January, coincides with the first festival of the year, Chisco de San Antón, when each of the La Tahá villages celebrates with a bonfire in the central plaza and a feast of barbecued pork and local sweet wine. The definitive reason for the festivities seems to have been lost in the mists of time – it’s all about the party. The most striking aspect for us – arriving fresh from cash-strapped England with its bankrupt councils – is that all the meat and bread and booze is provided by the local authority.

Soon, the flames are rising high, a jam-band of local musicians has set up by the fire and the scent of roasting meat fills the air. The crowd is small and friendly, a mix of ages and nationalities, which according to our hosts, Scottish-Spanish couple, Tom and Carmen, is typical of La Tahá. The area is a quiet success story that contradicts rural Spain’s usual lament of empty villages and dying populations. Over the years, the seven villages have attracted an international crowd of artists, musicians and writers. The nearest major town, Orgiva, is famous for its longstanding hippy commune and bohemian reputation, and La Tahá, 45 minutes’ drive away, with its rambling old houses and fertile land, is a perfect location to seek out la buena vida .

We’re invited into the jam session, and a truly outre mix of banjo, harmonica, guitar, drums and penny whistle are soon bashing out a 12-bar blues with improvised Romanian lyrics. We use a jar of lentils from our rental property as a percussion instrument. The meat and wine seem limitless but in true British form, we peak early and leave the locals to their late-night carousing.

In the morning, steadying my sea legs on the kitchen floor, I remind myself of our holiday intentions: two weeks of healthy living after the excesses of the festive season, starting with a heart-pumping walk each day. The villages of La Tahá are connected by a network of trails, and over the course of our stay we vow to visit each village on foot. Our first trek takes us along the river gorge to Pitres: it’s a dramatic, rugged hike punctuated by gasps of both amazement and a shameful lack of fitness.

The slopes of the Trevelez valley are insanely steep, winding through enchanted forests of pine and oak, with orchards of orange and lemon trees in the villages, and wild figs and pomegranates at every turn. The valley’s geology is striated with mica and the landscape shimmers silver in the sunlight. Walking this lush, verdant land, we find it hard to believe that much of Spain is in the midst of a crippling drought. Streams pour down the mountainside and natural springs bubble from the rock. In the depth of the forest we come to the most famous spring, Fuente la Gaseosa, where a high concentrate of iron carbonates in the rock has created a natural supply of agua con gas , fizzing straight out of the ground.

We start our walks with the most challenging uphill climbs but eventually make it down to the bottom of the valley, drawn to the roar of the Trevelez long before we can see it. Our efforts are rewarded with a final scramble through the undergrowth to an icy dip in a natural pool beneath a Roman bridge.

The clean light, abundant water and fresh mountain air do wonders for everything that ails you. It’s hard to believe, in our ultra-connected western European lives, that such magical, unchanged places can still be found. The villages themselves are beautiful in their simplicity, with just a couple of humble, old-school hotels, and cafes serving good coffee and not much else. There’s a weekly market in Pitres, and vans selling bread and fish do the rounds of the villages.

La Tahá provides a truly natural detox, with a refreshing lack of wellbeing waffle. There are no expensive retreats, or burned-out execs turned wellness gurus exhorting you to live your best life. Just a horde of territorial cats, an old man in his pyjamas grunting “Buenas” from his balcony every morning, and all the bounty of mother earth – everything you need for the good life.

Details of the walking trails between the villages, 7 Towns, 7 Routes, can be found here . The writer stayed at albaholidaylets.com

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'Supply and demand on steroids' as peak Sydney to Melbourne flights exceed $900. What does it mean for holiday travel?

If you're not a fan of watching race cars go around in circles, you may have gotten a shock if you needed to book a flight from Sydney to Melbourne this week.

With Formula 1 grand prix events kicking off at Melbourne's Albert Park on Thursday, it was rare to spot a one-way fare for less than $400 from Monday.

By Wednesday, across Jetstar, Rex, Virgin and Qantas, flights were a minimum of about $500 to upwards of $900.

In some instances, it was cheaper to book a seat in business class than economy.

While it's not uncommon for airlines to hike up prices around sporting events, holidays and concerts, Chris Ford from Compare the Market said with Easter approaching this was a "double whammy".

"It's sort of a double hit that can extend over a period of time," he told the ABC.

Experts have called it "supply and demand on steroids" during peak periods.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) monitors the prices and profits of the major domestic airlines but plays no role in regulating fares.

So, airlines have the freedom to increase prices according to market demand and conditions, aviation analyst and associate professor at RMIT, Chrystal Zhang, said.

"The key question is really, 'How high can the airline go?'"

She warned nowadays people need to book trips months in advance and be willing to be flexible around "hot events" and holidays. 

Best days to avoid Easter holiday hikes

Concerts and events generally only lead to fluctuations over a few days, Mr Ford said.

But when Taylor Swift mania took hold last month, airfares to Sydney and Melbourne spiked over a sustained period, even across regional airports.

In the lead-up to Easter, Compare the Market analysed which days were best to travel and how long it would take for prices to start to drop.

It found consistent patterns in its reviews over Christmas, showing fares inevitably "skyrocket" before public holiday days.

Comparing where prices were at about two weeks out from Easter, there was a difference of hundreds of dollars between the cheapest and most expensive days to fly.

With the Easter long weekend falling on March 29 to 31, flights out of Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne to the rest of Australia's major cities were the most expensive on March 28.

The cheapest days in the lead-up were between March 18 and 22.

On the other side, flights were most affordable from April 4 to 12.

Prices will continue to rise

Over the last two weeks, flights have been increasing incrementally along key routes, and are expected to continue to rise, Mr Ford said.

"We're not talking hundreds of dollars at this point in time, but it will be interesting over the next few days to see how much they do nudge up."

This week, flights from Brisbane to Sydney were about $170 one-way on March 28, Mr Ford said.

They come down to $110 on April 4, then a few days later prices are at $74.

"You're looking at around $100 from peak to trough over a two-week period," he said.

On the Melbourne to Sydney route, a flight on March 28 this week was selling for around $180 depending on the flight times.

When Compare the Market analysed flights a week ago, the most expensive flight from Melbourne to Sydney on March 25 was $174.

Now, with the pinch of grand prix demand and most flights being close to sold out, the cheapest flight is about $400.

By April 9, there are flights for $52.

Weekend crowds at the international racing event are expected to exceed 440,000. 

"If there is a lesson to be learned for future needs, it's doing that research as early as possible," Mr Ford said.

How far should you book in advance?

There are some opportunities to find cheaper prices as holidays approach, but it depends on how much time you have and if you're open to "inconvenience", Mr Ford said.

Generally, flights will be less expensive during early mornings and late nights, and from regional airports.

"You need to be able to be more flexible and open to travelling slightly out of town, or getting to the airport at 4am for a 6am flight," he said.

But, the best way to avoid getting stung is to book early, and check terms and conditions in case flights are cancelled, Professor Zhang said.

She suggested these days it's best to generally book flights about three months in advance.

"Two to three months before you plan the travel is a kind of suggested time to finalise your schedule and your overall itinerary," she said.

Depending on the demand of the particular route, you will start seeing prices rise up to two to three weeks, she added.

"And you really need to be mindful of these very hot events in hot destinations, whether that's a big conference or a popular sporting event."

'People will still fly'

Rico Merkert, professor of operations and supply chain management at the University of Sydney, said there have always been increases during peak seasons, but it has become more excessive since the COVID pandemic.

"Supply and demand on steroids," he told the ABC.

"What happened is that we didn't have enough capacity or [there was] reduced capacity." 

Now, there are chances to "capture an audience" when there are holidays and events like a Taylor Swift concert.

"Sydney to Melbourne is one of the busiest routes on the planet, so it's difficult for airlines to add more capacity — more flights," Professor Merkert said.

"But they see that suddenly everyone wants to fly so that means they can easily increase the fares and know people will still fly."

Jetstar said strong demand from Sydney to Melbourne was a factor in their high prices this week.

"Most customers book well ahead of when they want to travel and like all airlines, our cheapest fares sell out first," Jetstar said in a statement to the ABC.

Falls into 'price gouging' but is it illegal?

These practices are unfortunate for people who have no choice but to book last-minute travel, Professor Merkert said, adding that it would "fall into the category of price gouging".

It also isn't isolated to airlines, with petrol prices already increasing in the lead-up to Easter.

"It's the same with a car, if you have to drive to Orange (in regional NSW) to see your family, you might be able to take a train but there are all sorts of other destinations in NSW where you have to travel further and you have no choice," he said.

The ACCC said increasing prices during periods of high demand is not illegal, but businesses just need to provide clear and up-front information about the price consumers will pay.

Currently, competition is the best hope of keeping prices within reason.

"The ACCC tries to ensure that there's sufficient competition in the market," Professor Merkert said.

"If there are two or three airlines in this space, surely one will have a slightly better deal.

"But in fact, if one raises fares by 30 per cent, then the others won't be far behind."

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