Authored by Jub Bryant

Do you know the best thing about a quote? Whether it’s a travel quote, or an Instagram bio quote, you can interpret them however you like.

If you’re a fan of travel quotes, you’ve probably heard the same quotes used over and over again. The internet has a small pool of favorites, and they’re all overused!

But if you’re looking for some new inspiration, it can be quite insightful to take quotes from other places, like a list of sports quotes, and see if there are any travel lessons you can find!

The following are seven quotes that I’ve interpreted into travel inspiration. You’ll find four sporting quotes from Lou Piniella, Gift Ngoepe, Shaq and Muhammad Ali, as well as quotes Albert Einstein, Mindy Kaling and the man we’re going to start with, Louis C.K.

Seeking Travel Inspiration From Non-Travel Quotes

“Whenever you leave behind failure, you’re doing good. If you think everything you’ve done is great, you’re probably dumb.” – Louis C.K.

One of the biggest keys to travel is to understand that things will go wrong on the road. You’re in a new environment, you may not speak the language, and failure on the road is one of the ways that travel allows you to grow!

I made the mistake of getting scammed in Shanghai by the well known tea scam, even though I’d read about the freaking thing before arriving! However I didn’t let that stop me. Embrace your failures on the road. You’ll return home with more interesting stories.

“Statistics are like bikinis – they show a lot but not everything.” – Lou Piniella

When I read this, I instantly thought of Cassie De Pecol. Early in 2017, she had 15 minutes of fame in the media as the first female to travel to every country in the world (she wasn’t).

Either way, this sounds amazing, and she’s a role model for those who want to travel everywhere. But when you dig into the details and hear the stories of spending long nights at the airport and less than 24 hours in so many countries, the idea of traveling to every country starts to lose it’s appeal.

I mean, is there a point to being able to show that you’ve done a lot, if it only has surface level appeal?

“It doesn’t matter where you come from and no matter where you are or who you are, you can still make it.” – Gift Ngoepe

Of all the luck in the world, I consider myself fortunate to have been born in New Zealand. It makes travel a heck of a lot easier for me.

Though there are many countries in the world where travel isn’t so easy, whether that’s because of a poor national economy, or simply having an unattractive passport. But there are travelers like Trisha Velarmino who choose to rise up anyway.

Born and raised in the Philippines, traveling the world freely is more challenging for Trisha than for most, though if you think the limits on her passport would stop her from exploring the world you would be wrong. The Philippine passport may come with many restrictions, though she is on a mission to prove to the world that you can go backpacking and travel full time even if you’re not from the UK, EU, US, AU or Canada.

She is currently working, teaching and volunteering around South America making the most out of the continents 6 visa free countries (for Filipinos), proving to the world as she goes that travel truly is possible, no matter where you come from or which passport you hold.

“Excellence is not a singular act but a habit. You are what you do repeatedly.” – Shaq

What kind of person do you want to be as you travel? You need to be consistent with this. Do you want to be an ethical traveller? You need to be consistently questioning things around you.

I rode elephants on my first trip to Asia. Which I didn’t realize was a controversial thing to do. But I took from that experience that I needed to start questioning the experiences I took part in if I wanted to call myself an ethical traveler. I needed to be consistently asking the right questions, as excellence is not a singular act, but a habit.

“Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. The hands can’t hit what the eyes can’t see.” – Muhammed Ali

When I hear this, I think of pickpockets around the world. I was on a free walking tour in Barcelona, when a lady had her phone taken from her open bag.

Fortunately a couple of undercover cops saw the pickpockets in action and recovered her phone. But what if she was thinking like Muhammad Ali? The pickpockets likely wouldn’t have targeted her.

Keep your valuables out of sight where the eyes of pickpockets can’t see.

“Pure mathematics, is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas.” – Albert Einstein

Budget travel is my default travel style, though I dabble in luxury on the once in a blue moon press trips.

As I plot my next moves on SkyScanner, I’m moving through a list of destinations in a logical fashion to work out the most affordable departure and arrival destinations in a certain region.

If I save $20 but get a chance to have a 24 hour layover somewhere, that’s like the dream situation.

“Why the fuck not me? Should be your motto.” – Mindy Kaling

Girl power! This actually reminds me of my buddy Alice. She’d agree she has a bit of a potty mouth and would totally endorse this as a promoter of solo female travel adventures.

Despite solo female travel being more popular than ever, there is still a big perception that traveling alone as a female is dangerous. Nothing could be further from the truth, but for every woman who wants to emulate the heroine of Wild, or Eat, Pray, Love, adopt this motto.

Whether you’re a female who wants to go it alone, or a retiree who wants to see the world, no one is stopping you from doing anything.  The travel heroes and adventuress’ you look up to – that could be you!

Your Turn

What do you think? Have I lost the plot?

I’d love to read some of your travel interpretations for random quotes you like.

If you’re sick of reading cheesy lists of travel quotes that have lost their buzz, start translating non travel related quotes for some new inspiration.

This isn’t limited to travel of course, use this technique to find inspiration for whatever it is you’re trying to accomplish.

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Jub originally hails from New Zealand, and is all about injecting his travels with a healthy dose of sports!

With a passion for everything to do with sports, he shares his experiences & opinions on sports around the world. And he believes that playing sports with locals is one of the few ways you can genuinely ‘get to know’ the locals with no ulterior motives involved (a.k.a. money).

Follow Jub’s sporting adventures on his blog, Tiki Touring Kiwi, or get social and connect with him over on his snapchat and/or facebook.