Travel Inspiration

Looking for a little motivation?

If you look for it, there is no shortage of inspiration in this great world of ours. There are thousands of people doing amazing things. DREAM BIG.

Inspirational Travellers

Kinga Freespirit - Spent years hitchhiking around the world with her partner Chopin to places thought to be too remote for traveling by thumb. Then Kinga took off solo to Africa, hitching where few (if any) single woman have gone before. Her free spirit and peaceful heart took her across West Africa, where she proved to be the rare traveler that actually intervenes in social injustice. Sadly, Kinga passed away in Ghana from complications from cerebral malaria. She will be remembered as the woman who paved the way for generations.

Mike - Cycling around the world since 2009, his site, MikeOnBike documents his trip thoroughly and his writing usually has a healthy dose of well-played sarcasm.

Breakfast Club - Kananga, DRC

Dave - He has been traveling around the world since 2005 with the goal of "finding a place to call home". His website, The Longest Way Home, has tons of interesting stories and resources about traveling and how he gets by, plus his insight into the places he visits.

Also, check out Dave's page Great Modern Travelers for a list of some other awesome people taking amazing trips. I would say Karl Bushby tops the list.

http://hitchtheworld.com/ - hitching around South America, great travel writing and tips. Favourite quote, in his "Obtaining Food" tips: "Sometimes you will just have to go hungry. Remember, the human body can go more than a month without food; pride yourself on your ability to take hunger, on your ability to live life like a true adventurer and not a pansy nine-to-fiver who gets all cranky when he misses lunch."

Velabas - hitchhiking the Americas, taking life as it comes. His writing will have you longing for the road.

http://worldglobetrotters.com - Nancy & Joseph's 25 Year World Adventure. Met this nice couple in Mozambique, very cool trip.

Acrobat of the Road - "Hitchhiking as a lifestyle. Our Mission: Documenting and spreading world hospitality."

http://www.worldtravellers.dk/

http://www.adventurouskate.com/

Berlin-Istanbul Hitchhiking

Thumbing Asia from East to West

Thumbs Up! - David Choe & Harry Kim take across America - rails, thumb, rubber dingy down the Mississipi. Vice TV at its finest.

Organizations & Movements

Couchsurfing.org - On the road for weeks and need a warm bed? Just arrived in a big city and looking for a friendly face? Like minded people helping each other out - doesn't get any better than that.

Hitchwiki and Digihitch - Connecting and inspiring the hitchhiking nation.

TED.com - Ideas Worth Spreading. It doesn't get much more inspirational than this. "Riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world." Guaranteed inspiration.

Wikipedia - Because access to information is invaluable when it comes to getting a full, rounded experience of a place. I keep a list of topics I want to know about and then spend hours Wiki-ing whenever I come across internet.

Simon Poultney Foundation - I met Gordon Poultney in Zambia, where he hosted me through Couchsurfing. As the head of SPF, he oversees diverse projects in the Kapiri Mposhi community, which they have 'adopted' from all angles. Traveling in Africa one sees many NGOs with a variety of approaches, but it is rare to find one convincing enough to vouch for. SPF is an exception, largely because of Gordon's dedication. See the website to find out more.

Sugata Mitra - Founder of the Hole in the Wall (HIW) Project, and currently a professor of educational technology at Newcastle University. Traveling it becomes clear that grassroots education is the first step on the road to solving global issues. Dr. Mitra is showing us the way - self-directed learning. Institutions are failing us, let's give the next generation the tools they need to educate themselves.

See also Salmon Khan's foundation: www.khanacademy.org, another ambitious facilitator of self-directed, online learning.

Quotes

Whatever you are by nature, keep to it - never desert your line of talent. Be what nature intended you for and you will succeed.

Sydney Smith

If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine. It is lethal.

Paolo Coehlo

Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible.

Lord Kelvin

Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.

T.S. Elliot

I tell people I'm too stupid to know what's impossible. I have ridiculously large dreams, and half the time they come true.

Debi Thomas

Minds are like parachutes. They only function when they are open.

Lester R Bittel

Man's main task in life is to give birth to himself, to become what he potentially is.

Erich Fromm

Keep looking, don't settle. Stay hungry, stay foolish.

Steve Jobs

The best things in life are free - the best things in life are not things!

Kinga & Chopin

No person is a failure who is enjoying life.

William Faulkner

Stuck on the road, day in, day out - and they're still smiling. Perserverence.

The shortest distance between two points is not a very interesting journey.

R. Goldberg