Maybe that’s enlightenment enough: to know that there is no final resting place of the mind; no moment of smug clarity. Perhaps wisdom...is realizing how small I am, and unwise, and how far I have yet to go. -Anthony Bourdain
Anthony BourdainRead
I’m a big believer in winging it. I’m a big believer that you’re never going to find perfect city travel experience or the perfect meal without a constant willingness to experience a bad one. Letting the happy accident happen is what a lot of vacation itineraries miss, I think, and I’m always trying to push people to allow those things to happen rather than stick to some rigid itinerary.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Embrace spontaneity and be open to unexpected experiences during your travels.
In this quote, Anthony Bourdain emphasizes the importance of being flexible and open-minded when exploring new places. He suggests that by allowing for spontaneity and the possibility of 'happy accidents,' travelers can enrich their experiences far beyond what rigidly planned itineraries can offer. The essence of travel, he argues, lies in the willingness to encounter the unexpected, which often leads to memorable adventures.
Themes
TravelSpontaneityExperienceItineraryAdventure
In practice
Example use cases
Sharing this quote during a travel seminar to encourage participants to embrace unexpected experiences.
More from Anthony Bourdain
All quotes →My brain and body and nervous system, they see a plane ride, a long plane trip, as an opportunity to sleep with nothing coming in, nothing to do. I just go offline the minute I'm on the plane.
Anthony BourdainRead
I'm very proud of the Rome episode of 'No Reservations' because it violated all the conventional wisdom about making television. You're never, ever supposed to do a food or travel show in black and white.
Anthony BourdainRead
The notion that before you even set out to go to Thailand, you say, 'I'm not interested,' or you're unwilling to try things that people take so personally and are so proud of and so generous with, I don't understand that, and I think it's rude. You're at Grandma's house, you eat what Grandma serves you.
Anthony BourdainRead
If you’re twenty-two, physically fit, hungry to learn and be better, I urge you to travel – as far and as widely as possible. Sleep on floors if you have to. Find out how other people live and eat and cook. Learn from them – wherever you go.
Anthony BourdainRead
I feel that if Jacques Pepin shows you how to make an omelet, the matter is pretty much settled. That's God talking.
Anthony BourdainRead
Similar quotes
I think people read travel books either because they intend to take that trip, or because they would never take that trip. In a sense, as a writer you are doing the travel for the reader.
Paul TherouxRead
Gonna travel, gonna travel wild and free_x000D_ _x000D_ I'm gonna pack my bags because this great big world is calling me
Elvis PresleyRead
When you're travelling, you are what you are right there and then. People don't have your past to hold against you. No yesterdays on the road.
William Least Heat-MoonRead
For me the first great joy of traveling is simply the luxury of leaving all my beliefs and certainties at home, and seeing everything I thought I knew in a different light, and from a crooked angle.
Pico IyerRead
...nothing so liberalizes a man and expands the kindly instincts that nature put in him as travel and contact with many kinds of people.
Mark TwainRead
You can always tell a Midwestern couple in Europe because they will be standing on a traffic island in the middle of a busy intersection looking at a windblown map and arguing over which way is west. European cities, with their wandering streets and undisciplined alleys, drive Midwesterners practically insane.
Bill BrysonRead