The 7 Best Travel TED Talks To Inspire You

TED Talks unite classic storytelling with lecture style presentations that cover every subject imaginable. We’re highlighting their very best talks that will have you reaching for your passport.

If you’ve ever thought about taking that trip you’ve always dreamed of but let someone or something talk you out of it then you might be in need of a little inspirational nudge. I love TED Talks and consider them a positive force for change, so when I found myself trying to determine some actionable priorities of my own, their library of lectures vastly helped me to gain courage and perspective. Lucky for you fellow traveller, TED Talks is here to do the same for you!

Check out the list of the best travel TED Talks that will leave you inspired to explore the world.

1. How to travel the world with almost no money

Speaker: Tomislav Perko

Views: 2,080,434

Highlight: “You don’t have to be brave to travel, you just have to have a little bit of courage.” and “It can be cheaper to travel than to live in your own city.”

2. On Travelling and How to Just DO IT

Speaker: JD, Buck and Jackson Lewis

Views: 28,777

Highlight: “Behind every no you get it, there’s always a yes and there’s always a way, an alternate route to get where you’re going. All you have to do is claim it and go do it.”

3. For more tolerance, we need more…tourism?

Speaker: Aziz Abu Sarah

Views: 62,545

Highlight: “Tourism is the best sustainable way to connect with each other and create a friendship.”

4. Why the travel bug will change your life

Speaker: Mark van der Heijden

Views: 22,115

Highlight:  “I believe that the true joy in life comes from enjoying moments without any artificial distractions.”

5. I’m home: How 10 years of travel helped me find belonging

Speaker: Phil Cha

Views: 9,475

Highlight: “Being inspired is not that difficult in a way…you just got to surround yourself with people that push you forward, who make you a little uncomfortable.” and “Emotions are the only truth.”

6. Learn to travel — travel to learn

Speaker: Robin Esrock

Views: 437,132

Highlight: “People would rather help you than hurt you. Locals take great pride in showing us, the traveller, their world. Whatever the culture, you won’t believe the lengths of hospitability that people go through.”

7. What is home?

Speaker: Pico Iyer

Views: 179,124

Highlight: “Travel for me is a little bit like being in love because suddenly all your senses are at the setting marked on. Suddenly your alert to the secret patterns of the world. The real voyage of discovery is, as Marcel Proust famously said, ‘Consists of not in seeing new sights but in looking with new eyes.'”

Bonus tip to help you on your travels: 7 Ways to Make a Conversation With Anyone

Speaker: Malavika Varadan

Views: 4,256,995

Highlight: “People will forget what you do and forget what you say but they will never forget how you made them feel.”

Jillian is a professional travel enthusiast and facilitator who is lucky to be part of the amazing Toronto team at TourRadar. She first realized her true love of global discovery when she spent a year working in Australia in 2010. Armed with a notebook and a raging case of wanderlust, she loves to explore the world and share her stories. She is always chasing the ocean, the sunshine, and her next great adventure!

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