Travel tattoo ideas

Tattoos: you either love 'em or you hate 'em. I absolutely love (most) tattoos and I like the idea of telling a story with the ink on one's body. I have got one tattoo myself and I got it about 7 years ago after graduating high school. I already knew back then that someday my tattoo would have a little friend.

Since I am a travel addict, a travel tattoo seems like a good plan to me. So I've been surfing around the internet for quite some time now to find a suitable design to match my personal ideas. I came up with the following travel tattoo ideas, but I am not sure yet which one I will turn into a real tattoo....

1) Compass rose 

Classic, but pretty. I love the idea of a compass rose as a travel tattoo. It's tasteful and it can be executed in many different ways. I think I like the one in the right lower corner. In my opinion it would look very pretty on the rib cage. 

2) World map

I love love love the idea of a world map tattoo. It shows that there are many places which need to be discovered. The only reason why I probably won't go for such a design is the fact that it would be a fairly large travel tattoo. Since I want to keep it on the smaller side, this one wouldn´t work for me. 

3) GPS coordinates

With GPS coordinates you can honor certain places without actually writing them down. Such a travel tattoo can be very mysterious since no one actually know what the coordinates mean. It wouldn't work for me, because I just love to travel and I like all countries pretty evenly. Imagine what that list would look like when I'm 60. I would have my whole body covered in coordinates. 

4) Quote

Quotes are always a nice way to express ones feelings about certain subjects. I really love the Lord Of The Rings quote: "Not all those who wander are lost", which really applies to me. There are a lot of travel quotes which I like, but most of them are pretty long so they wouldn't really make a great travel tattoo for me since I want a small tattoo. I do like the idea of words though, so I keep this in mind. 

5) Birds

Flying creatures are free because they can go wherever they want to. That's why birds make a pretty good travel tattoo. I really like the idea of the open bird cage with the bird flying out because it actually shows that one has escaped from the imaginary prison and has finally embraced freedom. But as a tattoo for myself, I'd rather have the simple black bird on the wrist or in the back of the neck.

6) Dandelions

When the little seeds of a dandelion fly freely with the wind, you'll never know where each one is going to land. It's the same with backpacking throught foreign countries. You know where you start, but it's hard to say where you are going. That's why a dandelion would make a pretty nice travel tattoo. It's also easy to combine with birds, because the little seeds turn into birds (top left picture). Love that one in particular! 

7) Plane or paper plane

Airplanes are the most amazing invention because they take you half way around the world in about 12 hours. It's because of airplanes we can visit places on the other side of the planet. Unfortunately I really don't like the shape of an airplane. It just doesn't make a pretty travel tattoo, if you ask me. I think a tattoo should mean something, but I also think it should be pretty. So no ariplanes for me. I do like the upper left paper plane on the rib cage though. 

Pic 1 via here. I don't have any rights over the pictures I used to make these collages. 

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