Dreams about traveling – what do they mean? (Dream interpretation travel)
To be traveling in a dream is something a lot of people dream about. And no wonder, because “travel dreams” are often about our own journey of life – our movement forwards (or backwards) in life, that is. The following describes various aspects of what it means to travel in dreams.
To be traveling in a dream as a symbol of movement in life/journey of life. When seeing yourself traveling in a dream, either by car, by train, by ferry, etc., well, then it is usually about your own journey in life – the inner (and outer) development you are going through. Which mode of transport you use can also be of significance – see for example the blog posts about driving a car and riding a bus. The interesting thing, then, is what you experience on these night-time travels; is there something which prevents you from getting there? Are you struggling to make it in time (see the blog post about being late)? And where are you actually going?
A classic theme in travel dreams is that you are carrying a lot or too much (heavy) luggage, making it difficult or maybe even impossible for you to catch the bus, train, ferry, plane or whatever it may be in your dream. The main question for the dreamer could then be; is something we are carrying with us in our life story somehow pinning us down in our current situation, and making it difficult for us to move on before we let it go? (See the post about luggage in dreams)
Dreams about being scared of losing your passport (your identity papers) are also common when you are at a point in your life when you are about to move into the unknown, for example in your career. In real life, the fear of losing your identity (status etc.) can of course prevent you from taking the plunge into the unsafe and unknown. You can also encounter various barriers on your (dream) journey. These often symbolize your own mental barriers, but they can of course also be barriers that someone else puts in front of you (for example your partner or your parents trying to talk you out of doing something). However, always look inwards before you look for outside reasons.
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When trying to understand your dreams it is important to know that your dreams are… your dreams. As such, you are the best person to figure out the true meaning of your dreams.
However, it is important to learn how to generally approach your dreams. Dream dictionaries like this one are only a supplement, and if you want to fully utilize the potential of your dreams, you should start at a different place.
My online course “Unlock your DREAMlife” gives you a great foundation for understanding (and recalling) your dreams.
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As mentioned, the mode of transportation in your dream is often important. If you’re driving a car, it seems that you are well on your way in life – in a car, you decide where you go – but if you are a passenger in a car someone else is driving, it may mean the exact opposite. In this case it might be this other person (in the outside world) or what this person represents within you that have taken control.
The car is often also a symbol of your body (the body that brings you around). If you drive a bus (public transportation), it may mean that you live your life in keeping with what others are doing and what they might expect from you – you are not following your own path. Traveling by ship represents a somewhat larger perspective on your life’s journey than traveling by car and bus – you can dream about shipwrecks, giant storms, etc. And you can also experience taking the ship to sea – this may symbolize a break from the family or the life you have lived until now.
The road you travel – if by land – can curve and bend and suddenly split in two, and you may be unsure about which way to choose. This will then usually equal a similar dilemma you face in your life right now – which way should I go? There are very many aspects of dreaming about being on the road, and only you – the dreamer – would know which of these is right for you in your life right now.
As a last point, I want to highlight the importance of your destination in the dream. Are you heading to unfamiliar countries? In this case, this will often be a picture of you in your waking or conscious life (including home life) where you might be exploring uncharted territories. Or it may be new aspects of yourself, a new leisure activity you wish to start, etc. You might be experimenting with new sides of yourself. If, in your dream, you are sure that you are heading towards your “final destination”, then it may be a warning about your own death – your final destination in life.
Dream dictionaries are a very helpful tool when interpreting dreams. However, generally learning how to approach your dreams, will give you a better foundation for understanding them. My online course “Unlock your DREAMlife” teaches you how to much better utilize – recall and understand – your dreams.
Return to the index of dream themes and symbols:
Dream interpretation A-Z ↵
Also read: Why I no longer interpret dreams for free
NOTE: Dreams are 100% individual, and when you dream about traveling, it’s almost certainly about something else for you than it is for your friend, who has also dreamed about traveling. Dream interpretation / dream analysis is sometimes a difficult art, and a particular interpretation of a dream is only correct if you feel “affected” by it. Therefore, it is not certain that the above mentioned interpretations are relevant to you.
Hi,
I’m Maria from Croatia.
every night, last two or three months I dream nice dreams about traveling. In my beautiful dreams I’m with my family (husband and kids), and we travel by train or plain to destinations all around the world. I dream so much details, for example, one night we were on Thailand (I never was there). We walk through the jungles, saw animals, wood houses, and we enjoy on our trip. Every night is another destination, and every night I’m with whole family or only with my husband.
I really enjoy in every detail of my dreams, but I’m also scared why I always dream traveling. I’m so lucid in my dreams, that during dreaming I know that is maybe not good to dream traveling. So I couldn’t relax (!?) on my destinations because of scaring.
In real life I travel very often.
Do You have some idea whats going on with my brain and my dream life?
Thanks for answer!
Hi Marija,
and thank you for your comment at very interesting dream! I would think your dreams might illustrate how you are not only exploring the world in real life (the travel you do in real life) – but also exploring your inner life / sides of yourself. Unfortunately I no longer help out in depth here at this site for free, as I get very many requests every day. Best regards – Michael
I was traveling with my friends to another country with a bag and a cycle but my mode of transport was a magic carpet 😄 I returned back home to tell my parents about it and went back again
i have been dreaming about travelling to various places one night ago i dreamt travelling to Norway with my mother. today i dreamt travelling to Italy with my friends and also dreamt travelling to Kuwait alone..what do these dreams mean
I dreamt of traveling to Casablanca, I was in the car then went walking where I met people on the way. No struggles and people were nice telling me which road to go. Along the way of my travels I saw beaches and dolphins. I saw different ways of how people live. The rest of my dream was a bit blurry now. What does that mean? Love your page btw.. Thank you very much
i am dreaming me and my husband travel to other place and we met with my husbands parents they both happy when they look them and after that we come back and someone gave us foreign money to pay a boat fee
Hello, I am a person with a lot of questions, I dream almost every single night and I remember most of my dreams. I am always telling my dreams to my sisters or friends because they are so interesting, most of the time I don’t know what they mean. But they always leave me thinking about it. I dream with animals, lots of animals and different kinds, I dream often that I’m flying and by flying I mean like a superhero haha. I dream that I am under water and I can talk and everything like if i lived there. Sometimes Ive seen my own body in my dream, or I’ve told my self to wake up from a dream and sometimes they feel so realistic that when I wake up, I feel relieve that it was just a dream! Ive also dreamed that I was on another country, but last night I dreamed that I was running late to buy and airplane ticket and of course get in the airplane. Me and my son were on our way to Virginia State in US. That is what brought me to you. I was trying to look up what it meant to travel to Virginia, because I am not familiar with that State, by that I mean I have no family over there, it has never been in my mind to travel over there. Which is why it gets more of my attention of why that state? I would really appreciate if you could help me a little with that dream interpretation.
Every time I travel in a dream, I never arrive at the destination, something always gets in the way. What could this mean?
Hi Michael, Past 3 days in dreams, I had incomplete journey. But my destination is 2 known place, another one is I don’t know where I’m headed towards???
Hi Micheal, I’ve had a dream that I was traveling on vacation and I didn’t want to leave, and I wanted to extend my holiday.. but I had to return back with my parents (who are both deceased) but I didn’t seem to notice that in my dream, it wasn’t my passport that was keeping us from doing that.. it was my parents passport, we had 2 options.. I extend my vacation and they go back send me their passports to renew as all our passports needed renewal.. but I was worried that the passports would get lost in the courier .. or I travel with them and stay a week even though I didn’t really want to and we all come back together and renew our passports which for some reason seemed like the logical thing to do, harder then the other option but I preferred this option rather then losing my parents passport.. I’m so confused..
Hi Noha – and thank you for your comment and highly interesting dream! I truly appreciate you asking for my help, but I am sorry to say, that I have decided to no longer help out via these comments, as I get very many of them every day (on this website, on my Danish equivalent website, and via e-mail). I simply cannot keep up with them. Instead I offer help through Skype/telephone – you can read more here: http://www.michaelrolsen.com/dreamcoaching. Best regards -Michael
Hi. 🙂
yesterday, i dreamt about travelling — going to Canada by an airplane, and i was so nervous (because in real life, i am really scared of heights and everything). . The reason that i knew that my flight is in Canda is that, someone gave me a Canadian money when i came there. Money ranging to $20 – $50 canadian dollar. What does it mean?
Hi Yasmin,
thank you for your comment – and not the least your very interesting dream! I get very many requests everyday (via this website and e-mail), and I simply cannot keep up with them. This is also why I have decided to no longer help out in this way (for free). Have you already downloaded my free guide? This guide can definitely help you some of the way in gettting to understand your dreams. You find it here: http://www.michaelrolsen.com/newsletter (you also sign up for my newsletter with valuable information about how to understand dreams, you can always unsubscribe). Best regards – Michael.
Hello, pls I need your help to interpret this dream, I dreamt where my fiance and i were supposed to travel and something happened we couldn’t get a ticket for him, some how my brother came into the pic and helped us out, it was a luxurious bus, at some point in to the journey, everyone was disembarked from the bus in the middle of no where, that they were going to get a smaller bus for us but I refused. We boarded a motorcycle to another terminal to board another luxurious bus, but when we got into the bus our number were not in the bus, no. 4 and 5 had been skipped , we were given other seats and we had to seat separately.😩
Hi Amara,
And thank you for your comment, Apologies for my late reply, but I receive many comments every day, and I simply cannot keep up with them. That is also why I have decided to no longer do interpretations for free. Instead I offer the following options: http://www.michaelrolsen.com/dreamcoaching. Best regards – Michael
Hello Michael! I came across this blog.
Last night I dreamt of being in a boat with my Mom traveling in the sea coz we are trying to catch the ship. We were struggling yo catch the ship and so we wanted to jump into the ship.
It got me thinking the whole day what could have it meant. I feel the bad vibes though.
Hi Rhea,
And thank you for your comment, Apologies for my late reply, but I receive many comments every day, and I simply cannot keep up with them. That is also why I have decided to no longer do interpretations for free. Instead I offer the following options: http://www.michaelrolsen.com/dreamcoaching. Best regards – Michael
I have always dreamt about a journey, by car, bus,plane or lift. I never reach my destination.by bus I miss my stop and hope to get off next stop, but next stop is miles away..it looks familiar to me in my dream but not in real life..by lift the lift goes left, right, in the sky anywhere but the floor above i wanted to be on.I always know my destination but can never get there like stairs turning into small spaces I cant climb through. My dreams are always journeys which I miss the destination, just dont get there
Hi Sarah,
And thank you for your comment, Apologies for my late reply, but I receive many comments every day, and I simply cannot keep up with them. That is also why I have decided to no longer do interpretations for free. Instead I offer the following options: http://www.michaelrolsen.com/dreamcoaching. Best regards – Michael
Hey, I had a dream that I was at my retail job and my grandma called me telling me she schedule me a ticket to go audition for acting. And the ticket was schedule the next day. I was happy and surprise because that’s not something i see my grandma doing. I’m not sure what it means. Can you help me?
Hi Lashay,
And thank you for your comment, Apologies for my late reply, but I receive many comments every day, and I simply cannot keep up with them. That is also why I have decided to no longer do interpretations for free. Instead I offer the following options: http://www.michaelrolsen.com/dreamcoaching. Best regards – Michael
I’m out of my country. and after 2 year I went to vacation in my country. before I went I always dream about home my friends n all.finally I reached home and when I finish my vacation Im back to abroad.to my work again and this days I’m always dreaming about I’m coming back here but I’m already here by bus plain and some scary moment
Hi Puspa,
And thank you for your comment, Apologies for my late reply, but I receive many comments every day, and I simply cannot keep up with them. That is also why I have decided to no longer do interpretations for free. Instead I offer the following options: http://www.michaelrolsen.com/dreamcoaching. Best regards – Michael
hey I’m Thando from South Africa
i had a dream travelling with my mom an cousin sister to New York.
do u know what this could mean.?
Thank you ♡
Hi Thando,
And thank you for your comment, Apologies for my late reply, but I receive many comments every day, and I simply cannot keep up with them. That is also why I have decided to no longer do interpretations for free. Instead I offer the following options: http://www.michaelrolsen.com/dreamcoaching. Best regards – Michael
Hi…i have dream about i am in a plane.and i am passing over a sea and a highway.what does it mean?
Hi Brishna,
And thank you for your comment, Apologies for my late reply, but I receive many comments every day, and I simply cannot keep up with them. That is also why I have decided to no longer do interpretations for free. Instead I offer the following options: http://www.michaelrolsen.com/dreamcoaching. Best regards – Michael
Thanks you very much for posting this answer to the web it really help me..be bless…
Hi, thanks for your post. I have been dreaming about travelling abroad in a foreign country ( unfamiliar land ) and couldn’t find my camera ( camera is my must have thing ).
Any clue ?
Hi Carmen,
And thank you for your comment, Apologies for my late reply, but I receive many comments every day, and I simply cannot keep up with them. That is also why I have decided to no longer do interpretations for free. Instead I offer the following options: http://www.michaelrolsen.com/dreamcoaching. Best regards – Michael
Hi, I had a dream that I was flying to a country in Europe. I don’t know how I ended up on the plane,but we were all going on the same vacation. When we got to the country, I couldn’t participate in any activities because I had no money but I wanted to go to Belgium to visit my sister and I couldn’t leave the group because I didn’t have money to go alone and I also didn’t have any luggage. As I was walking around trying to get the organisers to take the group to Belgium I talked to a lot of people I knew from my past and they were sending around sign up sheets to everyone to ask which country we wanted to visit next and then a list came around with everyone of those friends I saw names on, they were petitioning a trip to Belgium for me. I woke up right after I saw the list. Also I remember everyone partying and having a good time and seeing as I didn’t have anything with me I was worried, maybe scared. What does it mean? It felt like I should get a message from this.
Hi Anica,
And thank you for your comment, Apologies for my late reply, but I receive many comments every day, and I simply cannot keep up with them. That is also why I have decided to no longer do interpretations for free. Instead I offer the following options: http://www.michaelrolsen.com/dreamcoaching. Best regards – Michael