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15 Essential Travel Skills: Learn to Travel Like a Pro

If you are ready to get the most from your travels, here are fifteen essential travel skills that will help you learn to travel like a pro. This guide will help you become a more savvy explorer. With the right travel skills, you can navigate the world with greater ease, connect more deeply with yourself and others, and make the most of every adventure.

As a certified travel coach with extensive experience both on the road and in guiding others, I’ve curated a list of the best skills for traveling, drawn from personal adventures and comprehensive research. If you’re ready to learn to travel more effectively, reduce stress on the road, and have more meaningful experiences, let’s dive into the essential skills every traveler should cultivate.

1. Curiosity

An open mind, gratitude , and a smile are perhaps the most significant skills to develop for meaningful journeys. It’s all about traveling and learning, engaging with new cultures, and finding joy in discovery. Curiosity drives us to learn from traveling , turning each trip into a lesson in life and humanity.

2. Flexibility

The ability to adapt to new situations and unexpected changes is crucial in travel. Surprises are part of the adventure and embracing flexibility means you can handle whatever comes your way with grace.

3. Choose the Best Destination

Your adventure begins with choosing where to go . Reflect on what you seek—culture, adventure, relaxation—and your deeper intentions for the trip. Learning about travel destinations can help inform your decisions, ensuring you pick the right spot for your aspirations.

4. Itinerary Planning

Once your destination is set, planning your itinerary is crucial. Research attractions, local customs, and your personal must-see sites. Balance is key – ensure you have a mix of activities, with ample downtime. Reflect back on your deeper intentions about your trip so that you craft a meaningful itinerary personal to you. Our step-by-step guide will have you planning your next trip like a pro.

5. Packing Like an Expert

Mastering the art of packing is essential. Learning what and how to pack ensures you’re prepared for your travels, focusing on both necessities and smart choices to make the most of your luggage space.

6. Language Basics

Communicating with locals enriches your travel experience. Our resources on learning new languages provide practical tips and tools, essential for any traveler aiming to immerse fully in new cultures. Learn how to travel with linguistic confidence, and connect on a deeper level wherever you go.

7. Budget Management

Learning how to allocate funds and find travel deals ensures your journey is both enjoyable and financially sustainable. Understanding how to create and follow your travel budget effectively allows you to enjoy your trip without financial stress. 

8. Navigating Transportation

From local buses to international flights, understanding how to navigate transportation systems is a valuable skill. It grants you the freedom to explore confidently and immerse yourself in the local scene. 

9. Health and Safety on the Road

Staying safe and healthy on a trip is paramount. Brainstorm a list of safety and health concerns before you leave and research potential solutions for each item. Look up local scams and safety issues. Consult with your medical team and any other professionals to come up with your personal plan to stay safe and healthy on your trip. Consider purchasing travel insurance.

10. Meaningful Sightseeing

Customize your sightseeing by focusing on what truly interests you and your personal reasons for travel. Learning to travel authentically might mean eschewing the typical tourist choices in favor of experiences that resonate with your curiosity and passions. Then come up with your own places you want to visit and get the best ideas to make the most of your visit. Find tips on visiting museums , UNESCO sites , literary sites , national parks , being your own tour guide and much more.

11. Cultural Etiquette

Understanding and respecting local customs and etiquette not only enriches your travel experience but also fosters mutual respect. It’s an important aspect of traveling skills, helping you navigate cultural interactions gracefully.

12. Ethical Travel

Take time before you leave to consider how your travels can best align with your values. This might mean carefully researching voluntourism opportunities since some are valuable but others should be avoided. It could also mean considering your environmental footprint, avoiding unethical animal tourism experiences, and supporting local economies with spending intentionally with locals.

13. Connection

Whether you are traveling solo, with friends, as a couple, as a family , or as a multi-generational group, there are lots of things you can do to enhance your trip.Travel is as much about the people as the places you see. Connecting with your travel companions, fellow travelers, and locals can enrich your journey in unexpected ways.

14. Capture Memories

Capturing memories, whether through photography, artwork, or writing is a valuable travel skill. Our nature travel photography article is designed to enhance your traveling skills. It’s one of the best skills for traveling, as it helps you preserve moments and share your experiences with the world. Reflecting on your experiences through writing can deepen your understanding and appreciation of the places you visit. Our guide on keeping a travel nature journal offers tips to get started, making it a valuable tool for traveling and learning.

15. Reach Long Term Travel Goals

Incorporating travel into your life more extensively may involve setting and reaching long-term goals. From creating travel vision boards to starting a travel-based business, there are myriad ways to make travel a core part of your existence.

Your Essential Travel Skills

Mastering these travel skills opens doors to deeper, more meaningful experiences. Whether you’re navigating a new city, connecting with locals, or soaking in the beauty of our planet, each skill enhances your journey, making every trip an opportunity for growth and discovery. As you start planning your next adventure, consider which skills you’re most excited to develop. Travel isn’t just about the destinations; it’s about the journey, the learning, and the transformation that occurs along the way. So, which skill are you excited to master next? Let us know in the comments, we’d love to hear from you!

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Traveling the world is an adventure like no other. It opens doors to new cultures, breathtaking landscapes, and unforgettable experiences.

However, to fully embrace and enjoy these adventures, there are certain skills every traveler should have. These aren't just about making your trip smoother; they're about enriching your experience, ensuring safety, and helping you get the most out of every destination.

That’s why we will walk through seven essential skills that are invaluable for anyone wanting to explore the globe. Whether you're a seasoned traveler or planning your first international trip, these skills will prepare you for diverse situations.

Let’s get started!

1. Research and Planning

When it comes to globe-trotting, it's not just about picking a destination. In fact, it's about immersing yourself in the experience even before you step out of your home. This starts with researching the destinations you’re planning to visit. For instance, if you are visiting Madrid, knowing about it can significantly enhance your experience.

Other than that, it’s crucial to plan your itinerary. Mapping out your travel routes and destinations ensures you spend your time wisely. It’s about balancing famous landmarks with hidden gems.

Now, let's talk about an essential part of your planning: booking tours and activities in advance. This is where travel guides and online resources come into play. They are your golden ticket to ensuring you don't miss out on exciting experiences. For instance, if your journey includes Madrid, it's wise to follow the Madrid travel guide to book tours to top destinations. These pre-bookings can also often lead to discounts and special access unavailable on-site.

2. Reading Maps

In an age where GPS and digital maps are at your fingertips, you might wonder why old-school map-reading skills still matter. It’s because technology isn't foolproof. Batteries die, signals get lost, and sometimes, digital maps don't have the nuanced information that a physical map can provide. That's where the timeless skill of reading maps comes into play.

So, how do you get better at this?

Start by familiarizing yourself with map symbols and scales. Each map has symbols representing roads, trails, rivers, and other landmarks; understanding these symbols is crucial. Also, pay attention to the scale, which helps you estimate distances and plan your time accordingly.

3. First-Aid Skills

When you're miles away from home, sometimes immediate medical help isn't readily available. That’s why knowing how to handle minor injuries can be a real game-changer. To achieve this, first of all, it’s crucial to understand basic first aid. This allows you to respond effectively to common travel-related health issues like cuts, scrapes, blisters, or mild allergic reactions.

For instance, knowing how to clean and dress a wound properly can be the difference between a quick recovery and an unwanted infection.

Apart from that, it’s equally important to pack a well-thought-out travel first-aid kit. This kit should include band-aids, antiseptic wipes, gauze, adhesive tape, scissors, tweezers, pain relievers, and any personal medication.

4. Self-Defense

One skill that's absolutely vital for your safety is self-defense. Now, this doesn't necessarily mean you need to be a martial arts expert. Basic self-defense is more about being aware of your surroundings and knowing a few key moves to help you escape a dangerous situation. This means keeping an eye out for suspicious behavior or situations that just don't feel right.

Further, in terms of physical self-defense, learning a few basic techniques is beneficial. This could include breaking free from someone's grip or using your body weight to your advantage. Lastly, always have a plan for what to do in an emergency. This includes knowing the local emergency number, having a fully charged phone, and informing someone about your whereabouts.

5. MacGyvering

When you're traveling the world, you might encounter situations where you don't have all the fancy tools or resources you're used to at home. That's where the art of "MacGyvering" comes in. It means you are using your creativity and resourcefulness to solve problems on the go.

Let's say you're in a foreign city, and your backpack strap breaks. Instead of panicking, a true MacGyver traveler might use a spare shoelace or a scarf to fashion a makeshift strap. It's about making do with what you have and finding clever solutions to unexpected challenges.

MacGyvering is not just about fixing things; it's a mindset. It's about approaching problems with a can-do attitude, thinking outside the box, and being open to unconventional solutions.

6. Intercultural Awareness

Understanding and appreciating different cultures can make your journey more enriching and enjoyable. It's not just about being polite; it's about truly connecting with the people and places you encounter.

But how can you do that, you may ask?

One of the best ways is through immersive experiences. Don't just observe from a distance; dive in. Join a cooking class to learn the secrets of a traditional dish. Attend a local festival and dance to the rhythm of the music. When you immerse yourself in the culture, you gain a deeper understanding of the people and their way of life.

Also, intercultural awareness goes beyond tolerance; it's about embracing the diversity that makes the world so fascinating. It opens doors to friendships, enriches your travel experiences, and gives you a profound sense of interconnectedness with the global community.

7. Language Skills

Imagine being able to greet locals in their language, ask for directions, or even order food without pointing at a menu. It's not just about making your life easier; it’s about respecting the culture you visit.

Now, you don’t need to be fluent in every language. Just learning key phrases can make a huge difference. Phrases like "hello," "thank you," "please," and "excuse me" are universal in their power to build bridges.

So, how do you go about learning these phrases? Fortunately, language learning apps like Duolingo offer easy and interactive ways to learn new languages. They're great for learning on the go and can be squeezed into any schedule. For a more immersive experience, YouTube channels and language podcasts provide context and cultural nuances, making learning engaging and practical.

Final Words

As we wrap up our exploration of the essential skills for world travel , it’s clear that these abilities go far beyond mere practicality. So, as you pack your bags for your next adventure, remember that the most valuable things you can bring along are not just tangible items but skills. They open doors to the world’s wonders.

Continue to: Intercultural Communication Skills Travel and Freelancing

See also: How Traveling Can Help You Develop Valuable Career Skills 5 Ways to Develop New Skills While Travelling 6 Easy Ways to Earn Money While Travelling

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Travel career break resources

15 invaluable career skills you can develop while travelling.

Developing general career skills can be difficult when you are stuck in an everyday working routine. Jumping from one task to another, with no space to reflect, we are rarely challenged in new and different ways. Taking a step back to travel provides a completely different environment and headspace for developing career skills that can otherwise pass you by. Here, we take a look at the life and career skills that travel can help you to develop, why they are important, and strategies for improving them.

As we outline in our guide to maximising your professional development on a travel career break , taking a travel sabbatical does not guarantee you will develop career skills. As with anything in life, the more you put into it, the more you are likely to get out. So, for each example of a career skill we explore below, we suggest ways you can shape your journey to give yourself the best chance of honing it.

In this article:

What are career skills?

Career skills are a set of personal qualities, attributes and competencies that enable you to thrive in a variety of working environments. For example, the ability to communicate well is a skill that is applicable to a huge range of professions.

Career skills are distinct from specific knowledge applied to a particular profession, for example medicine or engineering. Moreover, career skills are usually highly transferrable and will make you a more attractive proposition to employers on top of the sector-specific knowledge required for a role.

Life and career skills

Many of the skills we outline here will not only be advantageous for your career prospects, but can also make a tremendous difference to your life outside of work. So, let’s take a look at how travel – with the right approach – can give you the confidence to thrive in both your personal life and professional life…

Career skills you can develop while travelling

1.  empathy, why is empathy a useful career skill.

Empathy empowers you to be more understanding of other people’s behaviours and viewpoints. This gives you a better feel for group dynamics and makes you a more effective team-worker, an invaluable skill in almost any working environment. Being empathetic also gives you a deeper understanding of how you affect people around you, enabling you to adjust and adapt.

How will travel help you become more empathetic?

Travel encourages empathy in two significant ways. First, it brings you into contact with people from a multitude of backgrounds, in many cases lesser privileged than your own. Secondly, the more you explore new places, it is also more likely you will meet personal challenges you are unfamiliar with. This combination of eye-opening experiences gives you a deeper appreciation for alternative perspectives in life.

How you can build empathy skills when travelling

Make an active effort to immerse yourself in the places you visit, have conversations with people and learn about the way of life. Try to put yourself in other people’s position, and then reflect on how that might impact your point of view. This short TED talk explores what travel can teach you about empathy:

2.  Resilience

Why is resilience a useful career skill.

Resilience is invaluable in your working life for many reasons. It equips you to deal with conflict, and makes you more open to constructive criticism. It also gives the composure to stay calm in crises, and the strength to get over past mistakes. Ultimately, resilience allows you to stay engaged and focused during difficult times.

How will travel help you become more resilient?

When travelling, things do not always go according to plan. There are always bumps in the road, and so you become accustomed to managing difficult situations and dealing with harsh behaviour towards you. You learn to manage things that are out of your control, and to recover quickly from difficulty.

How you can build resilience when travelling

Travelling innately makes you resilient, and the more you travel, the more it will build. But the best way to develop resilience from travel is to take an independent pathway. Instead of booking organised and catered tours, be the master of your own destiny and go self-guided. This will inevitably bring about challenges and put you into situations that will force you to act under pressure.

3.  Cultural competence

Why is cultural competence a useful career skill.

Cultural competence is a vital skill in the modern world, in which populations are becoming ever-more diverse. Employers today do not only require an understanding of diversity issues, but a deeper ability to communicate across cultural divides. Being attuned to a variety of backgrounds and cultures allows you to operate well among different groups of people and to communicate with different audiences. Furthermore, cultural competence can unlock new career opportunities to work at an international level.

How will travel help you become more culturally competent?

Travel exposes you to a variety of cultures, and thus builds your understanding and enhances your ability to communicate across boundaries. It teaches you to appreciate that being different isn’t wrong, and to recognise your privileges in life. The journey to cultural competence is one that never ends, and we can always learn more – but travel is one of the best pathways towards improvement.

How you can build cultural competence when travelling

The process of building cultural competence through travel is similar to empathy. The more you go out of your way to learn about local cultures, the more you will benefit. Consider visiting countries where the cultures might seem strange or alien to your own, and take the time to reflect on what is different about the culture. For example, when we first travelled in Vietnam, we felt as though people were being rude to us; but the more we explored and learned, we realised that most people were communicating in a way deemed to be socially acceptable, and we were just experiencing some culture shock.

Read more: Susan writes about how travel enables you to value differences in the workplace .

4.  Communication

Why is communication a useful career skill.

Communication is probably the most important and transferrable of all career skills. It transcends all job types and sectors, and extends into many other aspects of life, bringing benefits that reach far beyond work. If you can communicate well, you are more likely to be understood clearly, and to convince others of your point of view. Communication skills also help you to network more effectively and build fruitful working relationships.

How will travel help you become a better communicator?

When travelling, you constantly need to break down communication barriers. You regularly encounter difficulties with getting a message across or understanding what someone is trying to say to you. You learn to be savvy, to read body language better, and to communicate complex problems in a simple way. And you become accustomed to different communication styles and learn to adapt to them.

How you can build communication skills when travelling

Make a conscious effort to put yourself in situations that require communication skills to navigate. For example, take local transport. I remember when we arrived at a bus station in rural Laos early one morning to take a journey across the country. The departure system seemed chaotic and nobody at the terminal spoke English, so we needed to improvise a little in order to get onto the right service. Experiences like this help you to be patient and think imaginatively when it comes to communicating.

5.  Planning

Why is planning a useful career skill.

A good planner can identify their goals and map out what needs to be done in order to succeed. They can evaluate alternative methods to achieve those goals and identify the resources that will be needed to implement them. And once the plan is in motion, the best planners will track progress, evaluate how things are going and take steps to change course if needed. Good planning skills are essential for organising your working life and managing projects of any kind.

How will travel help you become a better planner?

Just like projects in the workplace, travel requires careful planning and the ability to evaluate new information. Every journey has a structure, and once it is in motion, things will change and your plans will need to be adapted. Even if you’re the kind of traveller who goes wherever the wind takes you, you will still need to evaluate and understand your current environment before you can move on, a process that develops your situation analysis skills – the first step of the planning cycle.

How you can build planning skills when travelling

Travel plans rarely turn out perfectly, so take stock and learn from your mistakes. Could that difficult situation have been avoided if you had been better prepared, and if so, what will you do differently next time? For example, after the first few weeks of our round-the-world trip, we were exhausted and realised that we had over-planned our travel schedule. We took a break for a few days and then adjusted our approach, making our itinerary more flexible.

Our guide to planning a round-the-world trip provides a framework to apply to your travel planning.

6.  Goal-setting

Why is goal-setting a useful career skill.

Goal-setting is an essential ingredient of the planning process; it gives you a framework for achieving milestones in your work and career. It gives you the time and headspace to allow you to think about the goals you want to set, and to spend time performing and measuring them. The ability to set goals effectively makes you efficient, gives you momentum, and will later enable you to visualise the processes that have led to your results.

How will travel help you become better at goal-setting?

Travel provides a flexible testing environment to experiment with goal-setting outside of your professional setting. As you are only accountable to yourself, you can test out the techniques that will work for you without any external pressures.

How you can build goal-setting skills when travelling

Use the opportunity to experiment with goal-setting and challenge yourself in a safe environment. You could tie this in with other areas of professional development, for example by setting a goal to make at least two new connections or try a new cultural activity each week. Alternatively, your goal might simply be to let go, or to enjoy life; exploring what that means to you and then seeking to achieve it will help you to succeed. But you also need to be active in order to get positive results. This means recognising your behaviours and thought processes so that you can improve or change them.

7.  Budget management

Why is budget management a useful career skill.

Budget management is an invaluable skill to build for your career, especially if you have aspirations of advancing up the management ladder. Having a sound grasp of budgeting will equip you to understand and plan finances for a business or a department, however big or small.

How will travel help you become more astute with finances?

Long-term travel typically happens on a challenging budget. When you’re watching the pennies over a long period of time, you learn a lot about financial prioritisation and how to manage your money sustainably. You also learn to become savvy with spending and make small amounts go a long way.

How you can build budget management skills when travelling

Incorporate budgeting into your travel planning, even if it’s just making a rough spending plan and breakdown for each place you will visit. Keeping a spreadsheet for finances is helpful, as you can then use it to track what you’ve spent, compare actual costs with what you estimated, and then use that information to budget more accurately in future.

8.  Creativity

Why is creativity a useful career skill.

Every job requires at least a degree of creativity – not just traditionally creative jobs like design or marketing. And as our economies continue to be driven by innovation and technological advances, creativity has never been more important as a career skill. Unlike many skills, it is not something that can be replicated by machine automation. A study by Adobe showed that businesses that look for creativity in employees benefit from higher productivity levels, more satisfied customers and greater financial success.

How will travel help you become more creative?

Travel engages your senses in many new ways, exposing you to unfamiliar sights, sounds, smells and tastes, and stimulating the creative parts of your brain. And this is backed up by research: an oft-cited study by New York’s Columbia Business School demonstrates that cross-cultural experiences increase cognitive flexibility and thus enhance creativity and innovation. Just think about how much great art and literature has been inspired by travel, from Twain to Tolkien.

How you can improve your creativity when travelling

The findings of the Columbia study show that you will only enjoy a creativity boost from travel if you actively engage in the local culture and environment. According to Professor Adam Galinsky, “the key, critical process is multicultural engagement, immersion, and adaptation”.

9.  Language skills (not just learning a language)

Why are language skills useful for your career.

Learning a language has obvious career benefits in terms of opening new doors, but there is also a lot to be gained from developing a broader aptitude for languages. The ability to recognise the linguistic roots of names and words from distinct patterns, and to identify languages based on accents and other vocal mannerisms, can be highly useful in a work setting, especially if you operate in an international environment. It adds to your cultural competence and can improve your efficiency with research and data analysis.

How will travel help you improve your language skills?

Travel exposes you to a different languages and provides an opportunity to learn about them and how to speak them. Even if you do not learn to speak a language while in a place that speaks it natively, you can still gain aptitude for it by building trait recognition from street signs, menus, advertising and other text displays.

How you can build your language skills when travelling

Be adventurous with your travel itinerary and try to incorporate countries that speak different native languages to your own. Learn some basic vocabulary before you visit, practice it while you are there, and also pay attention to the nature of the language in public signage and the way people speak.

10.  Problem-solving

Why is problem-solving a useful career skill.

Problem-solving is applicable to any kind of work and is highly valued by employers. It gives you the ability to navigate the barriers that prevent you from achieving your goals, which ultimately gives you more control over your environment. Problem-solving is useful in so many situations. It’s a skill helps you navigate the tiniest everyday tasks right through to much bigger challenges, like investigating shortcomings in a company’s performance.

How will travel make you a better problem-solver?

Every journey is different, but travel always involves getting from A to B, and things always get in the way. You meet a plethora of challenges and become much more attuned to thinking on your feet to navigate them. We often cite BBC’s Race Across the World on this blog, and this is another area where the show resonates. We saw many examples in action when contestants learned to be better problem-solvers as they voyaged overland through Latin America. Down to their last few pennies, Sam and Jo didn’t have enough money left to travel to Mendoza; thinking on her feet, Jo negotiated with the operator to work on the bus in return for discounted tickets.

How you can improve your problem-solving when travelling

Don’t always stick to the familiar; try heading off the beaten track, and you will naturally encounter more challenges and venture further out of your comfort zone. As with resilience, you are more likely to build problem-solving skills if you travel independently. If you are nervous about navigating cultural differences, then you could first try travelling in a country that shares cultural similarities. For example, before we travelled extensively in South America, we spent some time in Miami, USA, to get used to the challenges of travelling while in a place that shared our language.

11.  Self-awareness and introspection

Why is self-awareness a useful career skill.

The more self-aware you are, the better you will understand how others see you, and be able to identify problems that arise from negative perception. Once you recognise your flaws, you can do something about them. Self-awareness is the perfect counterbalance to empathy, and greatly improves your ability to operate effectively in a team.

How will travel make you more introspective?

Travel makes you more self-aware by giving you space to reflect on your values and behaviours, and to compare them with those displayed in other cultures. A study by three US universities found that living abroad leads to a clearer sense of self. The outcomes showed that when people are able to contrast the differing values and norms between the cultures of their home environment and elsewhere, it triggers a juncture of self-reflection.

How you can build your self-awareness when travelling

The scientists behind the study into travel and self-reflection are the same whose worked showed a link between travel and creativity, and their advice is consistent. Immerse yourself in local cultures, give yourself space to reflect, and be mindful of the contrasts between your own cultural values and those you encounter. You may find it useful to keep a travel journal and make regular notes on your self-reflection.

12.  Curiosity

Why is curiosity a useful career skill.

Careers are about constantly learning and improving, and curiosity empowers you to do this. Curious people ask the right questions and are less likely to get stuck in old habits. It’s a skill that makes you less assumptive and thus more likely to identify problems and overcome them. In essence, curiosity drives innovation and advancement.

How will travel make you more curious?

Travel and curiosity have a kind of chicken-and-egg relationship where one feeds into the other; the more curious you are, the more you want to travel, and the more you travel, the more curious you become. Travel broadens your mind and makes you more curious to find out more about the world around you. A study commissioned by Hilton revealed insights into the way we channel our curiosity through travel; it shows that 90% of people travel to learn something new.

How you can heighten your curiosity when travelling

While travelling, seek activities that expand your mind. Try new tastes, visit museums, ask people questions and learn about the places you visit. After you return home from somewhere, don’t stop learning about it; harness the momentum and continue digesting new information from books, films and more. Keep stoking the curious mind.

Read more: Sam writes about how learning about rice farming in Laos heightened her curiosity skills .

13.  Adaptability

Why is adaptability a useful career skill.

The way we work is ever-evolving, and the most adaptable people are those who will thrive. Adaptability empowers you to shift gears onto a different path, or to cope effectively with changes to the path you are on. It equips you to deal with new information and bumps in the road, and thus also makes you a better leader as you have the aptitude to steer the ship in the necessary direction. Adaptability keeps you relevant in a changing world.

How will travel make you more adaptable?

You will constantly face changing situations when travelling. Every place you visit presents a different environment and a fresh set of challenges. The more you move from place to place, the better you become at adjusting to new circumstances. Every day a new curveball will present itself, and so you learn to let things go and move on. Nobody is better equipped to ditch ‘plan A’ than a seasoned traveller.

How you can improve your adaptability when travelling

Slow travel (spending longer periods of time in a destination to explore it thoroughly soak in the environment) is the most conducive to building cultural competence and self-awareness. But to build adaptability, moving more quickly from place to place can be a lot more effective. To get the most out of a long-term trip, build a varied itinerary that incorporates both these styles of travel.

Read more: Mikaela writes about how travel taught her adaptability skills and strengthened her career .

14.  Analytical thinking

Why is analytical thinking a useful career skill.

Analytical thinking enables you to assess situations effectively and prioritise better. Analysing a situation helps you to recognise when something isn’t working out, whether in a particular project or in your overall career, and take action to change course. A good analytical thinker has the ability to step back from a situation and assess, seeing it through different lenses, and considering all aspects rather than just their individual area of work.

How will travel make you a better analytical thinker?

Travel forces you to take a step back and reassess your life from an outside view. This bigger-picture lens helps you to consider different aspects of your life that have become lost among the tunnel vision of your regular routine. Through travel, you come to see the long-term benefits of slowing down and taking stock. You also come to understand how your actions have an impact on the environment around you.

How you can improve your analytical thinking when travelling

Allow space in your travel plans to pause and reflect, even if it’s just an hour or two each day. Use the opportunity to analyse how you have designed your lifestyle at home, or how you approach your work, and then consider you could make adjustments to change it for the better. Ask ‘what’ and ‘why’ questions about the knock-on effects of your actions; exploring this will enable you to make better-informed decisions.

15.  Confidence

Why is confidence a useful career skill.

You might be full of amazing ideas, but they will only ever bear fruit if you can emanate them to other people. Confidence is the ingredient that empowers you to influence and communicate. It is also invaluable for your personal wellbeing and happiness, which in turn make you more effective in your career. Confidence gives you the assertiveness to take decisive action when it is needed, and thus equips you to deal with crises and become a leader.

How will travel make you more confident?

There’s a reason why post-university gap years are considered so valuable for young people, as it helps them to find their independent spirit. But the same qualities can be built at any stage of life. Travel takes you out of your comfort zone and forces you to think on your toes. It gives you freedom to express who you really are and to become comfortable with that.

How you can build your confidence when travelling

Travel provides you with a testing environment to come out of your shell and find comfort in who you are. Most of the people you meet while travelling you are never going to see again, so make the most of it! Sign up for social events or group tours where you can meet people and make connections. Your confidence will grow naturally the more you put yourself into new social situations.

I would never have had the confidence to start my own business if I hadn’t connected with people while travelling who had successfully done it, and realised that I wasn’t really that different to them. Harness your progress and keep moving forward.

For more on this topic, read our complementary article about how travel can benefit your career .

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Alex trembath.

Alex is the co-founder and lead content creator at Career Gappers. He is an award-winning communications leader with 20 years of leadership experience, a career that has taken him across the world working with international organisations. Alex has travelled to over 50 countries and is a passionate advocate for blending work and travel by taking career breaks, sabbaticals, workations and business trips.

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Book of Travels Wiki

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There are many skills for the newly awakened wanderer to find, learn and master. Skills are divided into five categories: Actions , Abilities , Tea Making , Knots , and Passives . Skills can be found, traded for or taught to you by the characters and creatures you meet on your travels. You gain the possibility to increase the amount of skills you can have active as you gather experience and level up. Before being able to use a skill, you must first learn it, and then activate it from your skillbook. Right click on any skill to learn how the skill works.

We can categorize Skills in a few ways:

• 1.1 By Category
• 1.2 By Wind
• 1.3 By Type

Filters [ | ]

By category [ | ].

By Wind [ | ]

Northern Wind

Southern Wind

Eastern Wind

Western Wind

By Type [ | ]

Combat Skills

Guise skills

Animal ports

Subcategories

This category has the following 4 subcategories, out of 4 total.

• Skills Images ‎ (5 C, 4 F)
• Skills-By Category ‎ (5 C)
• Skills-By Type ‎ (3 C)
• Skills-By Wind ‎ (4 C)

Pages in category "Skills"

The following 110 pages are in this category, out of 110 total.

• Affinity for Water
• Ardent Lantern
• Armour proficiency
• Assemble Fireplace
• Battle Stance
• Bedimming Brew
• Bind of Wild Eyes
• Blend of Fervor
• Blend of Vigor
• Brew of Hidden Cries
• Brew of Land and Sea
• Brew of Two Tongues
• Brew of Unyielding Charm
• Brew of Unyielding Cunning
• Brew of Unyielding Spirit
• Brew of Unyielding Strength
• Brew of Veils
• Call Fruit Sapling
• Call Spring Water
• Char Bolt Bind
• Cinnabar Guise
• Cobalt Guise
• Conceal Identity
• Coterie Brew
• Create Wind Shelter
• Desperate Strength
• Eye for Trade
• Flag Raiser's Bind
• Flaring Crescent (Skill)
• Flower Mark
• Forbidden Brew
• Glimmer Signal
• Glinted Lamp
• Glitterfall
• Guided Spark: Stranger
• Guiding Spark: Shelter
• Hagglers' Wit
• Hide in Water
• Illusionary Animal: Deer
• Illusionary Animal: Dog
• Jolt of Energy
• Jolt of Leaping Energy
• Kelim's Gate
• Knot of Mimarob
• Knot of the Cheater
• Knot of the Infamous
• Knotbinder's Fervour
• Leaping Jolt
• Lilit's Cobalt Brew
• Lilits Cinnabar Brew
• Marble Cloak
• Marble Guise
• Melicamps Last Knot
• Mind of the Tactician
• Mystic's Arm
• Port of the Cat
• Port of the Deer
• Port of the Dog
• Port of the Goat
• Read Hearts
• Read Strengths
• Seka's technical maneuver
• Sense Background
• Knot Binder Ethel
• Smoke Cylinder
• Soul of the Road Warden
• Speed of the Clear Nights
• Spot Injury
• Sprout Fruit Tree
• Strike of Pale Nights
• Strong Mind
• Strong Personality
• Strong Physique
• Strong Spirit
• Sulfur Guise
• Summon Spirit Familiar
• The House of Ari
• Toggle Hood
• Train Master's Secret Knot
• Travellers' Portal
• Tricks of the Messenger
• Unyielding Life
• Veiled Gate
• Vellan Tongue
• Warding Arc
• Weapon proficiency
• Yussi's envelope

Snow Travel

Skills for climbing, hiking, and moving across snow.

• Publisher: Mountaineers Books
• ISBN: 978-1-59485-720-1
• Published: Dec 27, 2012

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Log in to access the promo code and receive 20% off your order.

You will find detailed descriptions of techniques not found together in other books including: climbing over a lip, the decision-making process, how to choose a route, snow hazards, putting on and removing skis on a steep slope, self-arresting with ski poles, and much more.

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Matador Original Series

30 Essential Skills for Travel Writers

1. being an active observer.

Active observation is consciously looking for connections between what’s visible in someone (their expressions, clothes, what they’re doing) and invisible (their histories, upbringing, dreams, desires).

This is key, because within the gap between what’s visible and invisible is often where the deepest, most credible, and most interesting stories are found.

2. Recognizing patterns / bias in the way you observe people

While it’s important to be an active observer, at the same time there are also common ways of looking at people that can mislead readers :

Romanticizing someone else’s life (Ex: A mountain guide in Ecuador) Appropriating someone else’s problems / struggle as your own (Ex: Local people being displaced by newer, wealthier immigrants or tourism) Believing that someone is a “father / mother / brother / sister figure” Making assumptions based on cultural heritage Isolating people from time / place / family relationships so that they become, essentially, symbols or simply props for the narrator or author’s ego Attributing the emotions someone made you feel (especially if you’re observing them from a distance instead of interacting) back to them (Ex: “The carefree Cuban woman”) Dismissing material / economic connections between yourself and others (Ex: The “incredibly affable taxi drivers,” in Costa Rica) Seeing people exclusively through the filter of strictly held philosophical, religious, or artistic beliefs / aesthetics

3. Being aware of how you look at place

In a similar way, people often haven’t considered the ways they may conceptualize or view place and how this affects their travel writing. Here’s a sample from 14 common ways of looking at place :

Mythologizing Mythologizing place is looking at place as an abstraction. People mythologize place by (a) assigning some kind of abstraction [ex: virtue, nostalgia, chivalrousness, level of backwardness] to it, or similarly (b) assigning some kind of abstraction or quality to themselves because of it. Ex: “The South taught me how to be a gentleman.” No, your parents did. Mythologizing is the act of creating illusions about place. These illusions “exist” within the discrepancy between the concrete reality one experiences in a place (examples: how long one has lived there, where one lives — downtown, suburbs, outlying areas — one’s role in the local economy / community) versus the image one has of his / her life there. Mythologizing often happens when people look back at where they grew up, or lived, or once traveled, and feel certain emotions that didn’t exist when they actually lived or traveled there. Ex: “I’ve never been in a hotter place than a soccer field in North Georgia in the summer.” No, actually it was much hotter when you were in Ecuador. Commodifying [fundamental] Commodifying (on a fundamental level) is reducing place into a singular context of resources in concrete reality. Examples would be looking at forests as “timber to be harvested” or rivers as “hydroelectric potential.” Commodifying [common] There exists however a much subtler and more pervasive form of commodifying where instead of concrete reality, the context of “resources” includes abstractions, associations, “appeal,” or “image.” This is how travel marketers often look at place — as an image which needs to be packaged a certain way, transformed into a product to be “positioned” in the market.

4. Being aware of marketing language / constructions in your writing

Marketing constructions , such as the “casual imperative,” the “hypothetical,” and the “hey-let-me-show-you” may unintentionally end up in travel writers’ narratives, weakening them.

5. Being aware of fallacious arguments

Fallacious arguments are ideas expressed without logic. For example:

“I doubt if the business, housed in an elegant 16th-century building, could last a month without us.”

This is a fallacious argument known as confusing correlation and causation. Confusing correlations and causation works like this: A person says “1. A occurs in correlation with B ., 2. Therefore, A causes B .” This isn’t necessarily true.

6. Understanding the “Ladder of Abstraction”

The Ladder of Abstraction is a simple but powerful way to habituate a critical attitude towards language and writing.

It’s also helpful to understand in the context of recognizing fallacious arguments, and, as we’ll see next, the codification and commodfication of people / place / travel in writing.

7. Being aware of codification and/or commodification

Codification and commodification are ways of expressing place, culture, and people as salable commodities, and are fallacious but very common in travel writing. Example:

“Art lovers know there’s nothing that tops a free exhibit on a warm summer day.”

Codification begins when a narrator suggests something without actually declaring anything or referring to anything that exists in concrete reality (concrete reality being the real world in time/space). For example, “art lovers” is only a suggestion, not an actual group that exists (as opposed to, say, “the sophomores at Savannah College of Art and Design.”)

Codification and commodification, like fallacious arguments, are patterns that writers need to be aware of.

8. Constructing scenes

Scene-building is the central skill for writing strong narrative essays.

The easiest way to create scenes is to decide on a simple and single event to use as a narrative framework. This is the ongoing “story-line” to which you’ll add the facts, ideas, and information you want to convey.

The most obvious events already have a kind of inherent dramatic structure built in, like climbing a mountain or going on a date. Or, simply using the chronology of a day (“a day in the life”) or night, following the hours, the position of the sun / moon and other environmental factors, can be an easy and natural way to create scenes, especially for beginning writers.

9. Creating multi-level descriptions

Stories that seem real and alive contain multiple layers. Beginning travel writers, however, usually focus on one thing at a time. One way to add layers to your descriptions is to learn how to use object correlatives .

Object correlatives work by giving the reader an image that works to (a) advance the plot, while (b) creating a correlation between whatever object or scene is described and the emotions of a particular character.

10. Creating multi-level dialogues

In a similar way, the most convincing dialogue works on multiple levels or has multiple functions. In addition to just characters talking, dialogue may also:

• portray action
• describe the setting
• tell backstory
• express emotion

For an example of all four happening together at once, check this bit of dialogue from Raymond Carver’s “Vitamins”:

Patti said, “You don’t care if I take vitamins. That’s the point. You don’t care about anything. The windshield wiper quit this afternoon in the rain. I almost had a wreck. I came this close.”

11. Creating bilingual dialogue

Oftentimes you may need to write dialogue in more than one language. Here are 5 techniques .

12. Using anecdotes

Sometimes you have a minor character or incident that doesn’t fit well in the plot, but which, if included, would add a particularly rich detail or reinforce the story’s overall theme. This is when you need to use anecdotes .

13. Using quotes

Many travel writers use quotes in outdated ways .

14. Being aware of common usage errors

There are dozens of English language words commonly misused .

15. Finding original ways to express things

For some travel writers, this is just about learning to recognize and avoid cliches .

16. Knowing how to communicate with editors

Most of the time it comes down to not wasting time. Here are 3 things you should never do , and then, 3 more .

17. Writing attention-getting queries

This article has 2 examples of pitches that worked, and an analysis of why they did. Mainly it comes down to concision, connections, knowledge of and/or being a fan of (or best of all, on the radar screen of) whichever publication / editor you’re querying.

18-25. Developing a publishing mindset

The single biggest way you can increase your chances of getting published is to look at publication not as a single event but on ongoing process in which you’ll develop an entire mindset. This is involves a whole set of skills, including:

Visualizing what the editor will think when he / she receives your submission. Ability to deal with rejection – The best way to deal with rejection is to submit stories and pitches on an ongoing basis. That way, whether a piece is rejected or accepted, you’re automatically sending a thank you note, then you’re moving on, ready to resubmit to a different publication or to send a new story. Learning from each rejection – Another way of dealing with rejection is to look at each one as part of the learning process. You don’t need to dwell on it, but simply ask yourself: Was the story really an ideal fit for the publication? Was the story as good as it could be or could you have done further edits? Was your pitch / cover letter as good as it could have been? Continuously researching new and relevant markets – The most obvious way is to search the links page at your favorite blog or magazine. Another way is to study the bios of the contributors at blogs and magazines where you’re submitting. What other publications do they mention? Always bookmarking new blogs or magazines you find that seem like potential markets for submitting. Another trick is to email the urls of the publication to yourself, labeling those emails consistently or giving a consistent subject to the emails, such as “travel writing markets.” Ability to stay organized so that you are continuously submitting pitches and multiple submissions – Previously we’ve written about using a submissions log or a submission manager , basically a simple spreadsheet that allows you to quickly view and organize potential markets, contacts, and submissions. Understanding the hierarchy of getting published at different websites, magazines, and newspapers, and honestly assessing your position – The more you get published and the greater the readership of each blog, magazine, or newspaper that publishes your work, the higher up you move on the hierarchy, and the easier it will be for you to place work at bigger and better-paying markets.

26. Researching the writing market

What magazines, blogs, and journals do you subscribe to? Read? Wish to send work to? If you’re a US-based writer, have you considered sending work to markets outside the US ?

27. Self-editing

Here are 10 questions to ask yourself before submitting work to an editor.

28. Reading work aloud

Along with self-editing, learning to read your work aloud is a key skill to develop.

29. Knowing when to blog and when to pitch

Sometimes it’s difficult to know when to just publish a piece on your blog and when to pitch it to an editor. This article can help you learn to distinguish what is ‘pitchable.’

30. Crafting a writing resume

Writers often have divergent professional and academic backgrounds that are difficult to present in a cohesive way. Learning how to craft a writer’s resume can be key when applying for jobs and programs. * This post was originally published on October 21, 2010.

* Get access to paid freelance travel writing opportunities and an active community of travel journalists by enrolling in the MatadorU Travel Writing program.

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Travel Agent Job Description: A Comprehensive Guide to the Key Responsibilities, Required Skills, and Work Environment

A travel agent’s job description involves a range of responsibilities, including helping clients plan and book their travel arrangements, providing expert advice and recommendations, researching and comparing travel options, handling reservations and payments, collaborating with other travel professionals, and maintaining accurate records.

Travel agents require a range of skills and qualifications, including excellent customer service and sales skills, organizational skills, and technology savvy. Although the job outlook for travel agents may be declining, there are still opportunities for experienced travel agents specializing in corporate travel or group planning trips.

In this article, we’ll take a closer look at the job description of a travel agent, including the key responsibilities, required skills and qualifications, work environment and schedule, and more.

Key Responsibilities of a Travel Agent

Travel agents have a variety of responsibilities that help them assist customers in planning and booking their travel arrangements. Some of the key responsibilities include:

Helping clients plan and book their travel arrangements

Travel agents are responsible for helping clients plan their trips, including booking transportation (such as flights, rental cars, and train tickets), accommodation (such as hotel rooms, vacation rentals, and hostels), and tours and activities. They also advise clients on travel itineraries and offer suggestions on destinations to visit based on their budget and preferences.

Providing expert advice and recommendations to clients

Travel agents are knowledgeable about travel destinations, including local customs, culture, and attractions. They use this knowledge to offer advice to clients on the best places to visit and the most convenient times to travel. They also advise clients on visa requirements and passport renewals, as well as other relevant information such as travel insurance and budgeting for their trip.

Researching and comparing travel options to find the best deals

Travel agents use their expertise to research and compare travel options, such as airline tickets, hotel accommodations, and vacation packages, to find the best deals for their clients. They also stay up-to-date on tourism trends and promotional techniques to ensure that they are providing the most competitive prices and packages to their clients.

Handling reservations, payments, and cancellations

Travel agents are responsible for making hotel reservations for their clients and processing payments for their travel arrangements. They also handle cancellations and refunds in a timely manner.

Collaborating with other travel professionals and vendors

Travel agents work with other travel professionals, such as tour operators and cruise lines, to offer clients a wide range of travel options. They also collaborate with vendors, such as hotels and airlines, to negotiate prices and provide clients with the best possible deals.

Maintaining statistical and financial records

Travel agents keep accurate records of their clients’ travel arrangements and financial transactions. This helps them to provide clients with future services and ensures that they are meeting their sales targets.

Staying up-to-date with industry trends and regulations

Travel agents stay current with industry trends and regulations, such as visa requirements and travel restrictions. They also attend travel seminars and educational programs to stay up-to-date with the latest industry developments.

Required Skills and Qualifications for a Travel Agent

Travel agents require a range of skills and qualifications to perform their job duties effectively. Some of the required skills and qualifications include:

Excellent customer service skills

Travel agents must have exceptional customer service skills to interact with clients in a professional manner. This includes listening to clients’ needs and concerns and addressing them in a timely and effective manner.

Sales skills

Travel agents must have strong sales skills to persuade clients to book their travel arrangements through them. This includes promoting travel packages and other services and offering advice on the best options for clients.

Organizational skills

Travel agents must be highly organized and detail-oriented to keep track of their clients’ travel arrangements and financial transactions. They must also be able to multitask and prioritize their workload to meet deadlines and ensure that clients’ needs are met in a timely manner.

Relevant education or certification

Many travel agents have a bachelor’s degree in travel and tourism, hospitality management, or a related field. Certification from a travel industry association, such as a Certified Travel Associate (CTA), Certified Travel Counselor (CTC), or Certified Travel Industry Executive (CTIE), can also be helpful in demonstrating expertise and knowledge in the industry.

Strong organizational skills

Technology savvy.

Travel agents must be familiar with online booking platforms and reservation systems to process travel arrangements efficiently. They must also be proficient in using social media for marketing and promoting travel packages and services.

While a high school diploma may be sufficient for some entry-level positions, many employers prefer applicants with a bachelor’s degree in hospitality or a related field. Certification from a travel industry association, such as the Certified Travel Industry Executive (CTIE) or Certified Travel Counselor (CTC) can also be helpful in demonstrating expertise and knowledge in the industry.

Cultural awareness and language skills

Travel agents must have a good understanding of geography and cultural awareness to offer advice on travel destinations and local customs. They must also have language skills to communicate effectively with clients who speak different languages.

Relevant experience

Many travel agents gain relevant experience in the hospitality industry or customer service before pursuing a career as a travel agent. Sales experience can also be helpful in persuading clients to book their travel arrangements through them.

Detail-oriented

Travel agents must be detail-oriented to ensure that all aspects of their clients’ travel arrangements are accurate and up-to-date. This includes scheduling transportation, booking hotel accommodations, arranging tours and activities, and providing clients with relevant information such as visa requirements and local customs.

Travel agents must be persuasive and able to sell travel packages and services to clients. This requires the ability to identify clients’ needs and preferences and offer customized recommendations that meet their needs.

Time management skills

Travel agents must be able to manage their time effectively to ensure that clients’ needs are met in a timely manner. They must also be able to prioritize their workload to meet deadlines and ensure that they are meeting their sales targets.

Work Environment and Schedule

Travel agents work in a variety of settings, including travel agencies, corporate travel departments, and home-based offices. They may work full-time, part-time, or on a flexible schedule that includes evenings and weekends. They must be able to work in a fast-paced environment and handle multiple phone calls and emails from clients.

Average Salary and Job Outlook

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average salary for a travel agent is $40,660 per year. Job opportunities for travel agents are expected to decline by 26% between 2019 and 2029 due to the increasing use of online booking platforms and self-service options for travelers. However, travel agents who specialize in corporate travel or groups planning trips may continue to have job opportunities.

Job Description Template

When creating a loan processor job description, it is essential to outline the specific duties and responsibilities, required qualifications, skills, and experience, as well as any expectations for the workplace, schedule, and potential collaboration with other professionals. Here is a template to help guide you:

Job Description Template 1:

Job Title: Travel Agent

Responsibilities:

• Plan and book travel arrangements for clients, including flights, hotels, rental cars, and tours
• Research and recommend destinations, itineraries, and travel options based on client preferences and budget
• Provide excellent customer service and support throughout the travel process
• Manage bookings and payments, and maintain accurate records
• Stay up-to-date with industry trends and travel regulations

Qualifications:

• High school diploma or equivalent; Bachelor’s degree in Travel and Tourism, Hospitality, or related field is preferred
• 2+ years of experience as a Travel Agent or in a related field
• Strong knowledge of travel industry regulations, trends, and options
• Excellent communication, customer service, and organizational skills
• Proficiency in travel booking systems and software
• Competitive salary and benefits package
• Opportunities for professional development and growth
• Positive and supportive work environment
• Flexible scheduling options

How to Apply:

Please submit your resume and a cover letter detailing your experience and qualifications for the position.

Job Description Template 2:

Job Title: Senior Travel Agent

• Lead and manage the travel department, including personnel and projects
• Develop and maintain relationships with clients and suppliers
• Plan and book complex and customized travel arrangements, including group and corporate travel
• Bachelor’s degree in Travel and Tourism, Hospitality, or related field
• 5+ years of experience as a Travel Agent or in a related field

Please send your resume and a brief cover letter outlining your experience and qualifications for the position.

Job Description Template 3:

Job Title: Corporate Travel Agent

• Plan and book travel arrangements for corporate clients, including flights, hotels, rental cars, and meetings
• 2+ years of experience as a Corporate Travel Agent or in a related field
• Strong knowledge of corporate travel regulations and booking systems

Job Description Template 4:

Job Title: Travel Agent (Entry-Level)

• Stay up-to-date with industry trends and travel regulations Qualifications:
• 1+ years of experience in a customer service or sales role; experience in the travel industry is a plus
• Strong communication, customer service, and organizational skills
• Proficiency in basic computer software, such as Microsoft Office Benefits:
• Flexible scheduling options How to Apply: Please send your resume and a brief cover letter outlining your experience and qualifications for the position.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a travel agent.

A travel agent is a professional who specializes in helping clients plan and book their travel arrangements, including transportation, accommodation, tours and activities, and other related services.

What are the key responsibilities of a travel agent?

Some of the key responsibilities of a travel agent include helping clients plan and book their travel arrangements, providing expert advice and recommendations, researching and comparing travel options, handling reservations and payments, collaborating with other travel professionals and vendors, and maintaining accurate records.

What skills and qualifications are required to become a travel agent?

Travel agents require a range of skills and qualifications, including excellent customer service and sales skills, organizational skills, technology savvy, cultural awareness and language skills, relevant education or certification, and relevant experience in the hospitality industry or customer service.

What is the work environment and schedule for a travel agent?

Travel agents work in a variety of settings, including travel agencies, corporate travel departments, and home-based offices. They may work full-time, part-time, or on a flexible schedule that includes evenings and weekends.

What is the average salary for a travel agent?

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average salary for a travel agent is $40,660 per year.

Is the job outlook for travel agents positive?

The job outlook for travel agents is expected to decline by 26% between 2019 and 2029 due to the increasing use of online booking platforms and self-service options for travelers. However, travel agents who specialize in corporate travel or groups planning trips may continue to have job opportunities.

Image: Depositphotos

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The Most Beautiful Stations on the Moscow Metro

You might have heard that there are some beautiful metro stations in Moscow. Soviet decorations, chandeliers, mosaic painting and statues are common in many of the stations. The good news is that the Moscow Metro does not cost a lot of money and many of the most beautiful stations on the Moscow metro are on the same line, so you can almost get on and off at each station to visit these. Over the New Year holidays, I had a free afternoon and decided to visit some of these stations. Check out what I found below…..

The main stations that you will want to visit are on the Number 5 line, also known as the Circle Line. An advantage of this line is that you can get to it very easily and quickly no matter where you are in Moscow. The announcements on the metro are in Russian as well as English so you don’t need to worry if your Russian language skills are not good.

If, like me, you arrive in Moscow via train from Kyiv , then you will arrive at a metro station which many Muscovites believe to be the most beautiful of them all…..

Kievskaya metro station was opened in 1954 and features white marble walls which curve upwards and have with large mosaics surrounded by a gold trim in a very classical style. The mosaics depict life in Ukraine and was designed by a Ukrainian who wanted to display Ukraine’s influence and contribution to Soviet Russia.

Kievskaya, one of the most beautiful stations on the Moscow metro

Soviet era artwork between the arches

Mosaic with golden trim

People carrying flags is a common theme

Going into battle

Belorusskaya

If you look at a map of the metro , you will want to go in a clockwise direction on the circle line. So you will want to get on the train going in the Barrikadnaya direction and not Park Kultury. Stay on this line until you reach the 2nd station, Belorusskaya. This station was built in 1952 and like Kievskaya also features white marble pylons and a plaster ceiling.

The ceiling features 12 mosaics in an octagonal shape depicting Belarusian life, while the tiling on the floor is said to resemble a Belarusian quilt. One of the passageway exits of the station has a statue called ‘Belarusian Partisans’ of three men wearing long coats, holding guns and carrying a flag.”

Belorusskaya metro platform

Soviet artwork on the roof

The hammer and sickle features prominently in the metro artwork

Three men carrying guns, holding the flag…

Mayakovskaya

To get to the next station, we need to change onto the green line (line 2) and go just one stop to the station of Mayakovskaya. This station has an art deco theme and, for some, resembles an elaborate ballroom. The columns are faced with stainless steel and pink rhodonite while the marble walls and ceiling have 34 mosaics with the theme “24-hour Soviet Sky. Apparently, Stalin resided here during the 2nd World War as the station was used as a command post for Moscow’s anti-aircraft regiment.

Mayakovskaya metro

24-Hour Soviet Sky mosaic

Bomber planes

It looks like planes flying over Red Square

Novoslobodskaya

It’s time to get back on the metro and return to Belorusskaya. At Belorusskaya, change to the circle line again and continue clockwise to the next station, Novoslobodskaya. With its 32 stained glass panels, this station reminds me of a church. The panels were designed by Latvian artists and are surrounded by a brass border.

Novoslobodskaya metro

The platform of Novoslobodskaya metro

Stained glass artwork

The golden trim around artwork is also very common

Prospekt Mira

Back on the metro and again just one stop until our next station, Prospekt Mira. This station was originally called Botanichesky Sad after the nearby Botanical Gardens of the Moscow State University. The pylons are covered in white marble and decorated with floral bas-relief friezes. The ceiling is decorated with casts and several cylindrical chandeliers.

Prospekt Mira metro station

Notice the floral decoration

Komsomolskaya

On the metro once more and once more we are going just one stop to the next station – Komsomolskaya. This station is famous for its its yellow ceiling. The chandeliers in this station are huge. The photos below do not do this station justice.  For me, this station resembles a presidential palace.  You hace to see it for yourself to truly appreciate it.

Because of it’s location, this is one of the busiest stations in the Moscow metro as it serves three of the main train stations in the city – Leningradsky, Yaroslavsky, and Kazansky so be prepared for a lot of people.

Komsomolskaya metro

The yellow ceiling seems to go on forever

Yellow ceiling and artwork

One of the ceiling mosaics

Elektrozavodskaya

When you are ready to leave Komsomolskaya metro station behind, then get back on the circle line and go one stop to Kurskaya and change to the blue line (line 3) and go to two stops to the Elektrozavodskaya station. This station gets it’s name from a nearby electric light bulb factory and has a somewhat industrial but also futuristic style, with 6 rows of circular lamps (there are 318 lamps in total). I think this is one of the most beautiful stations on the Moscow metro for how unique it is. The station was opened in 1944 after a delay because of the 2nd World War and features 12 marble bas-reliefs of the struggle on the home front during the war.

The Komsomolskaya metro station

The struggles of war at home

Fixing machinery

Hard at work

Making weapons

Building a tank

Even the station sign is elaborate

Ploschad Revolyutsii

Back on the metro line 3 (but in the other direction), getting off at the 3rd stop – Ploschad Revolyutsii (Revolution Square). This is located underneath the square in Moscow of the same name and is a short walk from Red Square in the city centre. It is the perfect place to end a visit around Moscow’s metro. The station features red and yellow marble arches with a total of 76 sculptures in between each arch. The sculptures are supposed to represent the people of the Soviet Union and include soldiers, farmers, industrial workers, children etc… I noticed a lot of people touching the golden chicken in the photo below as well as the show of the woman. I am assuming that this is for good luck.

Industrial worker

Touch the chicken for good luck

Sculpture of the people of the Soviet Union

Woman reading a book – touch the shoe for good luck

In education

Parent and child

These are some of what I think are the most beautiful stations on the Moscow metro. Which ones are your favourite? Would you add any to this list?

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19 comments.

Kievskaya definitely caught me off guard. Didn’t know Moscow metro stations were THIS extravagant! Mayakovskaya is gorgeous too with the marble walls and mosaics. I might just need to book a flight over to admire all of these!

Do it! Kievskaya was my first introduction to the Moscow metro as I got an overnight train from Kyiv.

You know, in the States, all we ever hear is bad stuff about Russia. It’s nice to see other (and lovely!) dimensions of such a controversial place.

It’s the same in the UK which is why I prefer going to see somewhere and making up my own mind. It’s all ‘politics and bullshit’ as I say

I went to Moscow about 13years for Christmas and went to train stations, so I can see these amazing mosaics and chandeliers. I agree with you that are beautiful Stations for sure and I could of wandered around for days. I think Kievskaya is definitely my favourite out of them all and I even have some similar pictures as you.

I imagine Moscow would have been a little different 13 years ago but these stations have probably always looked beautiful

Food and Footprints

You chose some great stations for this write up! Beautiful details in these stations and would love to visit them sometime. Particularly like the Komsomolskaya station with that yellow ceiling!

Thank you very much. Komsomolskaya seems to be a lot of peoples favourite stations too

Sumit Surai

Wow! Without the text I would have thought them to be some museum or gallery.

I know exactly what you mean!

Rosie Fluskey

Wow, it is just stunning! How does anyone get to work with so much to look at. I’m surprised at the very bourgeois-looking Komsomolskaya station. I would have thought it was all too Tzarist looking, but then I haven’t been to Russia yet lol. This has just made me want to go more!

Wow, that’s a lot of artwork. I wonder how old some of these pieces are?

Generally most of the stations are from 1940-1960 approximately. The later stations are more functional than style.

My mother-in-law was in Moscow fifty years ago and still raves about the metro stations. So far, I could not imagine much. But now! The pictures are great and I think it’s almost a pity that this splendor is underground. But for every user of the Metro can enjoy a free trip to the world of art. Susanne

True. It is like having a free trip to an art museum/gallery. I hope that you can one day visit Moscow and see for yourself.

Oh wow, I would never have known that these were metro stations. The ceilings remind me of how you need to look up sometimes, even in the commuter rush!

It is true about life in general, we just go from A to B looking directly in front of us instead of around us

Wow, I would have never guessed that these were stations. The decor is so pretty and not one I’m used to seeing at metro stations. Love the ceiling at The Komsomolskaya metro station.

They certainly don’t look like metro stations. The ceiling there is one of my favourites too!

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Claudia Looi

Touring the Top 10 Moscow Metro Stations

By Claudia Looi 2 Comments

Komsomolskaya metro station looks like a museum. It has vaulted ceilings and baroque decor.

Hidden underground, in the heart of Moscow, are historical and architectural treasures of Russia. These are Soviet-era creations – the metro stations of Moscow.

Our guide Maria introduced these elaborate metro stations as “the palaces for the people.” Built between 1937 and 1955, each station holds its own history and stories. Stalin had the idea of building beautiful underground spaces that the masses could enjoy. They would look like museums, art centers, concert halls, palaces and churches. Each would have a different theme. None would be alike.

The two-hour private tour was with a former Intourist tour guide named Maria. Maria lived in Moscow all her life and through the communist era of 60s to 90s. She has been a tour guide for more than 30 years. Being in her 60s, she moved rather quickly for her age. We traveled and crammed with Maria and other Muscovites on the metro to visit 10 different metro stations.

Arrow showing the direction of metro line 1 and 2

Moscow subways are very clean

To Maria, every street, metro and building told a story. I couldn’t keep up with her stories. I don’t remember most of what she said because I was just thrilled being in Moscow.   Added to that, she spilled out so many Russian words and names, which to one who can’t read Cyrillic, sounded so foreign and could be easily forgotten.

The metro tour was the first part of our all day tour of Moscow with Maria. Here are the stations we visited:

1. Komsomolskaya Metro Station  is the most beautiful of them all. Painted yellow and decorated with chandeliers, gold leaves and semi precious stones, the station looks like a stately museum. And possibly decorated like a palace. I saw Komsomolskaya first, before the rest of the stations upon arrival in Moscow by train from St. Petersburg.

2. Revolution Square Metro Station (Ploshchad Revolyutsii) has marble arches and 72 bronze sculptures designed by Alexey Dushkin. The marble arches are flanked by the bronze sculptures. If you look closely you will see passersby touching the bronze dog's nose. Legend has it that good luck comes to those who touch the dog's nose.

Touch the dog's nose for good luck. At the Revolution Square station

Revolution Square Metro Station

3. Arbatskaya Metro Station served as a shelter during the Soviet-era. It is one of the largest and the deepest metro stations in Moscow.

Arbatskaya Metro Station

4. Biblioteka Imeni Lenina Metro Station was built in 1935 and named after the Russian State Library. It is located near the library and has a big mosaic portrait of Lenin and yellow ceramic tiles on the track walls.

Lenin's portrait at the Biblioteka Imeni Lenina Metro Station

5. Kievskaya Metro Station was one of the first to be completed in Moscow. Named after the capital city of Ukraine by Kiev-born, Nikita Khruschev, Stalin's successor.

Kievskaya Metro Station

6. Novoslobodskaya Metro Station  was built in 1952. It has 32 stained glass murals with brass borders.

Novoslobodskaya metro station

7. Kurskaya Metro Station was one of the first few to be built in Moscow in 1938. It has ceiling panels and artwork showing Soviet leadership, Soviet lifestyle and political power. It has a dome with patriotic slogans decorated with red stars representing the Soviet's World War II Hall of Fame. Kurskaya Metro Station is a must-visit station in Moscow.

Ceiling panel and artworks at Kurskaya Metro Station

8. Mayakovskaya Metro Station built in 1938. It was named after Russian poet Vladmir Mayakovsky. This is one of the most beautiful metro stations in the world with 34 mosaics painted by Alexander Deyneka.

Mayakovskaya station

One of the over 30 ceiling mosaics in Mayakovskaya metro station

9. Belorusskaya Metro Station is named after the people of Belarus. In the picture below, there are statues of 3 members of the Partisan Resistance in Belarus during World War II. The statues were sculpted by Sergei Orlov, S. Rabinovich and I. Slonim.

10. Teatralnaya Metro Station (Theatre Metro Station) is located near the Bolshoi Theatre.

Teatralnaya Metro Station decorated with porcelain figures .

Taking the metro's escalator at the end of the tour with Maria the tour guide.

Have you visited the Moscow Metro? Leave your comment below.

January 15, 2017 at 8:17 am

An excellent read! Thanks for much for sharing the Russian metro system with us. We're heading to Moscow in April and exploring the metro stations were on our list and after reading your post, I'm even more excited to go visit them. Thanks again 🙂

December 6, 2017 at 10:45 pm

Hi, do you remember which tour company you contacted for this tour?

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By David Leonhardt

Jump to: Tricky Clues

Deb Amlen is on vacation this week. David Leonhardt, the senior writer who oversees The Morning newsletter , has kindly agreed to step in and talk about today’s puzzle by Matthew Stock and Christina Iverson.

FRIDAY PUZZLE — When my colleague Deb Amlen asked me a few weeks ago to spend a day filling in as the Wordplay columnist, I was thrilled. When she told me that I would be writing about a Friday crossword puzzle, I was a little less thrilled and more than a little daunted. Friday, as you all surely know, is one of the week’s most challenging puzzles.

I may be a journalist — I’m approaching my 25th anniversary at The New York Times — but I feel more comfortable playing games that are based on numbers and strategy than on language. I was an applied math major in college, and I don’t pretend to be an expert Scrabble player or crossword completer. Fortunately, I am married to somebody who is an expert at language games. My wife, Laura, an obsessive and joyous reader, was happy to help me with the completion of today’s puzzle.

Whether you’re more like me or more like Laura, there’s much to savor in today’s puzzle.

Tricky Clues

1A. We admit it: We couldn’t resist immediately scribbling S-ALSA in response to a “Mexican condiment” of five letters. But that’s why we were using an erasable pen. The error of our ways became clear as soon as we saw that the second letter of the answer needed to be an R, for RIC (2D’s “Singer Ocasek”). With an assist from MINA (the “Kimes” of 4D), I thought back to a delicious meal we ate last month at Tacos El Gordo in Las Vegas. One of the toppings there? CREMA. And, yes, you should endure the lines at Tacos El Gordo if you’re in Las Vegas.

11A. “Alternatives to booths, perhaps” may immediately conjure restaurants or, for those of us of a certain age, phones. This uncertainty encouraged us to come up with a longer list of potential booths, and we soon thought of one that was less salient because it rarely appears without its modifier: voting booths. From there, and again with some help from Ric Ocasek and Mina Kimes, we got to MAIL-IN BALLOTS.

8D. Salsa may have been a feint for 1A, but the obvious answer is sometimes the right one. You can ignore the detail about the mountain “range crossing eight countries” and even ignore the number of letters. But just ask yourself: What’s the most famous mountain range in the world? The ALPS.

14A. Crossword witticisms — like “Device for an on-line conversation?” — can stump me, but Laura wasn’t tricked by the fact that TIN CAN was the first half of this answer before we knew what the second half would be. She told me that the answer didn’t necessarily have anything to do with Tin Can Alley, the best-known phrase that starts with that term. The clue’s use of “on-line” is a subtle reference to a string, which yields TIN CAN TELEPHONE.

22D. Maybe it’s a sign of how much we like to eat, but our first instinct in response to “Still working on that?” was NOT DONE. After struggling with the Across clues that overlapped with NOT, while solving the ones that overlapped with DONE, we realized that many people leave food on their plates. ALL DONE unlocked the upper right portion of the puzzle.

43A. We were not sure about “Porto Novo’s country.” The second letter needed to be an E, thanks to 22D’s ALL DONE. Once we stopped focusing on “Novo” and considered a broader range of countries, we arrived at BENIN.

Constructor Notes

Christina Iverson : Matthew and I have had a couple of collaborations, in The Los Angeles Times and The Crossword Club, but this is our first shared byline in The Times. I don’t think a single entry in the grid was in our first draft! The top half here was mostly Matthew’s, and the bottom half mostly mine — but he wrote the great clue for SKELETON COSTUME, and I wrote the one for TIN CAN TELEPHONE.

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David Leonhardt runs The Morning , The Times’s flagship daily newsletter. Since joining The Times in 1999, he has been an economics columnist, opinion columnist, head of the Washington bureau and founding editor of the Upshot section, among other roles. More about David Leonhardt

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