Not everybody is interested in getting tattoos, but for those of us who are, what they represent and why we choose to permanently ink them on our skin is generally different from person to person. Some people get tattoos to memorialize a specific thing that happens in their life. A life-changing event, oftentimes a marriage, the birth of a child or even death can be commemorated by a tattoo. Often you’ll find that people just get tattoos that don’t really mean muc, and are just images that they like the look of. And then of course, there are those who get tattoos to signify a defining personality trait.

A yin and yang symbol to indicate calmness, or maybe a flame to imply strength. There’s a tattoo idea for you no matter what personality trait you want to solidify. So what if you’re an adventurous spirit? What if you’re someone with a thirst for travel and for exploration? Someone who wants to experience as much of the world as they can? You can be sure there are a ton of ideas for you to explore, let’s have a look at five of them right now:

Compass 

A compass tattoo is a great idea, because it represents exploration in its truest form. Long before we had Google Maps and Uber to help us get around, people had to use a compass for navigation. And don’t get me wrong, those services are super convenient and have made such a positive impact on our lives, but it does, in a way, take a little bit of the fun out of adventure to be able to see the entire journey and destination on a phone screen. That’s what the compass can symbolize. The fact that your particular thirst for adventure is based on nature and discovery. Compasses have been around since the 5th Century and were used by sailors who discovered foreign lands. What we look at today as being the birth of new worlds and civilizations, was all made possible by the compass. And is there any greater adventure than that?

Birds

I think it’s safe to say that we humans are a little bit jealous of birds. I mean, I’m sure we’re all happy about our advanced intelligence and extended lifespans, but wouldn’t it be amazing if we were able to fly? Imagine how much that would enhance our capacity to explore? A bird could get from Canada to Norway without having to pay a ton of money on a plane ticket. A bird can take in the beauty of a jungle without ever having to set foot on dangerous ground. I think a lot of people would think of birds as being their spirit animals because of this. Because they long to be able to soar above the earth and rush to greet new horizons. So getting a bird tattoo is really the perfect choice for the adventurous type.

Mountains

Mountains are kind of like the final frontier for the adventurous aren’t they? Of course, most people will have done a little bit of mountain climbing and hill-walking in their time, but actually scaling a giant peak is a different story. It’s something that you need one hell of a constitution for. You need not just physical fitness, but also mental toughness too and you need to have a strong enough love for adventure to be willing to spend many nights camped out on the cold slopes of a towering behemoth, getting further and further from civilization with every passing day.

Getting a mountain tattoo shows off your ambition and just how deep your adventurous spirit runs. There are a few good formats for such an image, one way to display it would be through a triangle tattoo. Triangle tattoos are popular and they are very fitting because mountain peaks are kind of triangular shaped anyway, plus it opens up a lot of opportunity for a bit of creativity too so have a look into that.

Flowers

When you go on adventures, you tend to see a lot of natural wonders. And if you travel far enough, you can start to get a really good sense of how many different kinds of plants and flowers there are out there. Rose tattoos are probably the most popular kind of flower tattoo, though they often represent other things. Typically a rose tattoo is meant to symbolize love, passion and other strong emotions. If you want to get a flower tattoo that is more about being adventurous, then look into a number of different types. Go for something more exotic. Perhaps even something that can only be found in one specific place.

Quotes

You can get a tattoo that quotes pretty much anything, this definitely isn’t one that’s exclusive to adventure. Quotes can be inspirational, they can be moving, morose or just something that you think sounds nice and is pleasing from a lyrical perspective. If you want to get a tattoo that represents something but you can’t settle on an image, then just a thought will often get the job done. Whether it’s a quote from a poem about travel, or from an adventure movie or novel, or even from a real person who went on some epic journey, there are so many which fit the bill. 

Hell, maybe you even came up with your own quote about how adventurous of a spirit you are. That’d be an even cooler tattoo because it would be one that’s completely unique and personal to you. So that’s just a couple of ideas that you could look into to represent your affinity for adventure. And as you can see, it’s worth it to get just a little bit adventurous with your decision. I don’t think an adventurous spirit such as yourself will disagree with that!