Dreams of Traveling

We often dream of traveling in planes, cars, trains, etc. Traveling is representative of our journey through life. These dreams could represent our current movement toward goals or passageway through life. Difficult traveling conditions such as a dark road, a bad storm, or an accident in a car, or other vehicle may be symbolic of the difficulties that we experience in our daily journey through life. Other times dreaming about traveling to a fun place and having a great time could be a form of compensation or wish-fulfillment. This type of a dream can be an escape from our daily life and form of transcendence into a beautiful dream world.

Dreaming about anything that transports us is a reflection of our ability to get somewhere in life, to motivate ourselves and other people. They also portray the ambitions, attitudes and care, or lack of it that drive us in life. The manner in which we make our way through life involves us in countless relationships of various sorts. The CAR is a symbol of such meetings and partings. But car dreams may also relate to the business of driving our actual vehicle in everyday life and the manner in which we do so. Therefore some car dreams may warn us of attitudes we have that are dangerous, not just in relationships, but actually on the road.

The BOAT often depicts how we are dealing with the ups and downs of life, with its tides, currents and changing weather. Or perhaps the boat is showing how life is dealing with us, rather than we with it. Many boat dreams are actually about a relationship, what we face, what our involvement is with one or more other people. Therefore in some dreams it would represent sexual adventures. Sometimes the boat portrays the journey of our own self-discovery as we begin to investigate the contents of our unconscious. The journey we take on it then stands for our adventure into the unknown, and our means of coping with what is experienced.

The BUS in dreams usually signify our waiting for events to take us somewhere or being involved with strangers or other people in a direction we are taking or depending on social events to get us to where we want to go. It could also mean we are trying to get somewhere in life or trying to leave something or someone behind.

The PLANE, or flying in one, may indicate swift changes, perhaps only temporary. It can also mean a jump into the unknown, getting away from our ordinary life, a business endeavor or opportunity. Sometimes it even suggests a search for or moves to romance.

The TRAIN could be symbolic of our need to move on and to do things in an orderly and chronological manner. Sigmund Freud said that the train is usually a phallic symbol and that a train going through a tunnel represents intercourse. Freud also said that there are other possibilities to this symbol. For example if we missed the train in our dream, we may be fearful of missing important opportunities. Jung thought that the train ride represented the way a person moves and behaves just like everyone else and that the dreamer may be striving for completeness.