Packing your bags and checking your passport twice still leaves you with a nagging feeling that something is missing. Maybe it’s rabbit’s foot for good luck, a four leaf clover or a clove of garlic tucked between your socks. Maybe it’s the memory of your grandmother splashing water behind you as you walked out the door. Travelers across every culture have leaned on small rituals for comfort. These rituals promise to keep bad luck away and good fortune close. You don’t have to believe in magic to appreciate the comfort these habits bring. Instead, you might find that a little superstition adds meaning to the ordinary act of leaving home. While rabbit’s feet and four leaf clovers are obvious in the U.S. for good luck, here are 12 travel superstitions that have followed wanderers for generations. Below, you’ll find the stories behind why they still matter today.
Good Luck Travel Rituals: 12 Superstitions Worth Trying
1.Choose Your Travel Day and Direction With Care
According to Vedic astrology, the day of the week you depart can matter just as much as where you’re headed. Practitioners call this belief Disha Shool. It holds that certain directions turn inauspicious on specific days. A savvy traveler checks the calendar before booking a flight. Tradition considers Monday and Saturday poor days to travel east, while Tuesday and Wednesday call for avoiding the north. Sunday and Friday bring their own caution toward the west, and Thursday warns against heading south. If you can’t avoid travel in the “wrong” direction, tradition offers a workaround. Eat a specific food beforehand, such as curd on Thursday or jaggery on Tuesday. This step softens the ill effects, tradition says, and clears the way for a safer journey.
2.Watch Out for Unlucky Numbers Around the World
Numbers carry different weight depending on where you land, and a little awareness can spare you some confusion at check-in. In China, the number 4 sounds nearly identical to the word for death in Mandarin and Cantonese. As a result, hotels and hospitals often skip a fourth floor entirely. On the other hand, the number 666 is considered very lucky in China. Cross the Pacific, and you’ll find American buildings avoiding the number 13 instead. Americans call this fear triskaidekaphobia, and it traces back to biblical references and old Western folklore. Airlines sometimes follow suit too, quietly jumping from row twelve to row fourteen without a thirteenth row in between.
Italy plays by its own rules, treating 17 as the number to fear rather than 13. Written in Roman numerals, 17 becomes XVII. That’s an anagram of “VIXI,” the Latin phrase for “I have lived.” Stonemasons traditionally carved that phrase onto tombstones. Because of that grim connection, Italian hotels and airlines frequently omit a seventeenth floor or row of seating. As you travel from country to country, you’ll start noticing these small gaps in numbering. Now you’ll know exactly why they’re there.
3. Tuck a Clove of Garlic Into Your Suitcase
Before you zip your bag shut, consider slipping a single clove of garlic inside. This custom traces back to old European folklore. People once believed garlic warded off evil spirits and protected against illness on the road. Sailors once carried it to guard against shipwrecks, and travelers eventually adopted the same logic for their journeys. You might not smell like a bakery by the time you land. But you’ll arrive with an old-world blessing riding along in your luggage.
Related: Where to Go This Summer: Food and Drink Festivals Worth Traveling For
Eating Dahi Shakkar (credit: Meta AI)
4. Eat a Spoonful of Dahi Shakkar Before You Leave
In many Indian households, no trip begins without a small spoonful of dahi shakkar. Families eat this simple mix of plain yogurt and sugar right before anyone walks out the door. Ayurveda and Vedic tradition shape this custom. Practitioners consider curd a cooling, auspicious food that sets a calm and positive tone for whatever lies ahead. Sugar adds its own layer of meaning. It symbolizes the hope that your journey will unfold.
5. Never Sweep With a Broom Near a Departing Guest
If you visit a home in Latin America or Southeast Asia right before a trip, you’ll likely notice something missing. The broom stays tucked away in a closet. Many people believe that sweeping near someone about to leave sweeps away their good luck right along with the dust. Some families go a step further. They lay a broom flat across the doorway to symbolically block bad fortune from following the traveler outside. Either way, the message stays the same: let the dirt wait until you finish your goodbyes.
6. Spill a Little Water Behind a Departing Traveler
In many Slavic and Eastern European households, someone tosses a splash of water behind you before a trip. The tradition suggests the water guides you along a smooth path, the way water always flows without obstruction. It also symbolizes a safe and easy return, since water always finds its way back to where it belongs. Next time you say goodbye to someone heading to the airport, keep a small cup of water by the door.
7. Sit on Your Luggage Before You Leave
In Russia and throughout much of the former Soviet Union, travelers pause for a quiet moment on their packed suitcase. They do this right before heading out the door. This brief ritual lasts no more than a minute. It helps you reflect and make sure you haven’t forgotten anything important. It also serves a more spiritual purpose. The pause lets you say a silent goodbye to your home and gather calm energy for the journey ahead. Give yourself that minute of stillness before your next trip. You might notice you feel steadier once you’re finally out the door.
8. Carry a Turkish Evil Eye Charm
Walk through nearly any market in Istanbul, and you’ll spot strings of blue and white glass beads. They hang from doorways, bracelets, and luggage tags. People call this charm the nazar, and they believe it protects its owner from envious or ill-wishing stares. It deflects bad energy before that energy can take hold. Travelers throughout the Mediterranean and beyond have adopted the symbol as a kind of portable good-luck insurance. They tuck a small one into a backpack or pin it to a jacket. Even if you’re skeptical of its power, the nazar makes a striking souvenir with a story worth telling.
9. Touch the Outside of the Plane Before You Climb Aboard
Some travelers pause at the jet bridge and place a hand on the aircraft itself before stepping inside. This gesture carries a simple idea. Physical contact creates a connection between you and the machine that will lift you thousands of feet into the air. Pilots and flight crews have quietly practiced this for decades. They treat the plane almost like a living thing that deserves a proper greeting. If it works for the professionals, it might be worth a try. Give it a go the next time the gate agent calls your number.s smoothly and sweetly as the bite itself. Families often keep a small bowl ready by the entryway. Anyone heading out for a big trip, exam, or interview can pause for this quick ritual before stepping outside.
10. Step Onto the Plane With Your Right Foot First
As you approach the aircraft door, pay attention to which foot leads the way. Many cultures associate the right side with good fortune, while the left carries an unlucky reputation. This belief shows up in Roman tradition. Roman soldiers entered buildings right foot first to avoid misfortune. Today, plenty of nervous flyers quietly repeat the habit before boarding. It’s a small, private ritual that costs nothing and might just settle the nerves.
11. Never Whistle Aboard a Ship or Plane
Sailors have long treated whistling as an open invitation for trouble. They believed it could summon strong winds or violent storms out at sea. Sailors called the superstition “whistling up a storm,” and entire crews avoided the habit for the length of a voyage. Modern travelers have carried a lighter version of this belief onto planes and trains. A stray whistle still earns a few uneasy glances. So the next time you’re waiting at the gate, you might want to save your tune for after you’ve landed.
12. Toss a Coin Over Your Shoulder to Guarantee Your Return
At Rome’s Trevi Fountain, thousands of visitors turn their backs to the water each day. They toss a coin over their right shoulder with their left hand. Legend promises that this simple act ensures a return trip to the Eternal City. The tradition draws roughly a million euros in coins every year, and most of that money goes to charity. You don’t need to be standing in Rome to borrow the spirit of the custom, either. Travelers everywhere have adapted the idea. They toss coins into fountains, wells, and rivers around the world as a wish to come back someday.
Why These Rituals Still Matter
You might wonder why any of this holds up today. We have GPS tracking, real-time flight alerts, and instant weather updates. The truth is simple. Travel has always carried an element of the unknown, no matter how much technology we throw at it. These small rituals give you a sense of control over something that ultimately isn’t fully in your hands. They also connect you to generations of travelers before you. Those travelers stood at their own doorways, packed their own bags, and hoped for safe passage long before airplanes existed.
So the next time you’re getting ready for a trip, consider borrowing one of these traditions for yourself. Slip a clove of garlic into your suitcase, or step through the door with your right foot first. Or spoon up a bit of dahi shakkar before you go. Whether or not you believe in the superstition itself, you’ll be taking part in something far older than you are. It’s the universal hope that wherever we’re headed, we’ll arrive safely and find our way back home again.
Related: Airplane Etiquette: The Dos and Don’ts Every Traveler Needs to Know Before Boarding
About The Author
Randy Yagi is an award-winning writer who served as the National Travel Writer for CBS from 2012 to 2019. More than 900 of his stories still appear in syndication across 23 CBS websites, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Francisco. During his peak years with CBS, Randy had a reported digital audience reach of 489 million and 5.5 million monthly visitors. Additionally, his stories have appeared in the Daily Meal, CBS News, CBS Radio, Engadget, NBC.com, NJ.com, MSN.com and Radio.com. He earned a Media Fellowship from Stanford University and is a Bay Area Travel Writers (BATW) member.
