Jonathan Swift's book Gulliver's Travels, begins with a letter from Gulliver to his cousin, and is then divided into four parts. Each part is named after the places he visits in that section. Parts 1, 2, and 4 are about Gulliver's visit to one place only, while in part 3, he visits a variety of places with comically difficult names, but ends up in Japan.

In part 1, Gulliver journeys to the land of Lilliput. This is perhaps the most well known element of the story. The people of Lilliput are extremely tiny and view Gulliver as a threat. They are very small humanoids, like Gulliver in every way apart from their size. They also speak a language different from Gulliver's own.

In part 2, Gulliver travels to Brobdingnag, which is in many ways the opposite of Lilliput. Here, the people are 72 feet tall and Gulliver is showcased in a small box as a curiosity because he is, to them, a miniature person.

In part 3, Gulliver travels to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Glubbdubdrib, Luggnagg and Japan. The Laputans are similar in size to Gulliver, but their heads are tilted and they do not have any right angles. Below Laputa is Balnibarbi—Laputa literally floats over it. The king of Laputa can punish the Balnibarbians by floating over a particular town to keep the sun and rain from reaching it. In Glubbdubdrib, Gulliver is able to speak to many great humans of the past who have died, because the governor the country is able to resurrect the dead. In Luggnagg, there are some children, the Struldbrugs, who live forever. After being imprisoned in Luggnagg, Gulliver sails to Japan.

In part 4, Gulliver travels to the land of the Houyhnhnms. The Houyhnhnms disdain Gulliver because they think he is a brute, like their enemies, the Yahoos, but Gulliver becomes very close to his master in this country and learns to speak their language.

Gulliver visits a number of lands during his overseas voyage. He begins in Lilliput, a country of six-inch high people, whose small stature reflects their small mindedness. He next travels to Brobdingnag, where the residents are ugly giants, but have a large moral compass, living with kindness and thoughtfulness towards others. Laputa is a country where the citizens spend all their time contemplating intellectual and mathematical ideas to the point of having a very difficult time interacting with others.

The next stop on the journey is Balnibarbi, where the people are poor and dress in rags. Here, Gulliver tours the Academy of Lagado, where scientists work on absurd and useless experiments, such as making gunpowder out of ice. He then goes to Glubbdubdrib, where he is horrified to find out that the servants are ghosts of the dead that these magician people bring up for 24 hours to wait on them, only then to have to conjure new ghosts. A ghost can only come back once every three months. While there, Gulliver is able to converse with famous people from the past, such as Caesar, Brutus, Sir Thomas More, and Descartes.

In Luggnagg, Gulliver must crawl on his hands and knees licking dust to greet the king. He also meets the struldbrugs, people who are immortal but who don't stop aging, so that they are hideous and often demented. In Japan, a brief stop, Gulliver is able to avoid trampling the crucifix.

In the Country of the Houynhmhnms, Gulliver encounters the Yahoos, savage, animalistic humans and the Houynhmhnms, rational horses. He falls under the Houynhmhnm spell completely, finding their society so superior to that of any human culture that he sleeps in the barn with horses when he returns to England.

Gulliver's Travels, written by Jonathan Swift, follows the protagonist Gulliver as he travels to four distinct locations.

Lilliput: His first stop is Lilliput, a tiny society filled with tiny people. He lands here after a shipwreck in which he is the only survivor. When he awakens, he finds himself tied down by tiny people who believe him to be their enemy. You see, to the Lilliputians, he is a giant capable of great feats. However, after Gulliver agrees to serve the Lilliputians, he is freed and allowed to meet their Emperor. During his time here, he protects the kingdom by destroying the ships of the Blefuscu, the Lilliputian's enemy, and learns about life at court, including the politics of the kingdom. The Emperor and court soon grow weary of Gulliver because he requires far too many resources to be fed, clothed, and taken care of. Eventually, after urinating on a fire, he is branded a traitor and sentenced to be blinded. Gulliver escapes and finds an English ship, which takes him back to England.

Brobdingnag: Gulliver's second stop is when he is abandoned while trying to fetch water for the ship's crew. In Brobdingnag, Gulliver finds a land of giants, in which he is just a tiny curiosity. Eventually, Gulliver is purchased as a gift to the King, whom he delights with stories of England. After some time of touring the kingdom while in a small box and other misadventures due to his small size, his box is carried off by an eagle and dropped in the sea, where he is picked up by another English ship and taken back to England.

Laputa: The third voyage finds Gulliver's ship overtaken by pirates, who abandon him at sea on a small boat. After some time, Gulliver arrives at the flying island of Laputa, a land of intellect where the people only care about abstract ideas and vague speculation. The people here seem to be only interested in mathematics, philosophy, and theory. While here, Gulliver visits the Academy of Laputa, where scholars work tirelessly at useless ideas. During this trip, Gulliver also visits Glubbdubdrib, an island of magicians, Luggnagg, a place where its inhabitants have eternal life though they continue to age, and then Japan. As before, Gulliver returns to England.

Houyhnhms: Gulliver's final destination is the land of Houyhnhms, a land of intelligent horses who use human-like creatures called Yahoos as their servants. The Houyhnhms are distressed by Gulliver's accounts of England and how Yahoos seem to be in control, though they are seen as only partially rational, so they decide to expel Gulliver and send him away. Gulliver makes a boat, goes off to sea, is picked up by a Portuguese ship, and returns safely to England, where he is a changed man, preferring the company of horses to the humans he now finds disgusting and uncivilized.