In the second half of the XIX century a text type determined by authors as traveling sketches or sketches of travel is popular in the periodicals of this time. The language means of the discrepant expression of the self-identification of the traveling subject in the changing conditions of the outside world in the conceptual system of the traditional opposition "our own" - "their own" will be considered on the example of the travel sketches by I.A. Goncharov "The Frigate Pallada".