In the tropical latitudes, tropical cyclones usually move toward the west with a slight pole-ward component. This is because there exists an axis of high pressure called the subtropical ridge that extends east-west on the side of the storm closest to a pole. On the equator-ward side of the subtropical ridge, general easterly winds prevail. On the pole-ward side of the subtropical ridge, westerly winds prevail, thus steering the tropical cyclone back to the east. These westerly winds are the same ones that typically bring extra-tropical cyclones, with their cold and warm fronts, from west to east.
Hurricanes can travel for thousands of miles.
They are strongest over water and weaken over land. Hurricanes often change direction. Some of them loop. In fact Hurricane Roxanne looped around in the southwest Gulf of Mexico for over a week in October, 1995. Each region has responsibility for naming the tropical cyclones in its region.