One reason people wanted to leave Europe had to do with persecution. In some cases it was about a particular religious group that felt they could be free from such persecution by starting a new colony across the ocean. Many of the early colonies in North America had groups of religionists coming across the ocean together to found a colony based on their idea of how God wanted them to live.
In other cases it was a matter of practicality. There were those who felt that they had a better chance to make a life for themselves someplace new. Indentured servants signed away years of their lives in order to gain passage to the new world and hopefully an eventual free life with a chance to improve their station.
Which is similar to arguably one of the greatest motivators of all which was simply greed. Usually alongside or right on the heels of "explorers" were those who were looking for new treasure, new trade routes, new ways to get rich. Once news of available land or riches or other things got back to Europe, this inspired others to cross the oceans hoping for the same thing.
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