A love letter to travel and all of the lovely, little things that make it worth while.

1. Spending hours searching online for a cheap plane ticket and then just before you’re about to give up, WHAM! You find one

2. Stocking up on your favorite snacks/books/songs in preparation for your long flight

3. The sense of accomplishment you feel when you have to order new pages for your passport

4. Creating a packing “To Do” list and slowly checking off the items one by one as you add them to your suitcase

5. Buying a guide book in the book store and flipping to the colorful photos and the ‘must-see’ lists

6. The happy feeling you get when you discover that there’s no line at airport security and you can breeze right through

7. The clickity-clack sound of your roller bag on the airport’s moving walkway

8. When you’re able to sneak past the gate agent with more than one piece of carry-on luggage

9. The smell of jet fuel as you speed walk across the airport’s runway or jet bridge

10. Boarding your flight and finding out that you have an entire row of seats to yourself

11. When the flight attendant lets you have the whole can of coke

12. When it is announced that the in-flight entertainment is a movie you’ve been wanting to see

13. Discovering that the last person to have sat in your seat left a really good book/magazine behind

14. Stepping off the plane, sleepy and disoriented and feeling like you’ve landed on another planet

15. When your bag is the first piece of luggage to come off the luggage carousel

16. Waking up in your hotel room in a panic thinking that you’re late for work and then realizing that you’re on vacation and can sleep in as long as you want

17. The crisp, clean sheets and plush pillows of a hotel room bed

18. Hotel maid service

19. Mint chocolates on your room pillow

20. Discovering that your hotel room has free movie channels

21. Your first glimpse of the view outside your hotel room window

22. The fliers, brochures and crinkly maps you collect at the hotel front desk

23. Waking up each morning and realizing that the day holds the promise of the unknown

24. Knowing that for the next few days/weeks/months, you won’t HAVE TO do anything you don’t want to do

25. Pouring over your guidebook that first morning as you sip espresso at a sidewalk cafe

26. Taking photos that are actually worth posting on Instagram

27. Wandering through a mall, grocery store or train station and marveling at the fact that you can’t read a single sign or understand the conversations going on around you

28. That first time you’re successfully able to communicate with someone in the local language

29. Staying up late into the night sharing adventure stories with other travelers

30. Discovering a new favorite foreign beer or cuisine

31. Laying in hammock on the beach with a good book or your favorite play-list

32. Flirting with a stranger in a disco

33. Successfully haggling down the price of a souvenir at a craft market

34. Getting hopelessly, deliciously lost

35. That moment a few days into your trip when a tourist stops you and asks “Do you know how to get to….?” and (to your pleasant surprise) you’re able to give him directions

36. The first time you’re able to navigate through the city’s subway or bus system without asking for help or consulting a map

37. When your hotel/hostel starts to feel familiar and you catch yourself saying “when we get home…”

38. A cold glass of fresh squeezed fruit juice bought at a roadside street vendor

39. Reading with a flashlight under a mosquito net, while insects buzz outside on a warm, humid night in the tropics

40. Watching towns and fields of wild flowers zoom by outside your train windows

41. Falling asleep to the sound of the wind whooshing outside the train window as your train rattles through the darkness

42. Learning to live with the meager contents inside a backpack or suitcase…and feeling proud of yourself because of it

43. Making a new best friend with someone who lives on the other side of the planet from you (and making plans to visit each other in the future)

44. When you arrive back to your home country and the airport custom’s agent hands you back your passport, smiles and says, “Welcome home”.

45. That moment after arriving back it your home country when it dawns on you that you can speak freely with anyone and actually be understood

46. The nervous anticipation you feel right before you spot your loved one waiting for you in the baggage claim

47. Posting your trip photos on Facebook and receiving “I’m so jealous of you!”- type comments from friends

48. Biting into your favorite “only in (INSERT HOME COUNTRY HERE)” comfort food for the first time in weeks

49. Taking a hot shower and climbing into bed to rest your head on your old, familiar pillow.

50. Counting down the weeks/months until you’re able to do it all over again.

Reannon Muth

Reannon Muth is a full-time writer, social media consultant and owner and manager of the Taken by the Wind travel blog. Born in Hawaii, Reannon has lived in five countries, at Disney World and on a cruise ship. She currently lives in fabulous Las Vegas.