I love palm trees.

I love falling asleep listening to the sound of a city that is alive with sirens, horns, and cars going too fast.

I’m an introvert, but I love talking to the locals. Hearing about their favorite places. Learning how they live their everyday lives.

I love sun dresses, flip flops, and new swimsuits.

I love pretty scarves, a cute jacket, and a new pair of shoes that I bought just for this trip.

I love trying to speak a new language.

I love getting past security in the airport and watching people walk to their gates, knowing the world is wide open and they could be going anywhere.

I love touching down in a new place and the first feel of a balmy breeze.

I love driving the rental car out of the airport garage and seeing a new place — really seeing it, at ground level — for the first time.

I love riding the subway, the tube, the metro.

I love seashells and sea turtles.

On the rare morning that I have the time and energy while traveling, I love to watch the sun rise. And I love to catch the sunset as much as I can, but always on our last night there.

I love getting off the beaten path and going where few other tourists go.

I love to hear the calls of birds and frogs and monkeys.

I love walking into our hotel room or rental house for the first time and seeing everything perfectly made up, folded, straightened, put in its place, before we wreck it all.

I love finding the coffee shop that will be MY coffee shop for the duration of our stay.

I love the sound of the ocean waves outside my window.

I love seeking out the foods — the produce, the national dishes, the favorite treats — that are unique and special in each place.

I love getting out early and watching a city awaken.

I love getting out early and having the beach to myself.

I love to stroll the streets and look in windows and imagine what it would be like to live here, work here, call this place Home.

I love the unfamiliarity and novelty of every new place and I love how, if I ever return, it feels a little less unfamiliar but still magical.

And most of all, I love how travel makes me feel small, grateful, awestruck, and alive all at once and I love that, no matter where I go or how often I’m there, that feeling never, ever changes.