The Best Part About Traveling

I'm lucky that travel is such an ingrained aspect of my life. My parents made sure us kids were well-versed in how to go from Point A to Point B safely and happily, whether Point B was across the room or across the country. Summers meant family vacation, and our travels ran the gamut of locales and transportation. We learned a lot on vacation--about where we were, who we were, and why traveling is important. Still, no matter the destination, a family vacation always included one integral part: the pre-travel giddiness of planning.

Of course, Mom and Dad did most of that grunt work (ordering travel guides, reserving hotels, buying tickets, studying atlases), but recently I've gotten to travel as an adult (read: solo or with my bf) and soak in the entire process for myself. Last year I traveled both out of the country/by myself (to Montevideo) and within the States/with my boyfriend (to Colorado). I relished all the list-making, supply-shopping, and map-reading and felt like the days before each trip were just as important to the overall journey as the actual travel-and-vacation part. It's not just me, either--studies show that "vacation anticipation" is really where the magic happens.

I think Quinn was anticipating a time when picture-taking would end.

Vacations make us happy, but mostly because our own daydreams and pre-travel projections lift our spirits. That means shorter (though more frequent) trips do more good, happiness-wise, than one big long trip. Lucky for me, everyone and their cousin is getting married this summer, so I have lots of weekend trips and lots of mood-boosting anticipation coming my way.

Case in point: I leave town tomorrow just for the weekend, but I've already stretched that short trip out to a full week of shopping, packing, trying on outfits, scheduling, researching, and organizing. I've had a great week at work not just because things are good there, but also because I'm counting down until tonight at 7, when I'm officially on vacation.

Formerly the tallest building in South America (and the backside of a horse). No shame in my picture game.

8.5 more hours! Then it's more packing and sweet dreams of travel.