Giving thanks for travel

Thanksgiving.  A time to pause and reflect and be thankful for all that we have.  In the midst of Thanksgiving dinners, visits with family and friends, busy roadways, and crowded airports, we need to pause in the midst of chaos and remember.

Life can be hectic for many people.  Ironically, the time of the year set aside to slow down and reflect on the blessings we have in life is often the most chaotic.

If we’re not dealing with busy airports and holiday flights, we are eating turkey and stuffing ourselves with food and desserts.  There are the football games in the back yard and on TV.  And on the weekend, college football has some of the best games and biggest rivalries of the season.

If that’s not enough, we wake up at 4 am to join the insane crowds for Black Friday shopping in order to save money on Christmas presents (as a frugal guy with a budget travel blog, you would think I would love Black Friday – I don’t).

While this isn’t an easy time of year to balance life, travel, work, and family, let’s take time to pause and be thankful.  And what better way to celebrate Thanksgiving than to be thankful for travel.

Giving thanks for travel

Road trips with family, backpacking through Europe, traveling with kids, romantic destinations, haunted places in history, the College Football Travel Tour – these are just a few of the different things I have experienced through travel.  I’ve made many friends along the way and learned a lot of things about myself.  While I’ve shared a number of those lessons in my travel confessions, today I am thankful for travel.

• Thankful for Estonia which awakened my passion for travel
• Thankful for my trip to Europe in 2004 which helped me through a painful time in my life
• Thankful for the opportunities I have had to travel with my wife and kids
• Thankful for my two homes – California and South Carolina – and the opportunities to fly back and forth between both
• Thankful for the opportunities I have had on my College Football Travel Tour
• Thankful for all the countries I have been able to visit, the people I have met, and the experiences I have had
• Thankful that I live in a country that allows me to travel
• Thankful that I have the resources to be able to travel
• Thankful for all the experiences, bad and good, that have taught me a little more about myself
• Thankful to be a part of a travel community with writers and travelers who encourage and help one another
• Thankful to those who take the time to read and comment on my travel experiences and stories
• Thankful to God for giving me the opportunity to see the world from a different point of view
• Thankful that I am one of 7 billion people on this earth and glad I’ve gotten the opportunity to meet a few of them

As we pause and reflect during the holidays, what are you thankful for in travel?

 Praying Hands (Flickr)

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