It’s a very simple picture that paints a picture of why I travel.

This was the view from the shower in my space at Nuits Saint-Pierre, a trés élégant hotel straight out of Paris. It’s in St. Pierre and Miquelon, a genuine piece of France off Canada’s Atlantic coast.

It was a Sunday in November. It was my last day there, and with the help of some very gracious locals, I’d seen much of what there was to see of an unusual part of the world that was literally a cross between Europe and North America.

I took a last morning walk. On this Sunday, the sun took the day off. Almost everything was closed; my only companion was a steady drizzle in a world of black and gray. Winter’s chill was starting to creep in.

Inside, the shower moisture was soft and beckoning. It invited me to do whatever I liked. To let in as much of the world as I wanted. I felt pampered and peaceful.

I was home. At least at that moment. The kind of moment that’s just about perfect.

You know the one. It doesn’t happen very often and that’s why you know it when it does. I’ve always called that moment a delicious feeling of satisfaction.

Travel has always been my passport to more of those moments.

I plan to do a lot more in 2016. And I hope you do, too.

Happy New Year and Safe Travels.