For the past few years, I’ve been traveling for work once or twice a month. This week was my last travel week, as I am leaving my current job to focus on my one true love, nitpicking (read: proofreading). I love travel and was eager to travel frequently when I started the job. I traveled less frequently than most of my coworkers, but I’ve racked up my fair share of Marriott points. And it didn’t take long to realize that even though I was out of town one week out of every two or three, I missed traveling – that is, the kind of traveling I used to do for fun.

As much as I’ve struggled with being away from my partner, my kitchen and my own bed, and as much as I would’ve liked to spend more time getting to know new places instead of getting to know new conference rooms, I know I’ve been really fortunate to have these opportunities, and I’m really grateful.

A lot of what it boils down to is that this job has allowed me to visit a lot of the U.S., after I had been pretty wrapped up in international travel for years. This seems like a fitting weekend to make the following note: The U.S.A. is an incredible place.