It starts early for me, that first morning on the road. I think it’s the anticipation, the excitement, the feeling that anything is possible – anything at all. It is the feeling that all of it will be good.

Travel days, especially that first long trip from home to wherever, can be hectic and tiring and often frustrating. The crush of airports, queuing up in endless lines, trying to sleep upright in a narrow seat in a noisy plane, just to queue up yet again. Even with all the excitement of a new trip, I am not always the most patient person in the world.

Until that first morning waking up somewhere new.

The First Morning

I have always been an earlier riser. Holidays are no exception. Every minute is precious, because let’s face it, there is never enough vacation time. Most days that I am traveling, I am up and out of bed like a shot.

That first morning though? I let myself wake up slowly. As I come awake, I start to smile. I am waking up someplace new; I am waking up in a foreign land.

In that moment everything is exciting. Everything is ahead of me. It is Christmas morning, Easter, and my birthday all rolled into one. There is no end of exciting stuff waiting for me just out there.

Becoming a Temporary Local

Weekday  mornings are my favorite. I get the chance to really see what day to day life is like. In France it was the lines at the coffee shops or patisseries. On the Dalmatian coast of Croatia, it was watching the fishermen heading in with the morning’s catch. The rush hour of bike riders all zooming past was the hallmark of Amsterdam.

I like to see how people live. Sure, I’ll be heading to the museum or the church or the park later on, but in that early morning bustle I get a small taste of what it must be like to wake up here every day. For me it is a way of connecting to world because we all have our morning routines. Every place has a work-day rhythm that is similar, but slightly different.

Rick Steves has referred to becoming a ‘temporary local’ and I like the term. It is in those small moments of normality, from grabbing a cup of coffee to catching the bus that I get to be a local. In those moments it is far easier to see the similarities and far harder to be caught up in the differences,

Living in the Moment

Rain or shine, hot or cold, I find myself caught up in the “now.” All the hassles of getting there, all the concerns of what is going on at home are gone. In those moments, especially on that first morning, I am in the present in ways I am not at home.

Perhaps that is real magic of the first morning, the transformation from living way out in the future with deadlines and to do lists to living right now. The transition is breathtaking. The world takes on a different light, a different feel when you are living in the moment. Time can sometimes seem to stop, or at least slow down.

On that first morning, I feel a sort of lightness both physically and emotionally. Nothing is weighing me down; not the work issues or the family issues or my own inner back talk. I just get to be where I am.

Parsing the Magic

I have tried to break it down. Heck, I am trying to do so right now.

This I know – it is more than just being in a hotel. I have stayed in hotels in any number of places, but anyplace that isn’t here, my home country? The air is different, I am different.

I consider myself lucky; really and truly lucky; that I get that tingle, that happy, anticipatory jolt in each new town. I may have been in Paris yesterday, but today I am waking up in another new town. I get another first morning.

What I have decided to do is stop trying to figure it all out. The fact that it exists is really enough, when I think about it. Honestly, I assumed it would fade over time. A couple of trips and that magic would disappear.

Happily, that hasn’t happened.

The Gift that Keeps on Giving

The first morning is the best, yes, but the ones that follow it? They are pretty darn good too. Every day that I am living in the moment is a gift. .

It was one of the most unexpected parts about traveling. I was pretty sure that on that first morning of that first trip, I would be pretty excited. The reality easily surpassed the expectation.

Not only has it not worn off, it seems to follow me home now. I hear it in my voice when I talk about where I’ve been. It is there when I start planning the next trip. I’ve come to recognize when I talk to others about their travels.

The nicest thing that a travel client ever said to me was that she was more excited about her trip after talking about it to me. She said my enthusiasm was contagious. I’ll take that; I will hoard that like gold.