Pulse Picks: The Travel Memories We're Most Thankful For

Travel is suppose to be the magic in our lives. It is the foundation of our vision boards. It's the thing to look forward to that gets us through a rough work week. It fills us with lifelong memories, lets us reconnect with our soul and our dreams and if we've let off some steam, buries the evidence of our innocent indiscretions.

It has been a year rife with bad news for travelers. Rising airfares and fees and shrinking seats. Cruise ship accidents and breakdowns. Mistrust in who's going through our luggage. 

The list could go on and on. But as we pause to remember the beauty and happiness in our lives today, we at TravelPulse wanted to reconnect with the magic. In that spirit, here's what we are most thankful for in our travel world this year.

THERESA MASEK, CRUISE EDITOR

I’m grateful that cruise lines are finally starting to do something about frustratingly slow Internet service on their ships. Yes, I understand that getting decent bandwidth at sea is difficult and expensive. But people today want to get online whenever they want, no matter where they are. (I’d happily unplug, but I have to work from cruise ships.)

Royal Caribbean International is leading the charge with a new system that supposedly gives ships “more Internet bandwidth than every other cruise ship of every other cruise line in the world combined.” And Carnival Corp. also just announced a superfast system said to be 10 times faster than what is available now. I haven’t had the chance to actually try out these systems to see if they live up to their billing.

But it’s definitely a move in the right direction.

JIM RUGGIA, EUROPE AND ASIA EDITOR

I am thankful for the hospitality of people all over the world. Despite a perpetual media harangue that on a daily basis portrays other human beings as over-sexed, knuckle dragging brutes who solve every conflict in blood and violence, people still manage to be hospitable to strangers.

It’s the first necessity of travel that you believe you are going someplace, though you know no one there, that will welcome you. Many people do many things, good and bad, to demonstrate their religious beliefs. Travelers consistently demonstrate their belief in people and to me, that’s the best kind of faith there is. So this Thanksgiving, I’m very thankful for good friends and family I know and love very well, but I’m also thankful to all of you around the world, who have made me feel at home wherever I was. 

RYAN RUDNANSKY, WEST COAST EDITOR

What am I grateful for in the travel industry this holiday season? I’m grateful for the people I meet in the industry. I’m grateful for the colleagues I work with at travAlliancemedia/TravelPulse.com. I’m grateful for free Wi-Fi. I’m grateful for airplane passengers who don’t recline into my knees. I’m grateful for the opportunity to travel to amazing destinations like Hawaii, Las Vegas, Mexico, New Zealand, Palm Springs and Spain. I’m grateful for window seats.

I’m grateful to live in top tourist destination Los Angeles. I’m grateful for the many fascinating conversations I’ve had with industry professionals (and the fascinating things I have learned along the way). I’m grateful for the food. I’m grateful for the drink. I’m grateful so many hotel companies have let me check out their amazing properties (and grateful they’ve put up with me). I’m grateful for Twitter and my Twitter followers. I’m grateful some people like my articles. I’m grateful for the friends I have made along the way. Oh yeah, and I’m grateful for the journey called “life,” too.  

BARRY KAUFMAN, SENIOR EDITOR

This Thanksgiving, I should be giving thanks for everyone here at TravelPulse for being so great to work with and for constantly amazing me with their talent and tenacity. I should be thanking my boss Tim Wood and travAlliance president Mark Murphy for the opportunity to do what I love – travel – and somehow call it a job. I should be giving thanks to our readers, travel agents and travel aficionados alike, for giving us those eyeballs that allow us to do what we do.

Instead, I’ll go the completely superficial route and thank the unspoken rule that fat guys always get control of the armrest on a plane. The deflated look of resignation on a fellow passenger’s face when they scan their boarding pass, look up, and see me occupying a good chunk of their seat does give me a little bit of guilt over my unspoken dominion over the armrest. It passes as soon as I’m good and comfy at 30,000 feet. Sorry, I didn’t write the rule. But I’m thankful it exists.

PATRICK CLARKE, CONTRIBUTING WRITER

This Thanksgiving, I'm thankful for lower-than-usual gas prices. When making the annual 200-mile round-trip journey to grandma's house on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, it's comforting to know that I won't be returning home with an empty tank.

GABE ZALDIVAR, TRAVEL POP CULTURE SENIOR WRITER

This Thanksgiving, while being polite and saying I don’t want that much dark meat when I totally want all the dark meat, I will be thinking of all the things for which I am thankful.

To the Russian official who patted me down at the Sochi Olympics, thank you for being extremely thorough—although you could have bought me dinner first. 

To the empty Comfort Suites visitor center in Chicago, you were a brief oasis for one of the gnarliest hangovers ever witnessed; hat tip to you, oh gentle oasis.

Lastly, to New York City’s The Breslin, your English breakfast made me cry. That’s because you cry when you are punched full in the face with a taste of heaven.

TOM BASTEK, STAFF WRITER

This Thanksgiving I am thankful for Beer-mingham, Ala-beer-ma.  The Deep South is booming with beer and I was lucky enough to have made two trips there.  Avondale, Good People, Cahaba, Trim Tab, are all breweries worth a look.  I am also for the head of the Alabama Brewer’s Guild, Jason Wilson, who not only toured me around his brewery, Back Forty Beer Company in Gadsden, Ala., but also took me on the brewery hop in Birmingham.  With my next trip back to Birmingham in January for Brickfair Alabama LEGO Convention, I had better bring along my LEGO beer mug.

ROBIN PERTUIT, TRAVEL AGENT, VIA FACEBOOK

I am thankful as a travel agent for the help we get from our booking partners. I would be so behind and so lost without their help.

TOUR OPERATOR COLLETTE, VIA FACEBOOK

We are thankful for the relationships with all of our travel agents who dedicate their time and energy to researching, communicating and booking their clients with Collette!

TIM WOOD, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

I am thankful for all the little things. The Tick-Tock Diner in New York City for making me remember how special a burger can be. The Buddhist monks of Woljeongsa, Korea for providing a spiritual respite during a very trying time. To Flo Rida, for an amazing concert in Riviera Maya and an even better afterparty. To the beignet, for giving my taste buds a rebirth and to Cafe du Monde in New Orleans for mastering this mind-blowing pastry. 

Barry started this with a bit of a suck-up, but in this case, both of us are coming from a very heartfelt place. I too am thankful to Mark Murphy for giving me the chance to experience this life of travel. And to Shawn Murphy, Mike McNesby and Jenna Piscione for being the backbone behind our relaunch and continued evolution of TravelPulse.

We wish you all the happiest Thanksgiving. Here's hoping your travels home were painless and your turkey comes out juicy and delicious. 

And if you'd like to share what you're thankful for in your travels, send us a note to editorial@travalliance.com.