Before I share some of my favorite travel moments of the year (coming soon; I promise!), I wanted to share several of my favorite photos of 2017.

You know those people who travel without taking any photos because they just want to live in the moment without feeling the need to document everything? I am not one of those people. In fact, I am basically the opposite.

I am all about enjoying the moment so I understand those people who crave that, but I am also all about documenting my adventures (and I believe you can do both). Part of it is because I just can’t help myself; I love taking pictures. Sometimes a certain angle or landscape will capture my eye and I’ll put on my faux photographer hat and pretend like I know what I’m doing. The other reason I like taking pictures is for practical reasons. I go on a lot of trips, and over the years they add up while, unfortunately, my memory of certain moments starts to fade. So I love looking back at photos to help me recall the moment (old age alert! ginkgo biloba alert!) and how I felt at the time the picture was taken.

Anyway, enough rambling. I picked the below photos for a variety of reasons; sometimes I liked the angle or the view and sometimes I just love the memory associated with that particular picture. Here are some of the photos I loved the most from 2017:

Cuba

Bali

Japan

Savannah

Canada

Santorini

United Kingdom

Chile

Argentina

Florida

New York

Thanks for all the amazing photo ops, 2017!