Golden sparkles of light on turquoise waves were visible through the sliding glass doors of our gorgeous hotel room at the Dreams Puerto Vallarta Resort & Spa as we dropped our suitcases inside the door and began to set our internal clocks to Mexico time.

Slow, sultry, and relaxed. Where everything was no problem. And it’s always a good day to sleep in.

Tom grabbed an icy Corona out of the mini-fridge and I popped into the bathroom to check it out. I was marveling at the lovely amenities package when I saw it.

The toilet paper had been neatly tucked into a point at the end and a slender gold ribbon was elegantly tied around it in a perky, tiny bow. I looked at that gold ribbon tied around the toilet paper and thought just how fabulous is that and was taken aback at the fact that we were in this wonderful room overlooking a gorgeous beach in a luxurious and all-inclusive resort. How great is my life?

I keep telling people that, at some point, I’m going to become jaded with travel. I’ll get tired of packing and airports and airplanes and hotels and restaurant meals and tours and unpacking. I’m sure it’s going to happen.

But now I love travel. I love everything about it. I love the turmoil at airports, the long flights, eating cross-legged from a room service tray on the bed, the first look out a hotel window to see our view, the singular and pleasant smell of a spa, the feel of beach sand on winter-white toes, seeing a place I have only read about in books, exchanging a look with my husband that eloquently says can you believe we are here?

But when eventually, at some point in the future,  I walk into a luxurious and fabulous hotel room and sigh because I have been there and done that I’m going to remember how I felt at that moment in Mexico.

How enchanted. How giddy with excitement. How everything was new and wonderfully beautiful and we had days and days of adventure and new experiences ahead of us.

How that gold ribbon made me feel.

And I hope I can recapture that feeling.