In honor of the spirit of Thanksgiving, I would like to share a list of things I am grateful for as a solo traveler:

1. The good health to be able to travel and be as active as I care to be. I tend to do a lot of walking wherever I go, and I know how blessed I am to be able to do that.  I also don’t have to worry about any major health issues and how they’ll affect me when I travel.

2.  A world of exciting, fun-filled places to travel to. It’s a smorgasbord out there, people!  So many places to see, so little time. But what a nice problem to have.  I know I’ll never run out of new places to go!

3.  Having a great place to come home to.

4.  Having enough time off and enough disposable income to travel as often as I do. It’s still not as often as I would like, but it’s more than many people.

5.  Living so close to an airport. I live a mile away from my airport, my gateway to fun and adventure.  I can’t imagine if I flew home at midnight and then still had a two hour drive to get home from there. Ugh.  I love living near the airport.  (Especially since I’m not on the flight path.)

6. I’ve met some really interesting, fun, and cool people during my travels. From fellow trekkies to a singing cabby to people who have since become good friends, I’ve realized I really enjoy meeting new people when I travel and hearing their stories.  (This is one of the best things about solo travel.)  It’s a welcome reminder that the majority of people in the world are good, decent human beings.

7.  The Internet. I was just saying to someone the other day “How did we ever live without the Internet???”  I can research any travel destination, figure out what I want to do when I get there, where I want to eat, where I want to stay, research hotels and restaurants to get other travelers’ opinions, see pictures of them, and look at online menus to get a feel for food and prices.  I can compare prices with different airlines, hotels, and tour companies.  I can be fairly confident that I’m not going to wind up in a roach motel when I lay down my head at night in a strange city.  I can check my flight status, check in on-line, and print my boarding pass before I even leave for the airport, all thanks to the Internet.

8.  Yapta.  I’ve saved $155 in airfare this year using Yapta.  I love this service!  They track prices for my flights, so I don’t have to.  All I have to do is call and ask for the credit when they email me that the price has gone down.

9.  Jetblue.  Flying has been so much better since Jetblue came onto the scene.  Comfy, roomy leather seats and TVs to keep me entertained, not to mention great snacks and great customer service.  What more could a flying traveler ask for?  Well, okay, a seat in first class would be nice, but until I win the lottery, I’ll stick with Jetblue.

10.  Neck pillows.  I just picked up a neck pillow on my last flight, and wow, what a difference it makes!  Now I can comfortably nap on the plane without waking up with a crick in my neck.

11.  Cell phones.  Remember when you had to call home using the hotel’s landline and a 10 minute phone call cost you $80?  Yikes.  Thank God for cell phones.  Now I can call home at the rate of instate calling.

12.  President-Elect Barack Obama. Now Americans can travel the globe with pride again.