So while I'd love to tell you that I'm above doing the touristy Avenue des Champs- Élysées stroll, I'm not. In fact, I'd be remiss if I went to Paris and didn't indulge in the Chanels and Vuittons of the city. But as you all know, the best way to take in a destination is to absorb its culture. Its people.

On every trip we've taken, I've taken an embarrassing number of photos of the local women passing on the street. As discreetly as possible, I capture them "in their native habitat"...if you will (yes, we've laughingly dubbed this my "stalker series").  It's one of the many reasons I love to explore new places. It's the orange tights that I'd never wear... the bag so large I could stuff a nightstand inside...the ponytail that doesn't even seem groomed, but looks so effortlessly chic on this mysterious woman walking down the sidewalk.

Travel has the power to transform you if you allowit do so. Do you know that feeling you get on the third day of a week long trip? The feeling that anything is possible? The realization that you've been majoring in minor things back home... and that things will be different when you return. Life will be different. I love that feeling. A good journey is life's way of pushing the "reboot" button on your mind. It gives you perspective.

And it may be that seeing a sharply (or even oddly) dressed woman in a faraway city inspired you to be the best you possible. The most dynamic you.

It might be the click of a heel on cobblestones, or the recognition that those trivial concerns you've busied yourself with at home aren't worth revisiting when you return. That this moment, this very moment on a trip is a turning point for you.

That moment is the very reason I'm willing to pay for a great vacation. Because from that point on in the trip,I'm designing my "new life" my "best life"... I'm filling my journal with things to do, things to change, things to feel and things to be. It is when I've done my best "life mapping" and my very best personal assessments. It is when I realize that whatever I am today may be great, but what "can be" is unstoppable.

Some might snicker that the sight of a Louis Vuitton bag could bring about such an awakening of the soul, but that's okay. I know that when I return home from my vacation I have a new life waiting for me. Because a "new me" has emerged along the way.

That's what a great trip does for me. I can only hope that it does as much for you. 

*** Note: every one of these lovely images came from James Bort's flickr photstream. They were all 'captured' on the streets of Paris. I encourage you to see more of his work there and on his site jamesbort.com ***