Sorry I’m late today folks! I couldn’t leave you without a bit of inspiration. Today, it’s provided by Alan of the blog 9 to 5 alternative. I feel that his post is focused and beautiful in its simplicity. Alan is a lifestyle design blogger. Most of you are familiar with the fashion and design blogs, but I want to broaden your blog horizons. As a reference point, bloggers like Leo of Zen Habits fall into the lifestyle design genre. There are some fantastic, inspiring, thrilling blogs out there. So I encourage you to visit Alan’s blog and explore the genre. You’ll find that they know how to live extraordinary, beautiful lives.

Mark Twain once wrote that “nothing so liberalizes a man and expands the kindly instincts that nature put in him as travel and contact with many kinds of people.”

I couldn’t agree more. Travel makes my life everyday beautiful. It always will. Here are seven examples why.

{landscape} From atop Gokyo Ri, a 5357m (17,575 ft) peak in Nepal’s Khumbu Himalaya.

{people} Arts and crafts at an Ethiopian school in Israel.

{perception} Driving through the Syrian desert.

{animals} Baboon-ing on a Rwandan safari in Akagera National Park.

{food} Ethiopian spice hunting in the Merkato district, Africa’s largest open air market.

{nature} Climbing Half Dome in California’s Yosemite National Park.

{history} A camel guards the Treasury in Petra, Jordan.

photos by Alan Perlman