A NEWSLETTER FOR THE PURPOSEFUL TRAVELER, WHERE THE JOURNEY WITHIN MEETS THE JOURNEY WITHOUT.
Happiness Essential: Love Edition
One of the things I love most about traveling is walking into a hotel, a safari camp, or a lodge and feeling right away how much care has gone into welcoming me.
I notice the attention to detail almost immediately. Where it is placed. What has been chosen. What reflects the country where I am. The hotels, safari camps, and lodges I remember most could only exist where they are. A Tswalu safari lodge could only exist in Africa. Dwarika’s Sanctuary could only exist in Nepal. Their geography, history, culture, and traditions find their way into the experience, and I leave feeling as though I have come to know the destination through the people who welcomed me there.
One evening at a safari camp, I mentioned to the manager that I was planning to skip dinner in the main eating area. I wanted to spend the evening in my tent, take a bath after my afternoon game drive, and enjoy a quiet night.
When I returned to my tent, a bubble bath was waiting. Candles glowed throughout the tent, and flower petals had been scattered across the bed. I had never asked for any of it. It had all come from one passing comment.
That memory is etched in my mind and heart, as is the camp where it happened.
I have experienced that same thoughtfulness in other parts of the world. I think about the nuns at a monastery in Bhutan lighting a room full of candles as they chatted with me after evening prayers. I think about the carved wood throughout a hotel in Nepal, preserving generations of Newari craftsmanship. I think about the guide at a ranch in Africa who brought me to a hide after dark to watch rhinos come to the waterhole. Each experience is different, though each shows how generously people have welcomed me into their world.
Time passes, and I am still dreaming about those moments.
The wildlife, the mountains, the monasteries, the hotels, and the safari camps are all part of those memories. So are the people. All create moments I have never forgotten.
The next time someone does something thoughtful for you, stay with it for a moment instead of moving on to the next thing. Ask yourself why that gesture caught your attention. There is often more being shared than the gesture itself. Sometimes it is care. Sometimes it is pride in a place. Sometimes it is simply one person saying, “I am glad you are here.”
PHOTO OP + ACTION OPPORTUNITY
Where Care Lives
Photo Credit: Yaroslav Shuraev
Photo Op
Take a photograph of something that makes you feel cared for or that tells you a place has been cared for. Pause before you press the shutter and notice what drew your attention.
Action Opportunity
Spend a few minutes looking at your photograph before you begin writing. Describe what you noticed first, then ask yourself why it mattered. What did that moment reveal about the person who created it, preserved it, or shared it with you? How did it change the way you experienced that place or that person? Finally, consider where you have the opportunity to create that same feeling for someone else this week.
For those drawn to places that welcome you →
Some of the most meaningful moments in travel happen when someone opens a door into their world and invites you in. These two journeys were chosen with that in mind.
Featured · Hanoi, Bangkok, and More
Take a Shot at Happiness Southeast Asia
November 24 – December 8, 2026 | 15 Days
Food has a remarkable way of opening the door to a culture. At the Red Bridge Cooking School in Hoi An, the morning begins in the market before continuing into the gardens and kitchen, where the ingredients, recipes, and traditions behind each dish become part of the experience. A few days later, you are watching the sun rise over Angkor Wat, sharing stories over dinner as Apsara dancers bring centuries of Khmer history to life, and ending the journey with time to reflect on everything you have seen, tasted, and discovered together in Koh Samui.
I lead every day of this journey personally. Full pricing and what is included are on the itinerary page.
Nepal moves at a different pace. The day begins with bells and incense along the Bagmati River, then continues into mountain villages where prayer flags lift in the wind and pilgrims have walked the same paths for centuries. Between time in Kathmandu and the hills of Dhulikhel, there is room to sit in meditation, share a meal with monks at Namo Buddha, and experience a way of life that has been shaped by devotion for generations.
I am personally guiding every day of this one as well. The itinerary page has full pricing and everything included.
Every safari has remarkable wildlife. What makes Tswalu different is the freedom to experience it at your own pace. With a private guide, tracker, and vehicle included in every stay, there is time to follow a coalition of cheetahs across the Kalahari, remain with a pride of lions a little longer, or head out after dark in search of aardvarks, pangolins, bat-eared foxes, and black-backed jackals.
Choose from nine suites at Motse, six private homes at Loapi, or the exclusive-use Tarkuni homestead. Tswalu offers one of Africa’s most intimate safari experiences.
Special Offer: Stay seven nights for the price of five on travel through December 18, 2026.
For the journeys I personally host, the experience continues after you return home. Your trip includes my online course, Take a Shot at Happiness: A Happiness Explorer’s Journey (a $997 value), to help you stay connected to what you experienced once you return home.
Why Travel with Me
I curate journeys around this exact instinct, walking a guest into a place where the owners and staff have thought about their comfort before they arrive. That is what I look for in every place I recommend, the detail that tells you the people there want to share their world with you.
Founder of Sojourn Explorers
Happiness Explorer · Wellbeing Teacher
Emmy-Winning Producer · Award-Winning Author, Take a Shot at Happiness
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P.S.
I write this newsletter for people who love travel and who care about how it changes them.
These notes are part of an ongoing conversation about how we travel and how we return. Each issue includes a simple practice inspired by my book Take a Shot at Happiness — photography and a few lines of writing — to help you notice what is worth keeping.
If someone came to mind as you read this, feel free to forward it.
Sign up for Maria Baltazzi’s Take a Shot at Happiness newsletter for practical ways to bring more happiness and meaning into your life. An award-winning author and happiness explorer, Maria shares science-backed tools to shift unproductive thoughts, stay inspired, and grow in fulfilling ways. Her book, Take a Shot at Happiness, has won multiple awards, including the Independent Press, NYC Big Book, and Nautilus Book Awards. She uniquely integrates camera phone photography and journaling as tools for self-reflection and personal growth. Each issue offers insightful advice, uplifting quotes, and simple ways to enhance your wellbeing. Join a community that values purpose, creativity, and happiness.
