When it comes to travel, we’re easily fooled into thinking that it’s the biggest moments on a trip that will deliver the most joy.

It’s human nature to focus on the most famous sights, the most expensive meals, or the largest festivals, when all we’re really doing is setting ourselves up for disappointment. That’s because no matter where you go or what you do on holidays, there’s always someone else who appears to be doing it bigger and better.

Start making comparisons and suddenly you start believing that your cruise around Italy would be nicer if you had a cabin on the upper deck; when everyone knows things that cost more aren’t guaranteed to deliver extra delight.

the surefire way to have a good time travelling is to sharpen your appreciation for the small moments, the cheap stuff, and the places that are most accessible

No, the surefire way to have a good time travelling is to sharpen your appreciation for the small moments, the cheap stuff, and the places that are most accessible, because this is where life’s simple pleasures are stashed away.

The different artwork on foreign banknotes, the sun setting over the ocean instead of the land (or vice versa), watching your kid stare out the window of a plane in awe, tasting an exotic piece of fruit for the first time, listening as locals speak their native language – if you can tune into life’s minor notes, and get a kick out of them, the same as visiting The Louvre or Machu Picchu, you’re sorted, because these things are everywhere.

It’s not that striving to visit the Seven Wonders of the World is a bad thing. You just don’t want to start churning through one bucket list moment after another, without balancing them with some small pleasures in between too.

It’s the easiest way of making everyday life fun, regardless of whether you’re at home or away.