Everyone travels for different reasons, but whatever those reasons are, one thing is certain: they come back with stories. Each year, the best of those stories are collected in *The Best American Travel Writing* *,* curated by one of the top writers in the field, and each year they “open a window onto the strange, seedy, and beautiful world, offering readers glimpses into places that many will never see or experience except through the eyes and words of these writers” ( *Kirkus* ). This far-ranging collection of top notch travel writing is, quite simply, the genre’s gold standard.