The year I traveled, I didn’t have the luggage space (or funds) to collect souvenirs from each place I visited. So instead, I gathered a few things that take up no space at all, but that wound up being more meaningful and sentimental than any object in the world: photographs, recipes, and songs.

In honor of Global Running Day, I was inspired to put some of my favorite music from that year into a playlist. From minibuses in Addis Ababa to the lodge at Falls Creek, each song brings back vivid memories of where I was and who I was with when it first made my ears perk up. If you were one of the many people who identified a song for me, downloaded music onto my iPod shuffle, recommended local artists, or sent a USB drive full of music to my next destination (Hamish!): thank you.

Enjoy the tunes, wherever you are, and have a great #GlobalRunningDay!