Travel enthusiasts are often asked which place on Earth they like best. For years, my answer was always the same: "Hawaii and France." No one understood my response — not even me. How could I hold in such high esteem two destinations that are so completely different?

One place is tropical, while the other place has a climate that ranges from Mediterranean to Humid Oceanic. One is a mid-sized, crowded nation and gateway to a continent, while the other is a sparsely-populated archipelago and the fiftieth state of a country 2,400 miles away. The citizens of the two places look nothing like one another, and they speak different languages. Their histories are different, their food is different, their cultures are different — even their immigrants are different. Both places, though, attract surfers (see photos). But that is not why they are alike, or why I like them so much.