10 Things I Love: Travel

Exploration is a basic fundamental in human physiology, and I am no stranger to the joy of travel. The need to seek out and surround yourself in unfamiliar but yet exciting surroundings is deep rooted in us all, as we spend countless dollars each year on elaborate getaways featuring sand and surf, or simply just seeing a famous landmark with your own eyes.

I had always wanted to travel as a child, but I was unable to really expand beyond the borders of my home town until I was in my teenage years. Ever since the very first airplane flight and landing, Iâ€™ve been excited at the prospect of simply being somewhere Iâ€™ve never been before.

Iâ€™d like to share some of my favorite spots through photographs, starting with my first trip to South Padre Island, Texas.

This is a shot of the Sea Grape motel on South Padre Island, Texas in 1999. I stayed at this place multiple times to my many trips to South Padre. Despite the silly name, it was a great place it was directly across the street from the beach. Nothing better to put you to sleep at night than the sound of crashing ocean waves.

In 2003 I took my very first trip to what would end up my new home city, San Antonio, Texas. My friend had moved out here a couple years previous and had been trying to coax me out for months, and when I finally got some vacation time I packed up and spent four days in the Home of the Alamo. I did all the touristy things people do in San Antonio, including visiting the Alamo and the Riverwalk which you can see in the photo above.

October in New York City is absolutely beautiful, and nothing is more breathtaking than seeing the dense skyscrapers of Manhattan through the lush green trees of Central Park, as evidenced in the photo above taken in 2003. The photos in this set are some of my best, as I got several in Central Park, Times Square, and from the top of the Empire State Building.

In 2004 the company I worked for took all of the employees + 1 on an all-expenses paid cruise to the Bahamas, and during the stop in Nassau I took the shot above of the sparkling blue water of the Atlantic. The night this picture was taken I won over $500 on the cruise boat casino games playing craps!

This was taken on Lake Buchanan in the Texas Hill Country in 2005. I was invited by my friends to spend the weekend up in the Hill Country, a first for me. Although apprehensive at first, I found the place to be wonderfully charming and had a great time.

January of 2006 I found myself crammed into an SUV with four other guys, traveling around the country trying to perform in any club that would take us. On the way from Detroit to northern California, we passed through Salt Lake City, Utah. Just outside of the city limits exists this amazing tribute to how beautiful our planet is, the Bonneville Salt Flats. The amount of salt in the water makes the water extremely still, and provides a wonderful landscape to soak in after a long road trip.

And finally I leave you with this shot from 2008, in the Texas Hill Country. This spot is so wonderful, so beautiful, and so unknown that I have been asked to not reveal itâ€™s location for fear of discovery by the rest of the world. It was also the very first time I went camping, an experience I enjoyed as much as the scenery around me.

Iâ€™m making it a point to travel at least two or three times a year, if only a road trip or something more extensive that requires plane tickets. There is simply too much of this world to see and experience to stay within the comforts of your home. While these pictures are certainly nice to look at, they simply donâ€™t even come close to showing you how exquisite it is to see it with your own eyes.