Because my travel experiences are some of my life’s most treasured moments.  The photo to the left was taken from the observation deck of the Statue of Liberty.  I could almost touch her from where I was standing.  Below is the inside of the statue.  What a cool experience!  These photos were taken during my most recent visit to New York City as I escorted a high school choir on their trip.  But I’m not sure this moment compares to the first time I saw her standing in the harbor.  You can’t put a monetary value on those moments.  They are just something you have to experience.

In this day of internet and instant information, you can learn about just about anything that exists in the world.  Growing up, I had seen pictures of the Statute of Liberty countless times, but that does not compare to experience of actually seeing it in person.  I’ve taken groups and I’ve taken my family to New York City.  In both cases, their first sighting of the statue occurred on a harbor cruise up the Hudson River.  I’ve watched the crowd of people race to the deck when her back comes into sight.  With their phones out, they snap away multiple photos.  I have to tell them, “Just wait.  It gets better.”  Sure enough, later in the cruise after dusk, the ship pulls up close to the foot of the island.  You get your first up close look of Lady Liberty standing in the lights looking right over the boat.  That’s when the jaws drop.

One of my favorite life experiences happened at that moment.  As I said, I took my family to New York on one of my band performance trips.  They were not exactly thrilled about going to say the least.  Big crowded cities were not necessarily on their personal bucket lists.  I kind of “forced” them knowing that this could possibly be their only opportunity to see New York City.  During the first evening of the trip, we were on a river cruise.  My wife and kids had already seen parts of New York and they kind of enjoyed it, but I could tell they were not sold yet.  When they ship pulled up to the statue, my middle school daughter looked up in awe.  She turned around, handed me her phone and said, “Daddy.  Take my picture.”  Hook.  Line. And Sinker.  She was in love with NYC.  I will never forget that moment.  As a matter of fact, my eyes are kind of welling up as I write this.  Maybe we still would not want to live there, but NYC is a spectacular place to visit and experience.

So if you ask, “Why do I travel?”, that is the major reason I do what I do.  I get so much enjoyment from providing experiences like this for other people.  Travel provides experiences like nothing else can!