31 Days of Traveling to Europe: Day 1‏

A ceiling in the Pantheon, Paris

When I was a kid, my family had a set of books that highlighted far-off places around the world. Each book came with a record and a strip of transparencies made to fit in an accompanying slide projector. My sister and I spent hours looking at those slides, listening over and over again to the descriptions of these far-off places, dreaming of visiting them one day.

In June, I got to see some of those far of places. I traveled to London, Paris, and Italy with my sister. We spent a week in London, then traveled by train to Paris. After a week in Paris, we took the train to Florence where we joined up with a tour group that took us to Venice. We ended our trip in Rome. My sister had taken a similar trip a few years ago so she was my tour guide, helping me navigate the streets and various forms of transportation we encountered. It was a wonderful, trip of a lifetime.

This year for 31 Days, I want to take you all on that trip with me. I'll start with how we prepared for our trip, show you the sights we experienced, then how we recovered upon our re-entry into the real world. My hope is that it gives people a glimpse into what it is like to travel abroad and that it inspires you to take your own trip of a lifetime.

Bon voyage!

Comments

Five Minute Friday: Roots

Lisa-Jo Baker (lisajobaker.com) hosts a weekly event on her blog called "Five Minute Friday". The rules are 1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking. 2. Link back here and invite others to join in. 3. And then absolutely, no ifs, ands or buts about it, you need to visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments. Seriously. That is, like, the rule. And the fun. And the heart of this community.. So here's my first try at this. Today's topic was Roots. Roots – I think about my grandparents who lived on a farm until my grandfather’s diabetes worsened and they moved to a town with a hospital nearby. My father still says he wished he could have kept that farm. I think of my grandmother who was a widow for 20 years. Every year she would stand over my PaPa’s grave, wishing she was with him. I think of my parents, a product of those grandparents, how hard my father worked to put 2 girls through...

Five Minute Friday: Expect

Five Minute Friday is a writing event that has writers spending five minutes writing on the same topic and then sharing them at http://katemotaung.com/five-minute-friday/ . This week's word is Expect. I'm going to admit something. When I pray, I expect God to do what I ask. I'd like to think that is a sign of faith but in some ways, it is a sign of arrogance, like I know what is best for me. I picture him up in heaven like the above photo, signalling to the angels and saying like a benevolent Captain Picard, "Make it so." I never stop to think about what's right or worse, what's God's will, I just ask away and expect to be granted my wish. I guess that means I see God as more of a fairy godmother than my heavenly father. It doesn't matter if it is little things like, "Please make the bathtub faucet quit leaking" or "Please make my aunt well." I expect my prayer to be answered. And for things like "Please send...

Five Minute Friday: Time

Five Minute Friday is a writing event that has writers spending five minutes writing on the same topic and then sharing them at http://katemotaung.com/five-minute-friday/ . This week's word is Time. Sometimes time feels like this, like we are in it. Standing inside it, watching life pass by. It is so easy to get stuck in a time - in our pain, in our hurt. We hear the ache tick away in our head like a giant clock. Time, instead, is a gift. More time with family, more time to accomplish goals, more time to see the world. When you are hurting, it seems like time takes forever. One day turns into another day, turns into another day. When we hate a job, the five days of time that make up a work week seem to go on forever. But those five days are also a gift. Because these days, a job is not a guarantee. I want to see time as gift, not as a chore. I want to be on the other side of it, wishing there was more of it. Making the most of every hour, minute, and second instead of...

One Is Just A Number

Search This Blog