Travelogue

 Second Monday of Easter

Lectionary Texts:

Acts 3:12-16

Luke 24:1-12

Psalm 4 (UMH 741)

Having completed my every Monday Faith Journey Narrative with you,  I have floundered around for several Mondays not knowing what to write for you on Mondays. I had plummeted the depths of my simple life down to the point where I was about to write a post on my fountain pen collection. 

 

I did think of one thing that is relatively interesting-- travel. I come from a family of travelers (all except my sister, Nancy, who is afraid to fly). My late brother Tom was the champion. He traveled to a total of 113 countries. My catalogue of countries is a meager 31. My major travel activities are sightseeing, going to museums, and eating. The more rigorous nature activity--hiking, surfing, scuba diving, mountain climbing--are not in my repertoire. I am much more a city traveler than a nature traveler. 

 

I am also much more of an overseas traveler than a US traveler. I've always figured I would do US traveling in my older years, when my body was less tolerant of long flights, foreign languages, and strange foods. That time has come.

Until my retirement most of my travel was free or nearly free. I tour hosted trips for the Educational Opportunities Company, a United Methodist founded company initially for Holy Land travel but expanding to most of the rest of the world. I also taught in six winter term abroad trips with Elon's Studies Abroad program. Since my retirement at the end of 2010, I've learned that I have to pay for travel, and that travel doesn't come cheap.

My main purpose in travel is learning, especially history and art, and especially in places that are my areas of study, Europe and the Middle East. We have gone on several cruises, not really my thing, except for the Nile River cruises, which we have done twice. Most of our travel has been on tours, either just being on a tour or hosting a tour. The advantages of tours is that everything is planned out for you, that you have knowledgeable local guides, that you don't waste time getting lost, and that you make friends with other tour members.  The disadvantages are that you are on somebody else's schedule, you have to live out of a suitcase,  you spend more time than you want in some places and far less time than you want in others. 

In recent years we have trended to go back to cities we loved and just stay there for two or three weeks. These cities have included Paris, Barcelona, Florence, Amsterdam, and London. You can unpack your suitcase, learn the public transportation systems, get to know some locals, and almost get the feeling you live there. 

That's something of an overview. I'll talk about specific trips and places, have a few travel tips, answer your questions, and compare notes on places you've been and Marianne and I have been. And as you might expect, I'll talk a lot about churches. 

 

Next Monday in Jerusalem.

God of this whole wide world,

We are grateful that your Christians inhabit almost every part of it. Help us to understand more fully the kinship we have with all of our faith and the love you have for all people and all creation.

In the name of the Savior. Amen.

Faithfully,

Christian