Six countries by plane, rail, bus, small boat, ship, taxi and a worn out pair of shoes—a trip of a lifetime for Sandi and me to celebrate 32 years and four children together. From Pisa to Pompeii, Barcelona to Rome, France to Florence and Andorra to Africa, the dust is still settling, and the head is still spinning from an epic trip. My cup runneth over. Now it’s time to reflect…

Wherever I go and whatever I experience, I am perpetually searching for deeper spiritual understanding. For me, it’s about going through life with an upward look, and a heart that desires to hear the voice of the One above. What is YHVH trying to teach me, how can life’s experiences mold and transform me into a more useful servant-tool in his hands? Ultimately, how will this help to advance his kingdom more effectively, and what wisdom and understanding is to be gained therefrom?

Gratefully, the obvious comes to mind. Safe travels from the time we exited our front door at 3 AM to catch an early plane flight eastward until we stepped back over the threshold of the same front door almost three weeks later. Take traffic, for example, and navigating big city streets. You think the traffic in L.A. or Jerusalem is bad, you’ve experience nothing until Rome! The melee of a gazillion pedestrians mingling with a zillion scooters, buses, cars, bicycles and trucks going everywhere at once. It’s a perpetually complicated dance between man and machine that the Italians have somehow mastered. Crosswalks and dividing lines between opposite traffic are mere suggestions, not the law—lines to color outside of to get from here to there more quickly. It’s an amazing miracle you don’t see more human pancakes laying squashed along the roadside, or smashed vehicles! Initially and justifiably, Sandi was reticent to enter this dance with possible death, but soon, she too was dodging and weaving the seemingly homicidal vehicles just like a native Roman. It’s either that, or “Sandi, I’ll meet you one the same street corner when I return to Rome sometime in the future!” By the grace of YHVH, we survived it all intact.

Weather conditions always seems to the first subject people ask about of travelers. So how was it? Again, we were blessed of YHVH. Exceptional mild, sunny spring weather the whole time. We experienced rain only twice. Both were short and violent outbursts rain squalls. For example, in Rome, we had just visited the Roman Forum and Colosseum, and were heading back on foot to our bed and breakfast a mile away via the Trevi fountain when the heavens let loose. Flooding in the streets is putting it mildly. But we made it back to the Trastevere neighborhood drenched, but nothing a hot shower afterwards couldn’t cure. The second time was after a tour of the Vatican complex where we experienced everything from the top of Saint Peter’s dome down to Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel. Once again, the heavens let loose, this time with thundering and lightening just overhead. (One could only wonder whether YHVH was trying to tell us how he felt about Greco-Roman, Constantine churchianity!) In the midst of the downpour, we pulled raincoats out of our daypacks, and I purchased a cheap umbrella from a street vendor for added good measure, but soon put it away for fear it would reverse itself in the gusty wind. Just as the storm intensified, we hurriedly sought safe refuge in the open doorway of an Italian ristorante along a narrow cobblestoned street. In a flamboyant Italian manner, the restauranteur warmly welcomed us in where we experienced our most sumptuous Roman meal to that point. Again the grace and provision of YHVH even in the smallest things. Otherwise, during our entire trip, no clouds obscured our views; they merely adorned the heavens above with their billowy beauty. 

We successfully rendezvoused with all of our ten tours often after having to navigate narrow and windy cobblestoned streets and alleys with a GPS that failed to work. Dumb phones instead of smart ones! We toured Barcelona and travelled to the Pyrenees into France and Andorra. We then set a foot in the French Riviera for the day. Then it was off to Livorno, Italy for a quick jaunt into Florence and Pisa. Next we cruised to Tunis, Tunisia in Africa were we explored that  city as well as the nearby 3,200 year old ruins of Phoenician and Roman Carthage. After that, we spent the day in Palermo, Sicily—an island the Italian boot seems to be kicking like a football across the Mediterranean Sea. Then it was up to Naples at the ankle of the Italian boot were we visited Sorrento and then the ruins of Pompeii located just below the eruptive Mount Vesuvius. Then we ended our cruising at an port east of Rome where we took a train to that city for the remaining five days of our trip. There we visited a number of the main sights including the Roman Coliseum and Forum and the Vatican complex.

First the overview of our trip, then the insights.