Maps - Red Letter Edition

We unfolded the big map and starting making big plans. We had never visited the countries of Slovenia or Croatia so bought train tickets from Zurich through Salzburg to overnight in Ljubljana,Slovenia.
Two days later, we trained into Zagreb, Croatia, where the fast trains ended and only local trains hugged inland and intentionally stopped at every small village.  Here, we exchanged ideal travel for busses. 

      Three bus changes and a 7-hour ride stood between us and our final destination of Rovinj, Croatia, a seaside village on the Adriatic Sea.  We didn't speak the language, we were always slow in reasoning out the currency, but still we were eager to claim this experience.
Along the way, we overnighted at  Plitvice Lakes National Park of Croatia, where sixteen lakes are linked together by numerous waterfalls that cascade downward and spray visitors as they stroll by on weepy wooden sidewalks. This visit became one of the most memorable sidesteps in all of our combined travels. Here was a moist wonderland of mist and roar and vivid color that charmed us to be still and memorize.  We didn't want to leave this place.




However, our final destination and our date with the Adriatic coast was a long bus ride away.
We have a habit.   As soon as we step off a bus, plane, boat, or a train, regardless of where we are, we look for the Big i, which, ironically, is always a lower case i, but often represents a lifesaver for us: Tourist Information, Newcomers Welcome!  We are never too embarrassed to ask for a map.  These maps guide us to our destination.  Whereas, on this particular journey, we had left the driving to experienced bus drivers who had been this way before, in a few hours, our personal mapping skills would again be required.

Bussing onward, we finally reached the coastal village of Rovinj. We were tired and it was very hot. Low on water and hungry, we naturally searched for the Big i where we could find the map that would direct us to our accommodations. We slowed.
Kind people with broken English helped us decipher what we didn't understand and oriented us toward our accommodations. We followed the printed icons of history which became landmarks and gently notified us, "Go this way, not that way."
As we reflect on the value of maps that have directed us through our journeys, we realize that something that was already written/designed ages ago, presently steers us to our finale.   Maps have taken us and will take us to beautiful places, and the tiny map of Rovinj proved to be no exception. There is something about a map that forbids us to stare at it. Instead, it enkindles us to keep moving, to keep discovering, to keep learning. 


The Adriatic Coast is magnificent. It was the final destination of this long and intentionally planned adventure. 

Do you see the map of which we write?  Plan your journey now!   

Keep Looking Up!
 J:m and L:nda

Walk Through a European Garden: A Video

    You have had this experience: every once in a while in your lifetime, someone invites you to join them for an outing, a day trip, a picnic, a journey and the experience tends to become a salient memory.  It's strikingly memorable because everything conforms - the weather, the companionship, the conversation, the coffee time.  While in Germany, a friend from church invited us to join her and another friend to travel to the gardens of Mainau Island, located on Lake Konstanz, Germany.    It was rose season.  The skies were deep blue that day and the lake was calmly reflective.  The temperature was perfect.  They extended I Peter 4:9 to us:  "Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling."  We gratefully accepted and that excursion became a memory board to which we attached the fellowship of belonging and knowingness;  belonging because we were invited and knowingness because the invitation was intentional. It was a fine day.  We want to share this day on Mainau Island with you.  This video reminds us that extending the slightest hospitality to those around us could become a memory-board day for someone!   Enjoy!

  

Keep looking up!  

And, thank you for stepping on our steppingstones!

J:m and L:nda

Foggy River Rhein: A Video

Reflections: The Andes and The Alps (a video)

The Blurry Line.

No photos allowed in this area

We would have taken photos that day at London Heathrow airport, but TSA (Transportation Security Administration) won't permit passengers to take photos at security points in any city under any circumstances.  And, we comply with that.  So, here is what happened from Zurich, Switzerland International Airport to London Heathrow to Dallas.

As you know, we usually travel light, but overseas living for three months requires us to pack a little more.  On August 5, at the easy-to-manage Zurich airport, we checked our two, roll-on duffel bags at 5 am for the 7am flight on British Airways to London Heathrow, unaware of what awaited us there.  We carried on two backpacks and two day packs.  Our flight from Zurich to London was under two hours, and they served a small breakfast sandwich and coffee, which we later believed to be the sustaineth that helped us forget about our stomachs and instead face the situation at Heathrow.

luggage, bags, souvenirs

Good news: our flight into London was right on time.
Bad news:   we landed at one end of Heathrow and departed from an American Airlines gate located light years away.  We ran.  We went through Express security and a second security before reaching the corridor that led to our gate, and, to our surprise, yet another security checkpoint.   But this checkpoint was different - we saw a teeming mass of people in three blurry lines funneling toward one desk where  two frantic agents were checking EVERY detail of EVERY passport. EVERY person had a bag, a purse, a suitcase on wheels, and a plastic bag of souvenirs!   We thought of the overhead bins.  We thought of the Row 28 overhead bin and hoped for space to store our backpacks.  We were comforted to know our plane was out there and that at least 250-300 people in front of us (and more behind us) also wanted on that shiny new plane.  However, we felt a little anxious when we were pulled from the people constellation and directed to a small security checkpoint to our right. Thirty minutes and 100 people already on the plane later,  we were told that we needed a small sticker on the backs of our passports....Express security had forgotten and we didn't know to ask.  Stickers were stuck and we slowly shuffled into the blurry line, still far from the two lonely agents inspecting EVERY passport.We eventually made our way inside the plane, down the narrow isle to our seats on Row 28  where one tiny space was left in the bin above.  We stuffed one backpack in and another one waaaaaay back on Row 39.   Everyone who had boarded ahead of us had a handle in tow and the occupied bins proved it.

  Lift off!  Settled in and satisfied, we noted that someday we were going to make a final flight.
  Here is how it will happen:

•     No running                                                             
•     No worries
•     No gate agents
•     No stickers 
•     No Express Security

                  No Express Security  I Corinthians 15:52  " You will hear a blast to end all blasts from a                 trumpet, and in the time that you look up and blink your eyes - it's over." ( The Message)  

Passports

•     No passport inspections
•     No overstuffed bins
•     No lines
•     No anxiety
•     No luggage or souvenirs

     No luggage necessary  "Ecclesiastes 5:15  "Naked a man comes from his mother's womb, and as he comes, so he departs.  He takes nothing from his labor that he can carry in his hand."  (NIV)

We are going to be airlifted.  Are you?

Keep looking up!    And, thank you for following our Steppingstones...on every journey!
    J:m and L:nda