Post 99... Last Full Day of My BIG TRIP

Thursday, Dec 13, 2007... 12noon... Last full day before flying home tomorrow.
Wow. Here we are. I'm in London, at an Internet cafe, getting ready to . . .

Greece Pics in Patmos w/ Mom

Mom and I rode a super-fast ferry from Kos Island north to Patmos.  We could see the shoreline of Turkey as we zoomed by.  Amazing to think we were on this side of the globe!  Our faces made lots of G-force expressions... skin flattened on our cheeks, our lips flubbering in the wind, eyes drying out, bodies almost being blown back unless we held on to the guardrail.  It was funny!!  The weather was beautiful.  We got off at the island of Patmos; it was hilly with lots of trees and houses on it, and there was a cross high up on the hill.  Mom and I read the beginning of the book of Revelation (the last book of the Christian Bible) to get ready for our visit.  Patmos was the island that John (follower of Jesus, one of Jesus' closest disciples) was imprisoned on for his faith and testimony about Jesus.  While there, God gave him a Revelation, that he was told to write down...

Greece w/ Mom (Corinth, Athens, Kos)

Mom and I had a great time in Greece!  We both flew into Athens, and met at the airport in a flurry of excited cries, hugs and kisses.  I hadn't seen her since I left home in January, ten months ago, and she came to travel with me on her Thanksgiving Break.  


While waiting for her flight to arrive, I looked in my Europe Lonely Planet Guide (purchased for $5 from another traveler in Italy) and found a hotel in Athens we could stay at. Using the Guide, I felt like I was cheating, by not directly trusting God for a place to stay. But I figured it would be OK, and my Mom would appreciate the plans. One hotel boasted of a nice rooftop patio with a great view of the Parthenon and complimentary breakfast, so I called and made a reservation.  


After Mom arrived, we picked up her luggage and headed across the skyway to the train/metro and bought two tickets to downtown Athens. The last time Mom saw me, I wasn't so travel savvy and I had fun demonstrating my newly acquired skills. On the train, we chatted about flights, mom's last week of school, and my time in Italy. We laughed like old friends, and I remembered how much I like having someone around who really knows me.

Happy Thanksgiving from Greece!

Happy Thanksgiving from Greece!!!It has been a HUGE blessing from God to have my mom here this week with me.
He has blessed us with AMAZING weather - blue skies and sunshine, when there could easily not be. Also, He has directed each step of our journey w/ out us even being aware...

Athens, Greece

From an email to my dad... from Athens, Greece & the discovery of LEGOS:

Mom and i are here at an internet cafe, waiting out a rain storm that just came in!


we came out of the the National Archaeological Museum and bam! dark clouds swirling, thunder, and we tried to head to the metro, but saw an internet cafe, so ducked in, just before the rain came down! its clearing up a bit now, but its good to take a break.
thanks for your email; mom says hi!

"Quick" Updates; Spain, Switzerland, & Italy

Hi dear friends and family!

I am in Rome tonight... heading to Athens tomorrow morning to meet my MOM for a mother/daughter Greek week!! 
She's coming to spend Thanksgiving with me, and i think we're going to check out the cool stuff around Athens (like the pillars and buildings from a LONG time ago, and maybe visit some places like Corinth and Thessalonika, and maybe the Island of Patmos.

Pics: Switzerland L'Abri Adventures

L'Abri (Pronounced: La'Bree) was where I found myself for a few days in Switzerland.  I was so thankful to be able to stay there.  It was a large chalet, with about 20 young adults (mostly from the U.S.) living there for 1-2 semesters, taking a break from life to investigate their Christian beliefs.  

Pics: Switzerland, Autumn Walk

I took the train from Barcelona to Switzerland; my first overnight train in Europe!  It was FUN!  At first the conductor put me in the wrong room, with guys, but then he realized his mistake, so I got to move down with a girl from Japan.  In the middle of the night, as we were going through France, the train stopped at the border and police got on.  They asked us all for our passports (which I found out was standard procedure traveling through Europe); they took them, checked them, and brought them back.  This was a little difficult for me to do at first, because I heard that I should NEVER NEVER let anyone else have my passport.  But I gave it to them anyway.  And it came back fine.  One of the girls next to us was taken off the train and questioned.

Into the Home Stretch...

Its hard to believe, but I only have a month and a little left to this amazing trip.

I remember thinking when 1 month for a vacation would have seemed L--ONG to me.

But now that i´ve been traveling for 9 1/2 months (i just had to stop and count on my fingers... Feb, March, April...), it is merely the final chapter in a long book.

How do you write a final chapter?

Pics: Barcelona, Spain

Pictures of Meeting Eric Johnson and his wife Gina, in Barcelona!

Going out to eat with them, visiting cathedrals; learning to use the Metro system for the first time on my whole trip - Thank you, Eric, for teaching me!!  Great conversations with them about traveling (they are avid world travelers as well) and about God.  Gina's family invited us over for dinner, and it was so nice to spend time with a local family.  Gina's mom is an amazing artist.