Hope, and a trip back to the beginning

 It's been hard to get back into planning, but with the approval of the Coronavirus vaccine, I am hoping travel will be back again, at least by this summer. 

I am currently working on the August 2020 plan though I'd like to actually leave a couple weeks earlier, both to be back in the US for the election (I am an election official) in November, and so that my husband Mark can vacation with me in late August rather than mid October.   He'll be coming for two weeks, and that two weeks, a vacation, will occur in the middle of the sabbatical.

I am not sure what will happen with Brot und Rosen, and am thinking about how I might use the extra four weeks if I am unable to do my service work.   I can come back to the US early and do the service in the US, or add additional touring to my itinerary, or just slow things down a bit.  I have already rearranged some of my time to add an extra day on the Jesus trail and an extra day in Jerusalem, maybe I'll add Caeserea Philippi, Bethsaida, spend more time in Galilee, or visit Petra.   And, while I'm still resistant to doing so, maybe a quick visit to some of the Pauline sites in Turkey, or Cyprus.  And certainly, an opportunity to visit my sister's child in Bath, as well as reinstate the visit to Canterbury! 

In addition I am facing the reality that my passport expires in 2021, and that I cannot travel within 6 months of its expiration date, so I am, right now, renewing my passport   My new passport will contain the stamps associated with my sabbatical travels, but I also look back at the one I am giving up. 

In this passport I had, for several years, work permits for Canada, as I worked on IBM projects up there under the NAFTA regulations.   This passport took us on a Catamaran cruise in the British Virgin Islands, and to Havana, Cuba for a day and a half on a people to people program from an MSC cruise ship. It has stamps for entry and exit from Amsterdam, Lisbon, Frankfurt, Brussels, Glasgow, Iceland, and Madrid as well.  It's ready for a new continent (Israel is in Asia) and a new adventure.    So I'm packing it up, getting my husband to take some pictures of me, and going back to planning, from the ground up, really, and preparing anew, with a somewhat changed itinerary, the same goal: to experience the context of the incarnation in the place it happened, and much hope.

Planning (again)

 

Here's a silver lining:  had I gone on my sabbatical this year, I'd be back, and ready for my second week of preaching.   It would be all over.   Now it is still in my future.

The Lilly Foundation has generously approved a delay until next year, and I am just beginning the process of planning out my Sabbatical again for next year.   I won't begin making reservations until there is a Coronavirus vaccine announced, but it sounds more and more that expecting one this winter will be a reasonable thing.   

There are some differences between the Sabbatical I am now planning and the one I planned last year.

I want to travel right after Easter, for a couple of reasons.  One is that April on the Jesus Trail is better than traveling around Pentecost (Pentecost being a big travel holiday in Israel.)   I'm also adding a few more days in Israel: an extra day in Nazareth, an extra day on the Jesus Trail and an extra day in Jerusalem.   Maybe an extra day in the West Bank.   In Germany, skipping Worms (recommendation of Rick Steves, and I've been there twice) also skipping Strasburg, France (there are better places to learn about Anabaptists.)   Also, I turn 65 in April, and travel insurance for a trip that begins when I am 64 is less expensive.  Insurance is an issue (more on that in a later post.)   

Another plus is that garden produce, especially tomatoes, in August, won't be missed.   I canned 20 quarts of Roma tomatoes and 21 pints of salsa this August/early September. While I likely won't grow anything, though my daughter might, I will want to pick up some tomatoes from the local farms and can to see us over the summer with good tomatoes.  

I need to line up some sights (the American Pilgrim museum in the Netherlands, ferry to Patmos in Greece, sights in Israel and Rome) and check up on each place I planned to visit, to see if hostels are still open, if sights are still open, and if I can still make reservations in advance.  

And I might re-study some of the background stuff that I might not remember as clearly, because I now read them several years ago in prep for things. 

But the Sabbatical is still on, and I'm beginning my work for it! 

Today it would have started

Right now, I would have been settling myself into a seat on the Pennsylvanian train in Lewistown, PA, on my trip to New York.  Tomorrow I'd have an early flight to London, then an overnight to Tel Aviv.
Starting 15 weeks of exploring the history of Christianity from Jesus to the Evangelical/Lutheran, Reformed and Congregational Churches which emigrated to America was going to start.
Instead, I am at home, watching my granddaughter while my daughter works, watching the Festival of Homiletics when the internet has enough bandwidth to support it.
I was sad about this for a long time, but I think I knew I was over it when I started thinking about how to take sabbath this year (since I have not been on vacation since last August, figuring I would have a very nice rest starting now.)
I'm still canceling reservations, but I'm beginning to think about rescheduling for next year, and re-planning with some new insights.    I will be taking this sabbatical, eventually.    But now, it seems, I need to take care of right now for a little bit.

So, what is the next step on the journey? Please help me and respond!

I was listening to Rick Steves this weekend (yeah, I know) and he did an episode, for the 15th anniversary of the show, on pilgrimage and spiritual pilgrimage.   You can find his May 2, 2020 show here.

Listening to his show yesterday morning and afternoon made me think a lot about where I am and what I am doing with the time.

I'm still going on my Sabbatical.   It will be a 2021 sabbatical, most likely, not a 2020 one (though I am still waiting to see what happens with my Iona Retreat).   I'll write the Lilly Endowment as soon as the Iona Community determines what they are doing.   But it will be different.  Travel, when I leave next April, May, June, July or August (time still TBD) will be different and probably more expensive than it is now.   The opportunity to interact with locals will likely be something I need to be more intentional about.   I have eight or nine countries to be concerned about the travel policies of, and my own country's advice to think about.    It will be after the presidential election, which could very much change the whole situation in the US, and the conception of the US outside our country.   Israeli politics could impact the Israeli-Palestinian situation for good or ill (right now it looks like for ill, but that can

But many things will not change.  The Holy Land will still be where Jesus walked and was born and lived and died.  Macedonia will still be one of the places Paul traveled and founded churches, the Sistine Chapel will still be in the Vatican, and the Catacombs will still have the art and graves of some of the earliest Christians.  Assisi will still honor Francis.  Wittenberg will still be where Luther taught, Geneva and Zurich where Calvin and Zwingli took the reformation further, and Scrooby Hall where the Puritans gathered.   Iona will still be a holy island even if I am not attending a retreat on it.  Refugees will still need someone to support them all over the world (maybe even more so!)

But Rick's show reminded me that pilgrimage is not about the location, but about the heart.   You can take a pilgrimage and not leave your yard, this weekend's show identified.   The journey is spiritual, not physical.    I will still take the physical journey, but the journey my soul is on, is as important as the journey my feet will take.

So my challenge, for the next 11-15 months, is to find not the destination, but the journey to my sabbatical.   Find the next challenge and the next steps to deepen the interaction with and planning for, this journey and this sabbatical.    Some of the things that I have thought of include:

• Learning more about the early Catholic notaries I am going to travel to.   For example, rereading a biography of Francis of Assisi and some of his writings, and reading more about St. Benedict, as I'd identified Subiaco as a location to visit. 
• Spending time backpacking, and maybe switch my Jesus Trail experience to a camping experience.  Or not, but spending more time with my pack on my back. 
• Continuing the contemplative spiritual practice I started in Lent to help find quiet for God to speak to me in. 
• Reworking my itinerary to use the recommendations that Rick Steves' made to me, in the 2021 version of my sabbatical.  
• Getting serious about brushing up on my German. 

What else?  What am I not even thinking about?   What are spiritual paths that might deepen my journey?   What can you, my readers suggest to make the 2021 sabbatical a better pilgrimage, a better walk with God, than the 2020 pilgrimage would have been?   Please comment, here and/or on Facebook. 

Cancelling and grief

The day I was waiting for came last week.  British Airways sent me an email that my flight has been canceled.   This started the process of cancelling my many, many bookings for the 2020 Sabbatical.   I went through most of the bookings on Booking.com yesterday, and sent emails out for a few more.  This afternoon I'll tackle the hostels, which is most of my bookings.

So far, so good.  British Airways, though it took a while to get through to them, was very straightforward about issuing a refund.   Two of the "non cancelable" hotels in Israel very quickly promised a refund (none of these has hit my credit card yet, so I still have to watch for that.)

And I reworked my itinerary spreadsheets with a "canceled" column, so I can track what I've gotten accomplished and what I have not.  I still have to contact my travel insurance company about the cancellation.

This has all made me very, very sad. The level of anticipation of this wonderful journey, means that watching all that work, and all that planning go away feels like a loss.   I keep trying to remind myself that this will all happen, albeit later, and that I am at first very fortunate to do this, and that the Lilly Endowment will let me reschedule (though at this point I am not sure when for: since probably international travel will not return in full until we have a vaccine.)  I am deeply grateful for the Lilly Endowment's promise to let me delay this until next year, and I suspect next year is what will happen, either in late April (a better month for hiking in Israel) or in July/August.

But I'll have to do all the rebooking (a LOT of work) and wait a full other year.   And I think I need to let myself feel sad about that, even as I am grateful that it is only a delay, not a full cancellation.

Blessings on you all!

A Coronavirus delay

I spoke to the guy in charge at the Lilly Endowment last Friday, but internet in my little rural valley has been terrible the last few days, and I've been busy learning how to do church for my community from home.  (hint: internet doesn't work well.)

They are going to, in this extraordinary situation, let me delay the sabbatical, if necessary, until next year.   The situation raises some issues (for example, I will not be able to just move my travel insurance, because it is for people under 65 and by next May I will be too old for it) but ensures that I really do get to go on my trip.

I haven't yet canceled anything, but will in mid-late April.  Depending on how things look over the next five weeks, I might try to reschedule for August - October.  IF the Iona community decides to hold my retreat and IF Brot und Roses still wants me (both of which happen in August.)    But I think there is a very great likelihood that this virus emergency will continue at least through the entire summer, and into the Fall.  If that happens, I'll be again setting my sights on May, but this time, May 2021.  As Easter is early (April 4) in 2021, I might leave a tad earlier than I'd planned for this year.

So the sabbatical will still happen, just in a delayed timeframe.   The waiting will continue.

I am, this week, deeply grateful to the Lilly Endowment's Clergy Renewal Grant program for the grace to delay as I have to.   I feel blessed.

The Looming Shadow of Corona Virus

Enough people have asked me that I decided it was time to write something in my blog about the Sabbatical and how it might be impacted by the current situation with regard to the Corona Virus.

What will happen?   The short answer is, "I don't know."

Right now I am a bit more than 9 weeks out.   LOTS could happen in nine weeks.   The virus could taper off as warm weather approaches (though most organizations are assuming it will not.)  The pandemic could become so ubiquitous that travel doesn't make a difference.

But basically my thoughts are the following:

If I can go, I will go.   This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and it runs out at the end of the summer when my granddaughter goes to school and I need to be home for her in the afternoons.   If I am well, and if the countries I plan to travel to let me in, I'll be there.

If I am well:

I am doing everything I can, from frequent hand washing, to washing surfaces, to keeping my distance from people, to stay well.  I will on travel, too.    I ordered antiseptic towelettes to wash off surfaces in hotels and hostels.   I'll carry some masks (I have a few that I bought a few years ago) in case they are needed.   I'm practicing not touching my face and social distancing as part of just being a pastor.    If I become unwell in Israel or Europe, I have travel insurance and will follow up on whatever is recommended.   As I write this, Israel, which has some of the most restrictive rules on incoming travelers,  is requiring self-quarantine for visitors, but as the virus spreads and testing widens, this may be modified.   In any case I will not get on a plane sick, and I will do what I can to prevent my germs getting in other people's space.

If they let me in:

Not sure this will happen.  Right now where I am in Central PA has none of the virus, but that could change any minute.   Some countries (Israel in particular) are being quite strict on travelers, others are not.   Right now, Italy is out (and I had planned close to two weeks there) as well.

Alternatives:

1.   Not travel - not good.  Kind of blows the whole thing out of the water.
2.  Travel, but remain flexible.   Avoid virus hot spots.   Maybe I spend an extra week in the Holy Land, and an extra week in Malta/Switzerland/England if I can't go to Italy.    Maybe I do the Luther Trail instead of the Jesus Trail if I can't go to Israel.    I'm researching alternatives now.  I have noticed that while the CDC is recommending travel restrictions, the WHO is not.  They consider them ineffective except occasionally at the beginning of an outbreak.  It is, I think, an advantage that my travel is largely solitary (and a disadvantage that it relies so heavily on hostels.)

So there it is, my current thoughts.   Things will change, I am sure, so stay tuned.

And pray.

Rick Steves answered my travel question! Personally!

So, you all know Rick Steves is my travel guru, right?

In 1986, as I set out on my very first ever European trip, I was on a tight budget, and my travel guides were Let's Go and Europe Through the Back Door (I also bought Mona Winks, which had many of his guides to European Museums.)  I went for 8 nights, 4 in Paris, 4 in London.   And I started traveling the Rick Steves way.

While I slavishly buy his travel guides, I mostly follow his philosophy.   I've been fortunate to have jobs which afforded me enough frequent flyer miles that I have been able to go to Europe quite a few times since, and I've expanded the philosophy to some back doors I've found myself in other places, and in Europe.  I bet Rick has never been to Solofra, Italy, though he may have been to Merida, Mexico.    He also taught me to talk to people, to interact with the folks around me, and not be led into the touristy restaurant when I can go to the neighborhood restaurant, and have a lot more interaction.

For almost 35 years, following Rick's philosophy has served me well, and when I get old enough that I want someone else to plan my travel and make all the arrangements, his tours will be at the top of my list.   We even own an amazing 6 pieces of Rick Steves' luggage, including some original back door bags (which are too large for carryons now, and we have to check.  But they still sit nicely on our backs!)

Periodically Rick records episodes of his radio shows, usually in several-day blocks, and you can contact them with a question, then they call you to put you on the air.   I had a question, I sent it in, and lo and behold, Rick's organization called me this evening!

At first it was dicey; the phone disconnected and I thought all was lost.  But the second time the call went through, and I got to talk to Steves, tell him about my Sabbatical, ask my question (I'm not going to tell you all what the question was, nor what he suggested; but I will post a link when the program is aired, and you can hear it.)   Not surprisingly he was very supportive of 15 weeks, of plans to visit not only Europe, but Israel and Palestine (which also keeps me under the Schengen limit) and we talked a little about my plans for Germany, and my planned service.

It was a thrill, but it reminded me of something I love about Steves, which has nurtured my love of travel since that first 1986 trip:  I always feel supported by Rick.   Yes, it's a company and an author and he's not with me, and probably won't remember who I am too long (though he did ask me to call back after the Sabbatical) but his books, his shows, his site, even the FB groups related to him, all really support what I want to do, and encourage me to go out a little further on the edge each time I travel.   For me, that is mostly Europe, largely because I have a brother living there, but sometimes is elsewhere.    Because Rick Steves's puts all his energy into teaching us how travel can be affordable, doable, safe and fun, I am free to travel, to experience, and to get to know the world.    Isn't that great?

And yes, I'll no doubt update my itinerary based on his advice.

Finishing up my bookings

The last couple of weeks I've been slowly but surely finalizing my itinerary and making my final bookings.   It helped that my husband and I settled on a plan, we booked a timeshare for a week in the Dolomites, and hope our friends Angelo and Letizia will join us there (in any case we will also visit them for a weekend in Milano).   Then we will be off for England, where I'll explore the history of the English separatists in Scrooby and attend my godchild Aryk's graduation from the University of Keele.  Mark will hang out with friends in London, and I'll spend a couple of nights there, most likely, visiting Wesley chapel and friends in the area.

I also was able, with a commitment to be in England from July 20-25, to finalize plans for Switzerland and Leiden in the Netherlands, and I booked a night in Oban, Scotland the night before I travel to Iona for a retreat.

I also booked Blue Star Ferries to Patmos, paying extra for a bunk, since I'm pretty old (64 😊) and decided I didn't want to try sleeping in an airline-style seat.  

I still have a couple of nights I'm not sure about: the night in Keele when I attend the graduation (that date won't be announced until April) and 2 nights returning to Hamburg from Scotland (which might include a visit with a friend, or might involve overnight trains. )  

So next are museum and rail bookings:   Mostly I have identified my routes and train schedules, but since booking trains means paying for them, I am delaying until later.  Museum tickets appear to be mostly available 3 months out, and there are only a couple that I need: The Vatican Museums and DaVinci's last supper are the major ones I care about.  

But basically I'm done.  I have a place to sleep every night but 4, one of those will resolve in April, and the others will be sleeping on my transportation.  

Next, planning my reading!!

Pain and Joy!

So last Thursday I had a doctor's appointment.   Since this is the last time I'll see my primary care doctor before I travel, I had some questions to ask her, mostly about prescriptions, sleeping on the many overnight transports I'll be doing, and my big toe.

I have a goofy big toenail on my right foot.   Not a huge bother most of the time, but with more walking, and with a new pair of dress shoes, it's been bothering me rather a lot.   So I decided to ask about it. She looked at it and her verdict was that I had an ingrown toenail.  A strongish one since the nail curves under and such, but she thought I should see a podiatrist, and she referred me.

The podiatrist had a cancellation that very afternoon, so at 2 PM I was in his offices.  One look at my foot and he confirmed the ingrown toenail.  Said he would recommend having a little procedure to take a slice of it off, cauterize the wound so that the toenail won't grow back.  Minor procedure, few minutes, I'd be great for my hiking.   So I said sure, lets do it!

It was so painful!   Not the procedure itself, but the injections of the novocaine, or whatever they use, were incredibly painful, enough that I actually screamed. (I don't usually respond to pain this badly, but I guess my feet are very sensitive.   I also bled a lot, which they told me is good; it means I still have excellent circulation in my feet.  Gee, thanks.)

Then, in the middle of the night the pain medication wore off and I was in such pain.   So much that I could not muffle my whimpers.  So much that I spent time wondering what I would be like if I had to endure pain for an extended time.  I got up, sat down, searched on the internet.    It was not supposed to hurt like this.   I wondered if the bandage was too tight.  I took it off.  It was really tight and the pain was largely relieved almost instantly (although I also began to bleed again.)   So I was really fine, but for a half hour or so I was in agony.

This morning I took my newly cut up toe for a 4.5 mile walk.  I've not been walking regularly this winter; I just can't get it going when the temps are below about 45 degrees, but today was nice and balmy, in the low 50s, and there was no rain in the morning.   The air was clean, the animals were wandering around doing what animals do, and my legs were so glad to get that exercise!    I just loved it.   I listened to the radio and some podcasts, and I just enjoyed myself.    It will all be OK, and in three and a half months time I will be sauntering along the road to the sea of Galilee.   I was feeling thankful for even the pain of the procedure that will make my walk even better.   Which is easier to do when you're no longer feeling the pain.

Blessed

This week I am attending an event billed as a clergy sabbath.   It includes a bit of education on the theme of peace and balance, an opportunity to do some renewal/wellness/wholeness things (like drum circles and massages and conversation with a spiritual advisor) and it includes a number of worship opportunities.

Not surprisingly, everyone is asking me about my upcoming sabbatical, so I've had conversations with a dozen or so people about it.  Everyone agrees it is a wonderful opportunity, a trip of a lifetime.   In our sessions I've explored how it fits into where I am now, and how the trip I am going on feeds parts of my being that might have been neglected during my first eight years as pastor.

Last night at vespers we were asked how we are blessed, how we are receiving blessing in our lives, and I was overwhelmed by the understanding of how deep how special this blessing of the sabbatical is, both as a gift from my congregation and from the Lilly Endowment.    I am glad to be fed in this way, I feel privileged and blessed to experience a kind of travel that is truly unusual and unique.   I thank God for the way it is coming together.

I find myself feeling blessing and gratitude these days more than I usually do; more fully and more deeply.  It reminds me of my first days of ministry, fresh from seminary when every task, every meeting, every service seemed a wonderful gift from God.  I am contemplating ways I can extend this wonderful experience of gratitude and blessing, even beyond contemplating my sabbatical.   Perhaps it is time to return to the Examen as a spiritual practice.

Today my greatest consolation was spending time with my favorite sister, Lisa Hamm-Greenawalt, and seeing her for a few hours before she and my brother in law, Bob head back to Mexico City.   My greatest desolation was having to do some collections associated with my small craft-based business. But even that went well.  It was a good day.  Amen.  'Nuff said.

Trying out the wardrobe

So I have narrowed down my wardrobe for the sabbatical.  I have watched all the videos about packing, about figuring out the wardrobe.   It's all laid out above.

I have a wide range of stuff to pack for!   I'm backpacking for four days, traveling around a wide variety of settings, but also going to churches, and joining friends for dinner, attending a concert at Hamburg's new Elbphilharmonie, going to a family graduation. And visiting a LOT of churches.   So my clothes need to be really flexible!   So here is what I have. They include what I will wear on the plane (with *)

Pants: 3 pair.  These are in the middle of the picture.

• 2 pr Clothing Arts Pickpocket proof travel pants.  These pants have an amazing number of hidden pockets.  In summer my stuff in my money belt gets sodden with sweat, especially when I am doing a LOT of exercise, so having these pockets within pockets within pockets is helpful.   1 pair black, 1 pair olive green*
• 1 pr convertible trekking pants in khaki.  These are the kind that zip off to be short.   People don't much wear shorts in Europe, but I'll spend lots of time in the sun, and want this option.   These also have hidden zipper pockets for my valuables.

Skirt: 1.   Long blue Travelsmith skirt.   Suitable for throwing over pants when necessary.  Nice enough for the Elbphilharmonie. It's at the bottom in the middle, not very clear.   Yes, it has a hidden pocket, but not as nice as the others, so I'll need to use a money belt with it.   

Shirts: 8 - this is where I get flexibility. 

• 3 tanks.  One light green, one solid black, one print blue/purple/black/white
• 2 short sleeve shirts.   1 olive green.   1 grey speedo oversized T with SPF protection, to be also used as a coverup, or to wear while floating on the Dead Sea, if I do that. 
• 1 mid-length sleeve, solid black, boat neck; I think I've had this close to 30 years.  From Travelsmith, and very pretty, but they don't make it any more.*
• 2 long sleeved shirt.  One a blue, white, green print gauzy shirt that pulls over my head, the other an olive green and black plaid* that I've had, again, more than 20 years. Wore it to the Grand Canyon.  Used to have SPF 50, but not sure it does any more.   Still I can pull it on over anything and my arms are covered. And it goes with practically everything else.

Misc:

• A swimsuit
• A pareo/scarf so I can cover my body after getting out of the water, and cover my head before going in a mosque.   I have two and have not decided if the one pictured is the one that is going.
• A scarf - olive green with little blue and yellow flowers. To dress an outfit up a little. I'm not taking jewelry. Also big to cover my head. 
• A tiny scarf with soaking pellets in it.  You put it in water at night and voila!   it sits around your neck all day and keeps you cool.  Mine is olive green camo print.  Another thing I've had for 20 years since hiking the Grand Canyon in 1999.
• 5 pairs sock liners
• 4 pairs hiking socks*
• 1 pair compression socks* (for flights: I'm 63 years old, and my chances of deep vein thrombosis are higher.   Yes, I exercise, yes I will walk some on the flight (though I'm in a window seat) but it just makes sense to have a pair.)   Mine are black, so I can just wear them as regular socks, too. 
• 6 pairs travel underwear (there is nothing as bad for me as underwear that is wet the morning after you rinse it out in the sink.   This stuff is dry in the morning.) 
• 2 bras (only one pictured here)
• Jammies: a pair of Lularoe leggings and oversize shirt.  In olive and blue, so I can wear it to the laundromat or swap it out with other portions of my wardrobe when I'm desperate.
• Shoes: 1 pr hiking boots*, 1 pr black Keen Whisper sandals - yup these have to be dressy enough for the Elbphilharmonie!  
• Tilly Hat to keep the sun off my face and neck, without too much sweat.  (Gift from my husband for my last birthday)

It all fits easily in my backpack, at least packed in 2 1/2 gallon ziplock bags (which I use in lieu of packing cubes) and I'm taking most of it on the road this week for the Penn Central Conference Clergy Sabbath, in the backpack, just to try it out.   I realized I don't yet have a rain jacket, which I'll also use for warmth when needed.  Still need to settle on one of those. 

This also doesn't include gear, which I've been gathering, but don't yet have all of.    

This is my wardrobe for 15 weeks of the summer.  Think I can do it?  

Final Itinerary

Pebblar itinerary

So today I talked to my brother, last week I talked to our friends in Italy, and my itinerary is finalized!   There are a few places where for a couple days exact locations are still a little fuzzy but the final itinerary is:

Israel (20 days)
      3 Nights Akko
      3 Nights Nazareth
      4 days/3 nights Jesus Trail  (Kafr Kanna, Kibbutz Lavi, Arbel)
      2 nights Tabgha/Capernaum
      3 nights Bethlehem (Jericho, Hebron)
      5 nights Jerusalem
         ending with a day trip to Nablus (ancient Samaria) with a late evening flight to Greece
Greece (9 days)
      3 nights Thessaloniki
      3 nights Athens
      Patmos (overnight ferry, day in Patmos, overnight ferry)
      1 night Corinth
Malta (1 day, 2 nights)
      2 nights Malta
Italy round 1 (8 days)
      5 nights Rome
      2 nights Assisi (or 2 more nights Rome)
      1 night Trent
Germany round 1 (14 days)
       5 nights Pinneberg (visiting my brother)
       1 night Eisenach
       2 nights Eiseleben (day trip to Mansfeld)
       2 nights Lutherstadt Wittenberg
       2 nights Erfurt
       1 night Augsburg
       1 night Worms (or a second night in Augsburg)
       1 night Strasbourg, France
Italy, round 2 (9 days: primarily vacation with my husband and time to reflect. )
       5 nights in Sappeda, in the Dolomites      
       3-4 nights Milan or Italian Alps with friends
England (4 days)
      4 nights split between central England (Scrooby, Keele) and possibly London.
            (Exact split depends on my nephew's graduation date from University of Keele)
Switzerland/Netherlands (6 days)
      3 nights Zurich
      2 nights Geneva
      1 day Leiden, Netherlands
Scotland (7 nights)
       1 night traveling to Iona, probably night in Oban
       6 night/7 day Braving the Elements retreat with Wild Goose Worship Group
                   at the Iona Community
Germany (21 days)
          2 nights to transit from Iona to Hamburg.  Maybe via Berlin
        18 nights Hamburg, with Brot und Rosen
          1 night Hamburg Airport hostel, prior to my flight

Totals are 100 days, there are an additional 5 days of travel mostly on the ends.     I'm about halfway through booking hostels and the like and have all my airfare, but not train, bus or ferry reservations yet.   I'm holding off on everything for the second Italy time and the time in England, until I have exact dates, and figure out the timeshare thing (we may use a timeshare for part of that time.)

That's my trip!

   
   

Relishing every day

The changes (see my last blog post) to the schedule kind of freed up a week or so for me.    But to try to eat some of that, I discovered a retreat that really speaks to me on the Isle of Iona, but requires me there 6 nights, instead of 3, as originally planned.

That, and working out how things will fit around my godchild's graduation from the University of Keele, not to mention my husband's plans to join us, and his desires to also spend time visiting friends in Europe, mean that I'm doing a lot of shuffling and reshuffling.   All the same places, but in a different order.  

But it also has me contemplating how every moment will be used.   Busy days and less busy days.   Study days and fun days.  Time with family and time in retreat.  AND time in service.   It reminds me how precious every moment of this Sabbatical is, and what a gift, and at the same time, how precious every moment of my life is, and what a gift.

In that vein, I'm trying to make the reshuffling and the planning all a spiritual practice of stewardship: stewardship of this great gift I have, from my church of the time, from the Lilly Endowment of the money to do this.   Thanks be to God!

Change

It has been an eventful winter for change to my plans.   But to some extent they seem to all be God given gifts.   Some might cost me a penny or two but mostly they just enhance the trip.

First, my beloved godchild, AG, has been attending the University of Keele in England, and they will graduate this summer!   Turns out graduation will be the very week I plan to be visiting Scrooby Hall and other Puritan sites, which are located an hour or so from where A is in school.   So heck yes I am going to take time to be in attendance at their graduation!

Then, as I think I mentioned, Brot und Rosen will be shut down the first week I planned to be with them, so I can’t start there until August 10.   I’m going back and checking out Iona for my late July retreat, I discovered a wonderful weeklong retreat around worship happening at Iona the week of August 2-8;   Perfect!   I have two days to get from Iona to Hamburg and all should be great!!!!

So now I am in a flurry of replanting around these events, but definitely feeling blessed.