"You're going where?!?" Even those who greeted my plans with excitement would soon pause, look at me carefully, and ask, "But is it safe?" So how safe is it to travel in the Middle East, specifically the countries I went to: Israel, Jordan and Egypt? It depends. According to the Government of Canada website, both … Continue reading “But is it Safe?” Traveling in the Middle East
As in other aspects of my life, I considered how I could step more lightly on the earth before I started this trip. I started with my tour company. National Geographic is a leader in thinking about the future of the Earth, so it was an easy choice to pick them them for the Israel … Continue reading Stepping Lightly: Searching for Sustainable Travel
On a Sunday in January, traveling down the Nile from Aswan to Luxor, I am having a bad day. Perhaps it's the accumulated lack of sleep after several early morning trips to temples. Perhaps it's the overcast skies and fog, reminiscent of home. Perhaps it's having free time and being at loose ends. Perhaps it's … Continue reading Unloved
It's been a long, long time since I knelt beside my bed and prayed with full faith, asking the Lord my soul to keep. My prayers were never answered and I abandoned God by the time I was 10 years old. I reconsidered faith regularly: when I first studied world religions in high school, when … Continue reading Faith in the Holy Land
Where is home? In Israel and Palestine, that is a complicated and difficult question. Walls run everywhere. They cut neighbourhoods, divide farmers from their land. We pass easily through checkpoints but many cannot pass at all. Families hold keys to houses that they have not seen for 70 years. People cannot be citizens in a … Continue reading Sorrow and Love: defining Home in the Middle East
I've learned since my last trip, Walking By Myself (with a really heavy suitcase). This time my bag weighted 25 pounds instead of 50 and my carry-on was 7 pounds, not 20! It's not just the physical baggage that's lighter. So is my heart. After months of prepping for my new future, I'm finally living … Continue reading Traveling Light
Less than a week before I leave on a month-long trip, I find myself thinking about my home, not where I'm headed. And that is so unlike me. You know how people say, "Aren't you glad to be home?" I would just smile weakly in response, and let them interpret it as a yes. Because … Continue reading Goodbye, Home Sweet Home
In the midst of this season that is all about family and friends, I suddenly realize: in two weeks, I will begin a month with strangers, thousands of kilometres away from anyone or any place familiar. I have always found joy in travel, and I have traveled on my own, but I now realize that … Continue reading The people who sustain me
Coming home from my first trip as a single person, I was transformed. Enlightened. So amazing! Life is wonderful! And then I was here. Cold, rainy days, and long, lonely nights in the bed I had always shared with my husband. Faced with the chores of disposing of the physical remnants of a 30 year … Continue reading Two steps forward, three steps back
A broken heart affects everything. In the tropical paradise that is Kaua’i, my thoughts of the past and the future overwhelmed the present. It was so wonderful when we were here before. Or was it? Was I so deluded? And the future I thought was so secure, destroyed. We were supposed to come back here, … Continue reading It’s not where you are, it’s where you’re at.
Brave Travels 