After a two week break in Italy, Nancy and I are back in Tirana for our final three weeks of this great adventure. In those two weeks we drove almost 2,000 miles and saw much that we had not seen before, plus some we had known and wanted to revisit. Nancy and I first spent December 24 and 25 in Rome, joining the crowds in St. Peter’s Square to see the Pope on Christmas Eve and then again on Christmas day. JJ joined us the day after Christmas and we toured the hill country of Tuscany, stayed in Orvieto , walked part of the Cinque Terra coast, had lunch in San Gimigano, dinner in Volterra, coffee in Lucca, and saw the leaning tower of Pisa. A highlight was our final day strolling the streets of Milan and finding Muji, just the right quirky little store for a bit of Christmas-in-Italy shopping.


On New Year’s Day we said goodbye to JJ at the Milan aiport and drove to Florence to connect with our good Fresno and Erseke friends, Bob and Linda Osborne. Together we went back to Pisa, where we delivered them to the airport, after stopping at Lucca for the night. Then Nancy and I drove on and on—south and east past innumerable hill towns, castles and churches to the spur of the heel of Italy, Gargano National Park, and south beyond that to Alberobello, famous as the home town of Rose Falseni and the unusual Trulli houses. Finally, we drove past Vesuvius, through Naples, and back to Rome and now we are “home” once again in Tirana.


Italy is one of the favorite countries for people from America to visit, and for good reason. The varied scenery, friendly people, historical sites, works of art, and exquisite food make it a traveler’s wonderland. Walking past the coliseum, sharing in the pomp of Christmas at the Vatican, winding through twisting passages in the alleyways of walled cities, gazing at the wonder of centuries of Christian architecture and paintings and statues, sitting down to a long and elegant meal in a room that had served as a cellar for generations, or strolling along paths in places of natural splendor, Italy has it all. It is not cheap, and driving it is not easy, but it is an adventure worth having.

Having said that, however, there comes a time when the adventure of looking reaches a limit—a time when the adventure of learning kicks in. As one wonder gives way to another eventually you reach a saturation point, the antidote to which is to travel with a purpose or a theme. That theme may be a focus on great statues or great cathedrals or geography or cuisine or the spread of the Christian faith or whatever, but to try to get everything is just to much. Travel becomes richer and deeper when the purpose does not end with just being able to say I was there, but being able to add I learned this.


At the same time travel becomes even richer as we intentionally live out our role as followers of Christ wherever we go. At the very least this involves a commitment to leaving behind us a trail of good will and positive impressions, but it can mean more. It can mean paying attention to the people who make our travel pleasant, and even those who make it unpleasant, and it certainly means appreciating the gift which travel is and thanking the Giver. When Paul went anywhere he went with a purpose—to preach the gospel. That may not be the primary way we define our travel, but it certainly should be a part of it because we go as ambassadors of Christ wherever we are. In the way we enjoy our experiences, in the way we interact with
the people we travel with and those we encounter along the journey, in the way we marvel at the artistic creations of the centuries, we are ambassadors of the One who is Lord of all times and all places. While as travelers we are paying good money to be given services, followers of Christ know that wherever they are they are not just receivers but givers as well—hosts as well as guests—people responsible to make good happen not just recipients of the efforts of others. Knowing that, appreciating that, and living that adds to the adventure of travel and makes it more than just one big building after another…