World/Local Travel
ccummings7@cox.net
Our son-in-law Mark is the President of a Christian mission organization called Novo. He oversees a staff of over 600 people who attempt to bring people closer to the word of God throughout the world. His position requires him to travel extensively and he sometimes will bring his family with him. Their goal is to create a team that will allow them to reach people of all ages.
When they are gone. they manage to mix work with personal adventures that have created many lasting memories. A list of countries they have visited as a family includes South Africa, Serbia, Spain, England, Scotland, Peru, and Mexico. The stories they share when they return are quite fascinating. They all return home feeling somewhat entitled compared to the different lifestyles they see while traveling.
The travel experiences of Mark, our daughter Jamie and their kids (Hazel 14, Hank 13, and Mae 9) differ somewhat from my personal ones. I did not get on an airplane until I was 22 and that was for a flight from Houston to Dallas. Travel in my younger years consisted mainly of trips to Brenham or Bryan for a movie or to Houston for a ballgame. I think I was a teenager before I left the state for the first time to go to Louisiana to visit relatives.
Although my adult travel experiences are pretty much limited to domestic travel, I have never had a desire to visit foreign countries. Patti went to Australia once when our kids were there on a 4 month Visa but the thought of a 16 hour flight didn’t appeal to me so I didn’t go with her. We did go to Spain, France, and Switzerland when Jamie finished studying for a semester in Madrid in 1999. There were many interesting places we visited, but I think the highlight of the trip for me was when we landed in New York coming home. I was then able to communicate again with people who spoke the same language and I understood the money system. At that time most of the foreign countries had their own currency which proved very confusing to me.
This July Patti and I will celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary and while some people would head off to Europe or some tropical island, we are going to Nashville. We both love country music and down home cooking so it will suit our interests perfectly. The flight from California is only about 4 hours which isn’t a back breaker and based on many recommendations we have a full schedule of things to see while we are there. Sometimes keeping things simple and closer to home isn’t all that bad.
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