I seriously could not stop grinning from ear to ear the entire time I’ve been reading this travel journal. Even when I was grumpy during the trip, or writing about really hard, and even scary, situations, I still sat on my bed and laughed at life and how our perspective changes through the years. It also makes me wish I did a better job of journaling in my life right now, so that, in 5 years from now, I can look back on my current self and shake my head and laugh at how naive and silly I was!

So many times in my journal I wrote about “just barely” meeting up with my family or with Heather at just the right time. Or I non-chalantly wrote about the strange men taunting us “sweet Americans.” I don’t think I realized then just how much the Lord was truly looking out for me throughout this entire trip – but if I didn’t see it then….I see it now. Rereading these experiences has made me appreciate the little things God is doing for me in my life right this very moment! How can I not see it all around me? How can I go one more day not acknowledging His hand in every single. little. aspect of my life!! How was I so blind then and how can I make sure I don’t continue to make the same mistake in my life now?

Writing these two blog posts have been incredibly eye-opening for me (you can read the first half of my trip with my dad here)! I thank you for your patience and allowing me to revisit this trip with you! Here are some of my favorite memories from my two weeks exploring with Heather….who was then just a few weeks shy of getting proposed to!

*When we told the French man we needed to get to a certain hotel and we didn’t have the address for it, only the name and all he could muster up in return was: “……Wow.”

*Being so surprised at the sheer enormity of the Eiffel tower! I had no idea it was just that ginormous!!

*A bajillion selfies

*Positively loving the welcoming and hospitable vibe of hostels…and not loving our “non-hostels.” For example, our first night in Paris we stayed at a cheap hotel, not a hostel, and my only comment about it was, “We shared a hairy, dirty bed together.” !!! HA!!!

(yes, I was that tourist)

*Ham and cheese crepes for lunch and banana and Nutella crepes for dinner. All the time.

*At one point, we thought for sure a French girl (and her two male followers) were going to beat us up in Saint Malo! We caught a taxi as fast as we could, instead of waiting for the bus, and for the rest of the night we were so shook up all we could do was sing hymns, read our scriptures, and say our prayers together. (this was the same room that only had a curtain between the bathroom and the bed so we had a “Only Number One” rule in that bathroom 🙂 But the next day I had this to say:

“We are comfortable again tonight in our little Alpha Ocean Hotel by the sea. It’s been a day of stretching again, of being okay with not being where I wanted to be but with where the Lord wanted me to be. It was a small thing really, but I can’t help but think that it’s all in preparation for something else, something bigger.”

*Missing the ONE train that traveled to Saint Michel today, and being forced to find joy and beauty in just staying right where we were, in Saint Malo.

“Long story short, I learned a lot of lessons today – of growing up and accepting losses, making the best of what’s been given and how things turn out, realizing I am exactly where the Lord wants me to be. these are tough lessons for me right now, and I feel…a bit chastised.”

*Getting on that train to Montpellier without a reservation and feeling FOR SURE we will be kicked off and probably kicked out of France while we’re at it! I went to the bathroom right when the ticket checker got to our seats and I was so relieved I didn’t ever have to talk to him!

*Moving a GINORMOUS armoir in front of our hotel door because I swear I had overheard the French man across the window from ours talking about the two Americans next to him and I was completely paranoid he was going to chase us down.

“All I’ve had to eat today: A loaf of bread, a hot dog and fries, and an ice cream cone.”

*Marseilles: “today was one of those days that you wish every day of your traveling could be like. Waking up whenever feels good, eating a chocolate croissant on the way, a beautiful two hour train ride, sunshine and a walk in the city with window shopping. A boat ride to an island, the sunshine glittering off the glorious ocean that I haven’t seen in awhile – greens and turquoise, pale blues and deep dark navies, almost black. An old castle, hanging our barefeet off the dock, letting the ever constant waves lap away the tension and stress of planning and implementing such a trip. the ocean seemed sacred to me today in a way it never had before – it brought me closer to Adam, to God, to who and where I wanted to be right then. We are sunburned and tired tonight, and it feels good.”

“We woke up to the Asian’s alarm at 7am which was okay because we had an early train to catch.”

“We witnessed another small miracle today when we were 10 minutes late pulling into the station and therefore should have missed our train. However, it was also running late, and, not only that, but it was the train closest to us. How fortunate we are this trip to have a Heavenly Father who loves us and watches out for us, hearing our prayers and answering them.”

“Well, we were just set back two hours because we didn’t realize that the train we were supposed to catch was not actually a train but a bus!”

*Going to the Bern temple – I had forgot my temple recommend! Yet, they still let me in. We even got to meet the temple president because of it 🙂 He “took such good care of us, and always held my arm and looked me right in the eyes when he spoke to me. He was a huge comfort in my life today, a blessing much needed….As always, the temple shed a cheerful light on the rest of our day. We made broccoli and ramen noodles in our hostel’s kitchen.”

*Bern’s Own Mountain!

*Eating everyone else’s left-overs at the hostel because the grocery stores were closed for Good Friday

“Every single pre-conceived notion of what I’d imagined a place to look like, be like, feel like – had been wrong. Not better or worse, just completely different. If I had instead gone to Bern with a blank slate, and open mind, there would have been no chance – or room – for disappointment. As Heather and I sat over a ledge at the Rose Gardens overlooking the sun setting on Bern, she said, “It’s easy to fall in love with Bern.” And though I should have readily agreed, I was still being stubborn. Where was the Bern I had built up in anticipation in my mind? It wasn’tuntil the next morning, just as we were leaving and I was sad and started taking more pictures that it came to me – I can’t be basing my Bern – my experience with it – on somebody’s else’s, or I’ll always be disappointed. I need to find the beauty in today’s Bern, in right now, in my Bern. And as I pulled my camera away from my eye and this thought came into my head, I looked at the photo I had just taken, and realized it was more beautiful than any other photo of Bern I had ever – or would ever – see. Because it was mine.”

*A loooot of Phase 10 – even making up different combinations for each turn (your phone number, your birth day, etc instead of just doing runs or matches).

“the Asian boy in our room [is this another Asian? I can’t remember?]  liked to strip down to his skivies, wake up at 6:30am, make lots of loud noises, and leave the door wide open – leaving me wide awake.”

“Our tour guide [for the Sound of Music tour], Peter, is an odd little duck, talking with a sing-song cadence and some feminine flair. We sang a bit of songs but not nearly as much as I was expecting.”

“We went into a store called Primark. It was one of the most bizarre experiences of my life – everything there is cheap and cute. I was throwing things in my bag left and right with no thought to it. If I liked it even a tiny bit, in it went. I exercised no self-control. I was sweating and nervous and full of adrenaline.”

One of my last posts from the trip: “What an incredible journey I am ending today! I know how fortunate I am to have fulfilled one of my life dreams…yet, I stand firm in my belief that if I traveled the world, saw the beauty, tasted the food, met the people – did all I thought I wanted to do – but did it without the knowledge of this gospel or future children or the glorious promise of being with my husband forever – I would still be empty. these are the most important things in my entire existence – and any dream I have of publishing a book, having a nice house, becoming a famous photographer, sleeping in a castle in Ireland – all these things become vapor if not for my Adam and my family. God will compensate, always, ten-fold. Whatever goals that fail to be reached, dreams that whisp away into smoke, disappointments that sting my eyes with tears – all will transform into treasures more glorious than I could ever imagine in the life to come. God is just. God is merciful. He knows me, He knows the ultimate desires of my heart. If I give Him the chance, He will make of me and my life more than I could ever do on my own.”

I don’t think I could ever have guessed that this trip, and rereading it now, would strengthen my testimony, five years later, but it really has! It makes me mostly just so grateful – for Heather, her friendship and sticking it out with me and our highs and lows, for Adam allowing me this chance and supporting me in my dreams, and for my boys! For being able to share these stories with them and hopefully instill in them an equal love for traveling! It makes me grateful I kept a journal, and that I can relive these memories anytime I want.