Growing up Catholic (I graduated from Aquinas) means that for all my life I have taken so many things on faith.  Then I entered the Age of Travel.  I toured cathedrals, learned about the Crusades, and began to see it for myself.

My first real eye-opener was on a Mediterranean cruise when we stopped at Ephesus and all of a sudden I was walking in Christ’s footsteps where He wrote to the Ephesians and Patmos, where in a cave John wrote the Apocalypse. Now these things actually meant something to me.

Then I read Bill O’Reilly’s “Killing Jesus.” Now those places and stores were jumping off the pages.  My desire to travel to these lands was beginning to grow.

My daughter just returned from a trip to Jerusalem. She has promised me that this is the most life-changing adventure she has ever been on.  I now want more than ever to pursue this. Would you like to come along? Let me know. If there is enough interest, we will put a group together and step back thousands of years to find out some of what makes us who we are and where our beliefs come from.

If this is not for you, then perhaps one of our other trips will be.  There may still be space available on either of the Alaska cruises. The first is on Princess, departing July 1 for a 14-day land and cruise tour.  The second is a seven-day cruise round-trip out of Seattle, departing July 29. On Oct. 7, depart to Albuquerque and the famous Balloon Fiesta, where you see the night sky light up as hundreds of colorful balloons rise high above the crowds.

Look ahead into 2019 and try a Viking River Cruise. We are holding space Sept. 17 out of Prague on an 11-day cruise through Germany ending in Trier and heading to Paris. You may leave the trip there or transfer to another, which is a seven-day cruise out of Paris to Normandy.  These do sell out fast, so don’t wait too long and be left on the shore.

Remember to send an e-mail to linda.finch@gmail.com and ask to be put on the e-mail list to find out about quick day trips. Those are the ones that come up suddenly when the time is right. An e-mail goes out and off we go to see something in the nearby area.

For further information on any scheduled trips or to plan your own, call me (Linda Finch) at 253-927-8207.

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