Taking Time to Smell the Roses

A Really Cool Surprise

“I have an invitation for you.” Our young friend Angelika (and new friend) Francisco honoured us with an invitation to their wedding in Merida, Spain this year! (This would be why you haven’t heard from me for a while).

And so began the beginning of a beautiful, unexpected journey for my husband and me. We were humbled to be included in this special day and we decided we were going to go, with God’s help.

Making it Happen

Hubby and I have dreamed of traveling to other countries for years. Circumstances have not allowed for it until now From the very beginning we could see God’s hand in all the details Everything just fell into place so easily and smoothly as we prepared to visit Spain and Portugal!

We were blessed to have close friends who were seasoned travelers. They not only supplied much appreciated advice, but various items to make the trip go as smoothly as possible! Anne and Brenda were our travel angels. One even made sure our luggage arrived with us! There is a cute story here about our luggage tracker: they found us at McDonalds because our luggage told on us!

Guess who had learn Spanish in only three and a half months? Yep! Thanks to Duolingo, I was able to learn enough to order water and ask for a pen! Okay. Maybe a few more phrases, but my language skills left a lot to be desired.

As for booking flights, cars, and arranging international drivers licenses, CAA Manitoba was our friend. Even here God provided before we even new what was coming. Hubby met a fellow employee on a service call who, you guessed it, is a travel agent and had given him her card. She was a great help!

We used booking.com to book our hotels The really cool thing was the location in Portugal. At Paradise Suites, in Carcavelos, Portugal, we found out, is very difficult to get a room due to high demand. We got a message from the app congratulating us on scoring one. It turns out that she and her husband are a lovely Christian couple with amazing testimonies of hope and perseverance!

The Journey and the Kindness of Strangers

There has only been one other time when I have even come close to feeling this nervous about doing something. That was when i gave birth to our first-born son, Matthew.

We have never had to arrange a trip oversees ourselves. So, why didn’t we use a travel agency, you ask? Why do things the easy way if you can save a whack of money doing it the hard way?! Seriously, Hubby works for CAA so we get family discounts for flights, among other things. Fortunately they were extremely helpful and patient as we asked many questions and clarified many points.

We discovered that people at the airport in Montreal, Canada are also very helpful and speak very good English. Initially, I spoke French (badly), but soon learned that it was neither necessary nor offensive to them to speak English. As for the airport in Madrid, Spain, Spanish is the main language. Signs are in English as well, and there were some people who could speak English. Usually conversations took place with a little of each language in play. Fortunately, in Portugal English is more prevalent, but Spanish still came in handy! People everywhere were so patient and so helpful and friendly!

Seventy percent of communication is non-verbal. I have never been so grateful for charades and Google Translate! In Merida, I even ended up using my high school French, once!

Getting food was a little more interesting. We were never really sure what we were going to get. We soon learned that asking the waitstaff to bring us their favourite dishes usually got us something really yummy! This is how we had the best Tiramisu on the planet at A de Arco, in Merida. This method only failed us once and I think it was more a rural local delicacy that was just too different from what we were used to eating.

We rented a car for a our mini tour of Spain and Portugal. This was a great idea, but it did come with two challenges. One, GPS is not always accurate and needed to be backed up with Google Maps on our phone to get us to exact locations. Two, and this could have been a contributing factor to number one, English names don’t seem to work that great in foreign countries.

Romans new how to build stuff! The sites in the Iberian Peninsula are a testament to Roman architects. Even the graffiti is still around today. There is so much to see: castles, fortresses, bridges, aqueducts, signal towers, and more. A job well done can last centuries! Amazingly enough, some are still in use or have been re-purposed.

Spanish people know how to celebrate and can they throw a party! I have never been at a wedding where there was such a heartfelt outpouring of good wishes. Hearts were worn on sleeves and much dancing was done!

Before you go on to read the lessons we learned on this journey, I would like to take this opportunity to once more, wish Angelika and Fran the greatest of blessings in your life together. Also, we kept it quiet while we were there, but Hubby and I celebrated our 28th anniversary the same day! We missed doing anything great due to COVID on our 25th, but this trip more than made up for it!

And now, the important things we learned…

Lesson 1:

Never underestimate the importance you have in another person’s life.

Lesson 2:

Ask God to bless the plans he has for you, rather than asking Him to bless the plans you have for Him.

Lesson 3:

God has a plan for our lives and sometimes it’s a surprise for a us!

Lesson 4:

Do it afraid.

Lesson 5:

Don’t believe everything you read on the internet.

Lesson 6:

Getting lost is half the fun – just make sure you do it the day before the wedding!

Lesson 6a:

Make sure you save the directions to you destination so you can use them offline before you leave your hotel!

Lesson 7:

Life is short and life is a mist. Make the most of the little moments everyday. Slow down and enjoy your Café Con Leche with the people who matter to you at every opportunity. Celebrate everything and do it with your whole heart!

Finally!

Don’t forget to leave me a comment! I love to hear from you!