Posts Tagged ‘road trip’

Our Volcano Adventure

April 26th, 2010

The past week we had our own crazy adventure due to the volcano in Iceland. Because of this volcano many have had their plans changed and the stories that will come out of the past week will be worth sharing. Our story is perhaps not as dramatic as many of the others that will be told, but it’s still our own and I feel it is still fun to share a little bit of it.

On Friday of last week my parents were stranded in Munich needing to get to London for business meetings. So, they called us and asked if we could rent a car and come pick them up in Munich and drive them to London. After 3 hours of running around the house like chickens with our heads cut off, trying to pack and get everything ready, we were on the road to Munich. We stayed there a night and then drove to Nancy in France the next day. The following day we drove to Orleans just south of Paris and stayed there for two nights and then back on the road to London. We stayed one full day in London and then we left my parents and drove back to Prague. It took us two days of driving all day to get back to Prague. In the end we had spent about 44 hours in the car (with an almost 7 month old) in 7 days. It was crazy.

The saddest part of our trip was that my sister and her husband, who were suppose to be flying out to London for the meetings as well, were never able to make it because their airports didn’t open up in time. When we left Prague we really thought that they would still be able to make it to London and we were so excited that we were going to get to see them and surprise them in London. The fact that we were going to see them was the thing that really made us decide that taking the road trip and spending so much time in the car with a baby was worth it. We were all really disappointed that they never made it. I was especially sad that I didn’t get to spend time with my beautiful sister and wasn’t able to share London with her.

I was glad though to get to see my parents and have some time with them. And there were a few highlights of the trip (some things that made the hours squeezed in a car with a fussy baby sort of worth it):

-          My mom getting to see Thaddeus’ army crawl in person

-          Seeing my parents playing with and holding my baby boy

-          Having foie gras in France

-          Trying sweetbreads (which were actually really tasty)

-          A good talk with my parents

-          Meeting some new people

-          Staying at The Montague in London which is one of our favorite hotels

Here’s a little movie showing some of our trip (NOTE: if you are reading this in facebook you have to actually visit the blog to see the video. Click here to visit my blog).  The first is all the little videos we took on the trip and the second is a condensed version. Enjoy!

Rejoicing in the journey -
Bethany

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Vienna, Visas, and Victor Wooten

July 16th, 2008

So, yesterday was long and exhausting, but wonderful!

We left Prague with the Baker’s at 4:30am and headed out for Vienna. The drive there was pretty uneventful and we made it to the embassy having only got a little lost once we reached Vienna. Once at the embassy we gratefully got a different gal to help us then last time and she just barely glanced at our paper work (which we had had so much trouble with last time and had struggled so hard to get in perfect order this time) and said it was ok. After waiting around for a while she called us back up and gave us our beautiful visas! I was actually kind of in shock. I really had all along expected not to get them yesterday, I hoped and prayed that we would get them but I sort of expected it to fail again. So, it was a beautiful thing to see those gorgeous visas in our passport. Now we just have to get through going to the foreign police (you have to go and show them your visa and have them verify that you are who you say you are within three days of entering the country) and then we will be officially done with this visa process (at least until we have to reapply at the end of this year). I hear that going to the foreign police is a pretty crazy ordeal here and can take up to 10 hours – so, I’m not looking forward to that. But, it’ll be over after tomorrow! J Praise God!! J

After getting the visa the Baker’s and Bryan and I went to lunch and then walked around Vienna. There are so many beautiful things to see in Vienna and we really only touched on a small section of the city, but it was fun. We walked a TON and by about 3pm we were all too exhausted to stand, so we decided to head back to Prague. We took the scenic way on the drive back, which actually ended up not taking any more time then the highways even though it felt like it did. We all enjoyed seeing a little more of the Czech country side and playing games such as 20 questions, who has the ball, and would you rather. Bryan and I really enjoyed our first road trip with the Baker’s and enjoyed getting to know them better – “Louie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

After getting back to Prague we went to the Springer’s house (they had been nice enough to let us use their car to go to Vienna so we needed to return it). And we got to meet the couple who is leading the marriage retreat this weekend (did I tell you all we are going on our first marriage retreat this weekend?). Anyway, they had just gotten in and were hanging out at the Springer’s so we got to meet them and talk with them for a little while, which was really nice. I have been really looking forward to the retreat this weekend and even more so now that I have met the couple. They seem really great and I’m looking forward to what they have to teach us.

After that the Baker’s and Bryan and I went to Old Town Square for the FREE Jazz Festival that has been going on there. We were pretty late but we made it in time to see Victor Wooten play along with his brothers. We were all pretty tired and hungry (since we hadn’t had dinner) but it was definitely cool to see him play. They were all very talented. Bryan was just beaming – I could tell that he really misses playing music and going to shows – we really need to incorporate that more into his life here.

After that we all went out for pizza at this great little place around the corner from Old Town and then made it home just in time to check email before crawling into bed around midnight. Wow, what a day! J

Rejoicing in the journey -
Beth Stedman

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Vienna, Visa’s and Vivisection

July 14th, 2008

I have been feeling really agitated and anxious today. Why? Because, tomorrow morning we are driving back to Vienna to try once again to pick up our visas. If you remember, last time we went to Vienna to pick up our visas ended up being quite the fiasco – you can read my blog about it here.

So, tomorrow we are off to try again. We are planning on leaving at 4:30am and will be driving this time. Thankfully some wonderful friends, David and Sarah, have agreed to go with us this time. So, we are planning on making it a fun road trip and plan to hopefully try to see and enjoy some of Vienna as well instead of just spending all our time at the embassy. So, I am excited about that aspect of it. I really enjoy David and Sarah and look forward to spending time getting to know them better and exploring Vienna with them.

…but, the visa side of the trip has got me pretty knotted up. Really I just keep worrying that they are going to pull the same BS that they pulled last time. Basically last time we did everything they told us to and then they said it was wrong and wouldn’t give us our visas, we asked how we could make it right and what we needed to do to get them and they told us, then we did what they told us we needed to do and they then totally changed their story and told us we couldn’t do it that way, so again we asked what we needed to do to actually get them and they told us and that is what we have now done but I am just so worried that we will get there and they will have changed their story again and won’t give us the visas. It really is just a ton of bureaucratic red tape – which I hate. So, yeah, we are praying that it would all go smoothly this time and we would be able to quickly get our visas and have everything we need for them. And we would sure appreciate others joining us in praying this as well! J

Anyway, here’s a little Celtic prayer I’ve been saying to calm my spirit as we prepare for tomorrow:

Peace between me and my God.
Peace between me and my God.
May I tread the path to the gates of glory;
May I tread the path to the gates of glory.
On your path, O my God,
And not my own,
be all my journeying.
Rule this heart of mine
that it be only Yours.
Great God of wisdom,
Great God of mercy,
give me of Your fullness
and of Your guidance
at the turning
of each pass.
Peace between me and my God.
May I tread the path
to the gates of glory.
Rule this heart of mine
that it be only Yours.
God’s path would I travel,
my own path refuse.
May I tread the path
to the gates of glory.

Amen.

Rejoicing in the journey -
Beth Stedman

PS – the vivisection part of the title was just to get your attention, but really I think the process of getting visas can sort of feel like vivisection some times ;)

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