We, of course, know that anything can happen with travel! With as many flights as we have and as long as we will be traveling, we know our itinerary will get disrupted. Here is our basic itinerary as it is planned before we actually get on our first plane!

EGYPT: Our first stop. We will be in Egypt for the last week of Ramadan as well as Coptic/Orthodox Easter. We will join a mutual friend for Easter worship and tour the local seminary in which several PC(USA) mission co-workers serve. And then we'll shift to a traditional Egyptian tour -- visiting museums, pyramids, cruising the Nile, sampling cuisine.

MOROCCO: We will arrive in Morocco just after Ramadan ends in time for the Eid al-Fitr festival. We will spend just over two weeks exploring everything from the cosmopolitan cities to the Saharan Desert camps, sampling goat cheese and mint tea.

LONDON: We are taking a quick few days in London to regroup after roughly a month in North Africa. No real agenda here besides preparing for the next leg of the journey that will be the most out of our comfort zone.

MALAWI: This small country in South East Africa will be our next home for about 2 weeks. We will begin in Blantyre, the second largest city, with time spent with friends from FPC Fort Collins who train pastors. We are excited to spend time with their cohort of pastors getting to know them and learning about the very real challenges and joys of serving churches in Malawi. From there we are touring in 2 national parks plus spending time at Lake Malawi, the fifth largest fresh-water lake in the world. We are excited to spend time with the people of Malawi and explore to wonders of the planet: vistas and animals (except snakes...I am not excited for any potential snake encounters).

TANZANIA: Though Tanzania borders Malawi to the north, we have to fly hours north through Ethiopia in a nearly 24 hour journey to get there. (I imagine there will be future musings about the legacies and impact of colonialism in Africa....) After we arrive in Tanzania, we will spend time with the staff of Plant with Purpose. This is an incredible organization that couples care for the planet (reforestation, water sheds, soil quality) with financial sustainability and community for the local farmers. We had the privilege of learning about their work in the DR a few years back and are excited to see how it is both different and similar in another part of the world. Then we will spend a few days (hopefully) seeing all kinds of animals in their natural habitats in some of the best safari spots in the world: the Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti.

TURKEY: This stop was certainly one of the "unexpected" additions for our itinerary. From Tanzania, many flights track through Istanbul, so we thought we'd stay for a few days there. But as we read more, we realized that we should hunker down and spend more time in Turkey and visit other places in this large country. We will start in Istanbul and then travel south along the coast. We will get to visit the ancient cities of Pergamum and Ephesus which are rich with both Biblical and early church history and Roman ruins. From there, we fly inland to Cappadocia to experience the wonders of the rock formations and fairy tale scenery.

PORTUGAL: At the end of this great adventure, before we head back across the ocean to North America, we will land in Portugal. We will explore Lisbon and the surrounding area, Porto and wine country in the north, and then the sunny beaches in the south. Our hope for Portugal is to lean into cultural experiences, spend time living like locals (as much as two foreigners can) and find relaxation and rest.

Here is us walking into the Airport to begin our journey: