Why We Travel and What the Future Holds
Why We Travel
A bit of history about the beginnings of Big Story Living
Standing at the top of Nerudova Street while peering down at the rain soaked cobblestones and pastel storefronts, the street lights danced like a watercolor painting come to life. Life had led me to this beauty without my understanding, and in the awe of that moment, a much needed awakening and healing simultaneously overwhelmed me. I’ve never been more certain that travel and faith are the most perfect of companions than I was on my first evening stroll through Praha.
It was March of 2017, and I was experiencing one of the most difficult times of my life. After six years of fighting to bring home our family’s fourth daughter through adoption from Vietnam, it had finally happened. She had been with us for three months now, and by everyone’s standards, I should have been experiencing the most glorious and celebrative time. It was a miracle that she was finally there to make our family complete, and I was very much aware and happy for it all. But the years of stress and struggle to get us to that day had taken their toll. Emotionally and spiritually, I was in a very bad place. I needed to regroup. I needed to care for myself and have the space to take long, deep breaths and endless wandering walks. I needed to re-center. Heal. Think. Be. This is how I found myself in Prague on my first solo adventure to Europe.
A not-so-random series of life circumstances had brought me to that rain-soaked, most perfect street out of pure intuition and with fingers crossed in the hope of rescue. Following a series of unlikely conversations and memories, I had woken up from a dream in the middle of a February night in Colorado with a strange clarity that I somehow needed Prague. Odd, but I somehow knew Prague would save me, and there was no time to wonder why. So I immediately bought tickets and set off towards something for which I felt my heart longed. What I found was way more than I ever expected. I found healing AND a future.
Now I know this may sound quite strange. How can a city save someone? And if a city really does have that miraculous ability, wouldn’t the more likely location be Jerusalem or Mecca or on historically faith-filled pilgrimages that pass through towns along the Camino de Santiago in Spain or the Pilgrim’s Way in England? Could it be that profound faith experiences might actually happen in the most unlikely places, too? Might they even occur in the most faithless cities in the world?
The short answer is “yes.”
If you open your eyes and heart to what is deep within, Faith happily reminds, over and over again, that you can never travel a single step in which she’s not right there, wrapped up in the middle of every journey.
On this particular journey, as I explored the medieval streets of Prague, Czechia alone, healing and restoration somehow took root in me. There was no one miraculous moment. Instead, I was transformed over many long, slow days as the rhythm of the city, the dancing of the lights, and the silent songs that poured out of her cracks in the streets slowly brought me back to my senses. As I marveled at the views of every turn, took time to smell the cinnamon and gingerbread and hot wine filling the streets, tasted dishes that had never before touched my tongue and felt the warmth of my room wrap around me each night while crying into my pillow, I met myself again. I met my faith (Jesus) again.
I have traveled to many European cities since that cold week in March. Each has its own magic, as every traveler knows. But it turns out that every place, large and small, faith-filled or faith-less, also has its own unique way of transforming and connecting me to Jesus just a little bit more. Over time this beauty became something I could no longer keep to myself. That’s how Big Story Living evolved…as an outpouring of the goodness I have discovered that needed to be given as a gift to anyone willing to receive it.
Now, six years later, I still connect with my faith in the most profound ways as I travel. And now I bring small groups of women with me on their very own journeys of a lifetime.
As a group, we not only seek to make travel dreams come true, but we do it while moving at the pace of Jesus. We expect that he is the best travel guide of all and knows just what we need to do with our personal hours each day. I never serve as the tour guide. I simply set the table for those who journey with me to be present to the Presence and fully free to savor and play. This is my most freeing practice and most genuine joy.
Like I said, the most important requirement of traveling with Big Story Living is the commitment to letting Jesus (or your faith deep within) be your guide. Though we travel as a group, we often spend the majority of our days exploring solo. We move into each morning with intention. We minimize our phone usage. We turn off the maps app often and simply listen for the prompts to turn left or turn right that come from being connected with our faith. It might sound a little “woo-woo,” but we expect to be surprised, comforted and blown away, and it always happens. Our journeys turn out to be the most freeing, stimulating, slow-paced, meaningful days of our lives as we walk our very own “Camino de Paris” or “Camino do Prague” or “Camino de Copenhagen.”
This Big Story Living kind of travel is about curiosity and allowing space for small shifts that makes all the difference. We together believe that like in Prague, our faith is ready to meet and inspire us at any moment, in any city our bucket list leads. All we have to do is slow the pace and intention enough to notice, connect and savor the wonder and joy of every city, while being curious and expectant of our most perfect travel companion and guide…Faith.
Keeping One Eye on the World and the Other Eye on Jesus
Registration For a New Journey is Just Around the Corner
Watch this space. Details are coming soon!
Space for this journey will be limited, so send me a message today if you find yourself interested and want to know more. I’ll make sure you get the details before I make registration live via social media. BSL journeys are always first-come, first-served. Join us!
Happy Travels,
Amy