October 10th - 16th

Adventures in Venice and Morocco.

October 10th:

We left Slovenia early in the morning and arrived outside of Venice in the early afternoon. We had a pleasant train trip to Venice. Upon arrival, we decided to go to our hotel, which was in Dolo, about 45 minutes outside of Venice. This is when the trouble started. We did not want to spend the exorbitant taxi rates so we decided to take the bus. We crossed the street, trying to find the correct bus stop. As we were walking down the sidewalk, Breann stepped wrong on a rock, twisted her ankle, and took quite a spill. She was hurt badly enough that she wasn’t embarrassed at all by falling in public, she was only aware of the pain. I was able to help her up and assist her out of the foot traffic. Thankfully, there was a little alley and a stool that she could sit on. As she writhed in pain, I wandered around aimlessly, trying to figure out what I should do. After a few minutes, I went in to a nice hotel we happened to be right next to. They called a taxi for us, let Breann come inside and sit on the couch, and provided ice for her ankle. It was very nice. And then we found out the catch. Since it was a nicer hotel, they apparently contract with “limousine” taxis instead of the regular ones. So we had to pay a bit extra, but got to ride in a Mercedes Benz. It was quite luxurious. Unfortunately, Breann was in too much pain to enjoy it. We got to our hotel and went inside. I helped Breann hop in and sit on a couch in the lobby. Then I checked in. Our room was on the second floor. No elevator available. Great. There was no way Breann was walking up the stairs. So I carried her. I was able to get her into our room and plopped on the bed where she stayed for the next couple of days. I would bring her food, drinks, gelato, ice for her ankle, and whatever else she needed while she got some decent rest for her injury. This is how we spent the 10th – 12th. Me, the brave “hunter,” bringing home food for my wife. It was very difficult for Breann to sit and do nothing and allow me to run around town on my own. It was very difficult for me to be running around on my own. I realized how little we do without each other around. I missed her a lot when I was forced to leave the hotel room and leave her behind.

October 13th:

We checked out of our hotel at 10:30 and headed for the bus stop to catch a bus to Venice. We had been hoping for a couple of days to tour the city, but one day would have to suffice. The downside of this trip was that I had to carry everything we brought with us, because with her bad ankle, Breann was struggling just to walk, so I couldn’t really make her carry a backpack. This made for a long, hot day for me. By the end of our day in Venice, which is a beautiful city, she was quite worn out and realizing that her ankle was not ready for heavy labor yet. At around 4 I re-wrapped her ace bandage on her ankle. She had some increased swelling at that point from all of the walking we had done. After that, we relaxed a bit and then headed for the airport to fly to Casablanca, Morocco. This turned out to be quite an adventure. The plan was to fly into Casablanca, stay in a hotel there for one night, then head to Meknes, where Badr (a pastor GF is working to develop and partnership with) lives. We planned to stay in Meknes for two nights, then head back to Casablanca, where we would stay for one more night before flying to France. This was a great plan. However, MyAir.com had a completely different plan for us. A couple of days before our flight, we found out that our departure time was moved from 9pm until 11pm, making our arrival in Casablanca 12:25am (Morrocan time – 2 hours difference from Italy, so it would feel like 2:25am to us). The flight then took off even later, leaving Venice at 11:30pm. Then the real fun started. Fog in Casablanca. We flew around and around, trying to wait out the fog, but it wasn’t clearing up, so the pilot decided to land at a different airport. So he flew us to Rabat, the capital city of Morocco, about an hour away from Casablanca. We landed at 12:30. We then sat and waited. We sat in the airplane for 2 hours, hoping that the fog would lift and he could get us to our destination. That was not to happen. After all that time sitting on the plane, the airline finally decided to bus us all to Casablanca. They asked us to get off of the plane and go inside the airport, through customs, collect our baggage, and go out front where a bus would be waiting for us. Many of the people on the plane refused to exit the plane! They were just positive that the pilot was lying to us and that there was no bus, he was just trying to get rid of us so he could go home. This seemed fairly absurd to me, I mean, what kind of airline would take your money, then fly you to a totally different city, and leave you with absolutely no recourse for getting what you paid for? Come on. Things got pretty heated, and when the real shouting started, we got out of there as quick as we could. After customs, we then ended up waiting for almost an hour for our bags to appear. It is now about 3:30am (but feels like 5:30am to us…) and we are quite tired. Also, by this point, Breann’s ankle has been wrapped for over 12 hours and she has not been able to ice or elevate it in that entire time. But hey, at least we will get to the hotel in about an hour…right? Wrong. The people were right, there was no bus. No bus whatsoever. Now we are stranded in Rabat, an hour away from our hotel in Casablanca. We ended up spending the rest of the night in the airport.

October 14th:

At 6:30, we took a taxi to the train station and boarded a train for Meknes, because Rabat is about 1/3 of the way from Casablanca to Meknes. We both drifted in and out of sleep for the entire trip, obviously dead tired from missing a night of sleep. Travel is quite wearying without adding on all of the stress and headache and lack of sleep. This weariness then led to some real excitement. We stopped at one station for quite awhile. I woke up at this point, quite groggy from lack of sleep. After a few minutes, I decided to check and see what stop we were at. I went to the door of the train, opened it, stuck my head out, trying to find a station name somewhere. It turns out, it was our stop. As I ran back to get Breann so we could get off of the train, the whistle blew and the train started slowly chugging out of the station. I would like to think that if I had not been so groggy and sleep deprived, what happened next would not have happened…but I ran back, grabbed our stuff and Breann, and ran for the door. Breann followed me a bit timidly. When I got to the stairs leading off of the train, I didn’t even hesitate, even though the train is gradually picking up speed. With my 50 pound bag in tow, I jumped off of the train. Now, it is Breann’s turn. With the bum ankle, still with the same wrap from Venice, swollen, sore, and tender. She didn’t even hesitate. I was already off the train and there was no way she was going to be left behind. So she jumped. The funny part was that a Morrocan man on the train chased us down the walkway, yelling at us not to jump. We probably should have listened. As Breann leapt from the moving train, he stood behind her shouting, “no, No, NO!”. It was great. As Breann got ready to jump, I ran toward where she would land, and as she landed, I was able to grab onto her and balance her landing. It was all very smooth. We were off the train, at the correct stop, and safe and sound. Things could have gone much worse and we are definitely praising the Lord for keeping us safe, especially in light of my bonehead decision to leap from a moving train.

We were able then to quickly find a taxi to our hotel. Even though it was now only about 10am, they allowed us to check in and go straight to our room. PTL! We were exhausted. This was when I unwrapped Breann’s foot and had a look at the effects of our adventures on her injured limb. It was in pretty bad shape. The swelling was, I think, worse than it had been at any time, even when she first got hurt. The top of her foot was even swollen. Thankfully, I was able to get it elevated and get some ice on it for a bit before we drifted off to sleep.

After a few hours of sleep, we awoke, called Badr, and met him for dinner. We had a wonderful time with him and his wife, Elsy. We are really looking forward to developing a closer relationship with them both in the future. Badr is 32 years old and Elsy is 27, so we were able to relate very well to each other in many ways. It was fun. One negative of the day was that we didn’t leave Badr’s house until 12:30am, getting back to our hotel and in bed after 1 in the morning. This worked to compound our exhaustion.

October 15th:

We were able to sleep in some, not meeting with B & E until 2pm. It was a nice chance to catch up on some much needed rest. Of course, our bodies thought that 7am was really 9am and that was way later than our bodies felt we should be in bed, so much of our “sleep” after about 7 was fairly fitful, but at least we were able to rest some.

We ended up doing a bit of sightseeing in Meknes with B & E and spending the rest of the day with them. It was great. We had a super chance to develop a friendship with them. We enjoyed our time thoroughly. And, we ended up back at our hotel before 11pm…which was nice! =)

October 16th:

I woke up this morning with a low-grade fever, a stuffy nose, and a very sore throat. Looks like the lack of sleep is catching up with me. It has been getting better as the day goes on, so hopefully tomorrow I will wake up all healed, Lord willing.

We checked out of our hotel at noon and met up with B & E. We had lunch with them and spent a few hours with them before catching a train to Casablanca at 3:30. I almost said “back” to Casablanca, but since the airline failed to take us there as planned…. Anyhow. We arrived in Casablanca, only to find that the hotel we booked online had no reservation for us. It seemed fitting, with the way things had been going on this trip. However, this little blip worked out quite well for us. The hotel sent us by taxi (which they paid for) to a MUCH nicer hotel in the center of town. And they promised us the same price as we would have paid at their hotel. They are all a part of the same chain, this is just a gigantic step up from the other hotel. We are now in one of the nicest hotels we have ever been in, but we are paying as if it isn’t all that nice. It is great.
Breann’s ankle also looks much better tonight. The swelling is down quite a bit and the bruising is fading quickly. Hopefully she will be good as new within a few more days. Thank you all for your prayers.

Please continue to lift us up in prayer as we travel to France and Germany in the weeks to come. I know our lives sound glamorous and easy as we tour exotic and beautiful places, but there are many struggles that we face daily and we do covet your prayers.