My trips to Europe

May 10, 2024

I wrote this post in March as I was anticipating the trip to Europe in late April. I wanted to add pictures but did not get a chance until today.

1970

My first trip was before I was 2 years old. My dad was serving in the U.S. Navy at the time. My mom and I visited my dad while he was in the Mediterranean Sea. He told me that there were several planes hijacked near the end of our time in Europe and flown to Jordan. My mom noticed tougher security when we flew home.

  • London for a couple of days
  • Malta (5-6 days)
  • Sicily and Rome (a few days)
  • Athens (about a week)
Sitting on a cannon in Malta at 20 months old.

1990

I traveled to Eastern Europe about six months after the fall of Communism. It was the first of many times that I visited Hungary. I was part of a Campus Crusade for Christ summer project. We traveled by train to different locations around Lake Balaton to talk with students.

  • Balatonfüred, Hungary – I lived in a rented house in this city along the lake. We spent 41 days in the country.
  • Csopak, Alsóörs, Káptalanfüred, Balatonalmádi, Balatonfüzfö, Balatonkenese, Tihany, and Gárdony were among the different locations that I traveled to along Lake Balaton and Lake Velence
  • Budapest, Hungary – We did a day trip to the Hungarian capital and then spent another day there on the way back from Szentendre.
  • Szentendre, Hungary – We spent a week of vacation at this location.
  • Vienna, Austria – one week
At Lake Balaton with my American teammates and a couple of new Hungarian friends. Laci (the tall one) and I began a friendship that summer that continues on.

1996

I returned to Hungary with my wife. We spent the summer on a Campus Crusade for Christ summer project.

  • Keszthely, Hungary – We lived in a kollegium that was the site of our English camp. We spent 46 days in this location.
  • Budapest, Hungary – we spent a couple of days in the capital during the summer
  • Vienna, Austria – 1 day
  • Krakow, Poland – we spent a week at this destination as a mid-summer vacation
Students from K-State along with a couple of our staff teammates, Brian and Tara.
My friend, Laci, and I got to spend a week together. We traveled back to Balatonfüred along with my wife and other teammates. We had met in Balatonfüred my first summer in Hungary.

1997–98

My third trip to Hungary was also my longest. We were part of a short-term team with Campus Crusade for Christ in eastern Hungary. We lived there for nine months and were able to travel to several other locations in Europe during our time there. We lived in Debrecen from early September to early June.

  • Debrecen, Hungary – our home base
  • Budapest, Hungary – we spent about 27 days total in the capital on various trips
  • Pécs, Hungary – we visited this city thrice during the year. We spent two weeks and a weekend. Another Campus Crusade team was working in this city.
  • Kecskemét, Hungary – we spent a weekend on a retreat in this city
  • Prague, Czech Republic – we took a train to visit this beautiful city over a long weekend
  • Wengen, Switzerland – we spent Christmas in the Alps with other short-term teams with Campus Crusade
  • Zurich, Switzerland – we spent a day walking around before taking a train to Florence
  • Florence, Italy – we spent two full days in this magnificent location
  • Rome, Italy – we spent four days enjoying the Italian capital
  • Zagreb, Croatia – my wife and I spent a week visiting some friends
  • Eger, Hungary – we spent two separate weekends in this historic city in northeastern Hungary
  • Vienna, Austria – We visited Vienna two different times, once for a weekend and once for a week during Spring Break
  • Santorini, Greece – we spent a week vacationing in this popular destination at the end of our time in Europe
My wife and I are at the Campus Crusade weekly student meeting in Debrecen.
My wife and I were in Prague in October 1997.
In Florence with a couple of our teammates in December 1997.

2000

  • Budapest, Hungary – I spent two weeks in Budapest as part of a Campus Crusade for Christ special project

2005

We returned to Hungary as parents for the first time. Our oldest kids were four and one at the time. We returned to Keszthely as part of a Campus Crusade for Christ summer project at the same location as we stayed in 1996. We spent a total of 44 days in the country.

  • Keszthely, Hungary
  • Budapest, Hungary – we spent a little over a week in the capital
  • Debrecen, Hungary – we took a weekend trip to visit the city we had lived in 1997–98
My mother-in-law came with us and helped take care of the kids during the day.

2006

I returned to Hungary for the sixth time as part of an outreach of the high school ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ. I co-led a team of high school students from Orlando. We spent the week in Hungarian high schools.

  • Budapest, Hungary – 8 days

2007

Once again I led a group of students from Orlando on a spring break outreach. At the end of the trip, I spent a couple of days with my good friend Laci, whom I met the first summer I visited Hungary. I enjoyed getting to spend time with him and his family.

  • Budapest, Hungary – 10 days
One of the highlights of this trip was a reunion with Gyuri, who was a student in Debrecen when we were there in 1997–98.

2024

After a seventeen-year absence, I returned to Europe in April. My son was studying at Elisava Barcelona School of Design and Engineering. I met him in Barcelona. We flew to Budapest, Hungary for four days and then returned to Barcelona so he could show me around “his” city.

  • Budapest, Hungary – 4 days
  • Barcelona, Spain – 5 days
It was so good to see my friend Laci again. We got to spend some time together on 2 of the days we were in Budapest.

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