Nicole’s e-Pistle “Travel”
May 6, 2026
Greetings, Friends!
I drew a question out of the box in the Commons, and it asked where I have traveled and where I would still like to go someday. I think this is fitting, since many of you are world travelers! Traveling to new places and experiencing new things has been a source of joy my whole life.
When I was growing up, my parents took us on a 2 week motorhome trip every summer. In the course of my first three decades on earth, I traveled to 42 of our 50 states. It’s easier to name the ones I have not seen (or at least crossed the state line into) than it is to name the ones I have visited. I hope to complete the set someday by traveling to the Pacific coast, Alaska, Hawaii, and the few dotted around the Continental United States that we missed. Seeing as how my mother and I sang the whole way through Oklahoma one summer with the entire Rogers and Hammerstein soundtrack, my father knew better than to cross the border into Iowa!
Oh, I know all I owe, I owe Iowa. I owe Iowa all I owe and I know why… I owe Iowa for her ham. I owe Iowa for her jam. Not to mention, her barley, wheat and rye!
– Or another personal favorite –
You can be cold as the falling thermometer in December if you ask about our weather in July, ‘cause we’re so by-God stubborn we can stand touchin’ noses for a week at a time and never see eye to eye! But we’ll give you our shirt… and a back to go with it, if your crop should happen to die… So what the heck, you’re welcome! Glad to have you with us. Even though we may not ever mention it again. You really ought to give Iowa a try! (Provided you are contrary.)
As far as international travel, I went to England, Ireland, and Wales in June of 2000, just a couple of weeks after high school graduation. My chaperone and I teamed up with other high school groups from around the country, mainly from Texas, Alabama, and Minnesota. We began the trip with a couple of days spent in London, mostly taking bus or taxi tours around the city. While I got to see Buckingham Palace and the changing of the guard, Prince William did not take notice of me as I thought he might, so fate would have him marrying Kate instead of Nicole. Sigh. (Prince William and I are nearly the same age.) I also did not get to see the Tower of London or the Globe Theater – something I desperately wanted to see in person. However, my chaperone and I convinced a taxi driver to take me to Portobello Road, made famous in Disney’s Bedknobs and Broomsticks.
Portobello Road, Portobello Road… Street where the riches of ages are stowed. Anything and everything a chap can unload is sold off the barrow in Portobello Road.
From there, I visited Windsor Castle, Stratford-Upon-Avon (got my Shakespeare in there, at least), and Oxford. Then it was on to Wales to visit the longest-named city in Britain, if not the world…
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, or Llanfair for short. It consists of 58 letters split into 18 syllables, but I can only pronounce “Llanfair” and “gogogoch.” From there, we sailed across the Irish Sea to Dublin, then down to Waterford and over to the Ring of Kerry. I had not anticipated falling in love with Ireland so quickly, but it melted itself into my soul. The deep Kelly green hills, the legends of the Little People, and a chance to kiss the Blarney Stone were magical. In fact, my good luck in kissing the Blarney Stone, where centuries of people’s mouths pressing up against the surface likely created a cesspool of germs, was that the wind whipped through the battlements and blew my hair right over my face as I leaned out over the gap, upside down on my back, to kiss the stone. (This would have been the whole in the floor that looked onto the outside of the castle, probably for pouring boiling hot oil onto attackers below.) Essentially, I kissed my hair instead of the cold wet surface of the stone and averted contracting any unknown pathogens!
Ten years later, I traveled with a friend and coworker to Italy. We visited Milano, Firenze, Piza, and Lucca. I mainly remember eating my weight in pasta and Italy’s version of pizza, which, being an American invention, was actually far better in Italy. We shopped, went to the symphony, climbed to the tops of duomos, and went to a charming restaurant in the medieval city of Lucca, which is still surrounded by the original wall that protected the city from invaders. Now, it only protects the city from regular-sized cars and busses. Only a tiny Mini-Coupe could fit through its gates. In the restaurant, tucked away where only the locals visit, we ascended the stairs to an upper chamber, where the tables were more elegant than the tavern-like setting below. I expected to hear Vivaldi playing in the background, or at least some Dean Martin, but instead, we were met with American Pop music by Rhianna and Drake…
Oh na na, What’s My Name?… Oh na na, What’s My Name?… Oh na na, What’s My Name?… Oh na na, What’s My Name?… Oh na na, What’s My Name?… (Uh) What’s My Name, What’s My Name?
Seriously. Not kidding. It made my Rigatoni Bolognesi just a little less enjoyable.
Finally, I traveled to all five Southern states in India during my time at Columbia Theological Seminary, but those stories will have to wait for another day. I am about to be late for my last day with the Leadership Dalton Whitfield program, and I’d like to get there in time for breakfast and the day’s announcements. So, I will say… To Be Continued…
Until next week, Blessings and Peace, my Friends!
