The Traveler
Who is the traveler, or pilgrim, apart from the vacationer?
This is the question we seek to answer as we, a family of five, travel for 100 days in the EU and UK. I started a book (again) that I’ve had for a couple of decades, The Art of Pilgrimage: The Seeker’s Guide to Making Travel Sacred, by Phil Cousineau. During the weeks leading up to this day, I paused for a time to read this wonderful book about the perspectives we can take when traveling and about the importance of sacred travel.
One does not need to be religious to be interested in sacred travel. I would say it is our soul’s longing to catch up with our bodies and racing minds. It is a practice of humility, gratitude, curiosity, and wonder. It is not a vacation to get away from it all or be served with all of the daily niceties you depend on at home. Why? The answer to this is in the traveler’s heart – the true desire to encounter the sacred, where life is truly meaningful simply because one is alive.
Perhaps you know our family deeply, and maybe you are the beloved people we call family. And maybe this is the first time you are encountering us. We are an American family, we desire a pause in what we would consider daily life, and we hope to see new perspectives from the wisdom of the countries we visit. Most of all, we hope to meet others on the journey.
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