Six Hearts One Journey
The Unfettered Quest…
Team
Deena
Six Hearts One Journey is a travel blog created by Deena, a wife and mother of four adult children, sharing her family’s adventures. After a 15-month Round the World Journey starting in 2014, they continue to travel and dive into their personal passions. Ryan is running his College Admissions Consulting business, Summa Factor, while Deena enjoys working with her amazing clients at Global Getaways.
Ryan
Mikayla
Ryan Thomas
Kathryn
Danny
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Athens: Ancient Greek Myths and Modern Financial Crises
Greece. It’s a country I’ve always wanted to visit. My desire to explore Athens especially grew when I began homeschooling Mikayla and Ryan in first grade. I have to admit it was also when I discovered how amazing history could be. Until then, I’d thought the subject rather boring, as my history teachers seemed to fall into a catatonic state cracking open our old history books. As I began to share fun Greek myths during story times, or teach them about the birth of democracy, and about philosophers like Socrates, Plato, and… Read More
Day 393: The Wailing Wall, Jerusalem
After the encouraging Easter service (The Beauty of the Empty Tomb), we took a walk through Old Town Jerusalem, dodging friendly shopkeepers and aggressive tourists. We visited the Western Wall, and more specifically the Wailing Wall, which is one of the most sacred sites in Judaism. I’ve often heard of the Wailing Wall but was not prepared for what greeted us as we entered the plaza and began to slowly descend the stairs. Before approaching the walls, we encountered hand washing stations used to ritually cleanse oneself prior to praying. While I… Read More
Day 392: The Beauty of the Empty Tomb
On Easter Morning, we celebrated together at the Garden Tomb with Nick and Angel and about 1000-1500 other believers from around the world. It’s hard to describe just how special that experience was. As we viewed one of the likely spots where Jesus may have been buried and then risen on the third day, I marveled at the beauty and significance of the empty tomb! For some reason, I had never thought through that before, but having the empty tomb with the words “He is not here, for He is risen” displayed just outside the… Read More
Day 390: Israel and Old Town Jerusalem
We have dear friends in Israel who invited us to visit them during the week of Easter, as they had some time off. We were surprised by the timing, as we’ve wanted to visit Nick, Angel, and their children for several years now, as well as spend an Easter in Jerusalem. To have the opportunity to do both at the same time was a wonderful and unexpected treat. Just being with “family” again after so many months on the road was its own kind of special. Add to that the love and kindness… Read More
Day 380: Jordan/Israel and the Dreaded Border Crossing!
After enjoying a few days in Jordan, we headed to the Jordan-Israel border at Allenby/King Hussein Bridge, as we had opted to drive to Jerusalem versus fly into Tel Aviv. We found that the easiest way for our family of six to do this was by arranging for a taxi to the Jordanian side of the crossing from our hotel by the Dead Sea. It was so much faster, we thought…just an hour or two away to our destination from the Dead Sea by land. Why go through the hassle of checking in… Read More
Day 379: In Search of Gordon Ramsey – London
Ok, the truth is, I am not into reality TV shows. Most of them are crazy and I avoid watching them. Master Chef and Hell’s Kitchen, however, are two I can honestly say I enjoy at times. I’m not sure why exactly. I don’t particularly enjoy the bickering, fighting, and swearing…but I do love learning about food and there’s no denying that Chef Gordon Ramsay knows his way around a kitchen! Just take a glance at his profile and you’ll know what I mean. Plus, there’s just something genuine and kindhearted about the Chef… Read More
Day 376: Discovering Jerash, Jordan
I have to confess, I knew NOTHING about the city of Jerash, not one, single, solitary thing. I had never even heard of it! Our discovery happened because we chose the only available nonstop flight between Istanbul and Amman, Jordan leaving at 1am in the morning from Istanbul. We had initially planned to fly out the day after, but choosing this late night route allowed us to maximize our short time in Jordan. Making this decision ended up being very fortuitous, because just 9 hours after we departed, there was a country wide blackout, a suspected act… Read More
Day 370: In Search of Indiana Jones and the Holy Grail – Petra
Many of us remember the famous scene from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, where Harrison Ford and Sean Connery race through a steep, narrow canyon on horses, and burst through a sudden opening, discovering the hidden city. I’ll never forget their first glimpse of Petra, the stone city carved deeply into the side of the red cliff. At the time, I thought it was just make believe, a brilliant part of the cinematography used to create the movie, but I was wrong. When I realized that this unusual destination, Petra, the Capital of the Nabataean… Read More
Day 367: Floating in the Dead Sea
After leaving exotic Istanbul, we headed to Jordan! One of our top priorities here was to take a dip in the Dead Sea. We wanted to see if all of the hype was really true. Could we, indeed, float on the surface of the Dead Sea without any floatation devices? While we believed this might be true, we had yet to verify this claim. We were extremely curious to discover the truth as well as experience this strange phenomenon for ourselves. Can you guess what our conclusion was? Here’s a photo that may… Read More
Day 366: Time Flies…One Year Already!
Unbelievable! Today, June 16th, marks our Round the World one year anniversary! It’s difficult to believe a whole year has passed, and yet here we are in Vienna, Austria, making plans for our return. Over the last few days, I’ve been putting together a “Year in Review” with photos and commentary, but as I progressed, I realized it would take much longer than I anticipated. Perhaps I will save that for our return. In the meantime, as I was reflecting on the past year, I was reminded of God’s goodness to us in… Read More
Deena Gainor
Six Hearts One Journey 