Travel Tales: Locals' ventures to other countries

Paul and Kay Logsdon of Evangel University and Noble Communications, respectively, spent several weeks in Australia in June to celebrate their 30th anniversary.

They visited the Sydney Opera House, the Royal Botanic Gardens and the famous Sydney Harbour Bridge.

The couple also visited Cairns, where they snorkeled at the Great Barrier Reef, traveled in a glass-bottomed submarine and visited the tropical rain forests. Paul Logsdon, an avid photographer and traveler, called the sunset at Port Douglas “the best sunset picture I’ve ever taken.”

On a Mission

Jason Bromley, going into his sophomore year at Missouri State University, spent two weeks in June on a mission trip in Kenya with other members of Christian Campus House. The group visited churches all across the country, teaching and preaching, and helping to build a new church in the city of Lodwar.

Bromley said he was surprised by how much he missed the creature comforts of home.

“Halfway through the trip, I said, ‘After I get back, I’m going to order a pizza and watch a movie,’” said Bromley, who wants to be a missionary after graduation. “I have a lot more respect for those people and how hard that (life) is.”

Train Tour

Emily Hunholz, a Missouri State University sophomore, spent two weeks traveling by rail across Europe, seeing sights in France, Italy and Switzerland with her best friend, Lisa Wainwright.

While Hunholz said the low monetary exchange rate was a bit of a challenge, the duo didn’t let it deter their trip.

“(We) really wanted to go to Europe, and we decided this was the best time to do it,” she said. “We just traveled around, took trains everywhere we wanted to go. It was great.”