By Scott Shephard

Our traveling family has been on the move almost continuously and has seen many amazing things over the last few days. It will be bittersweet to get on the airplane on Saturday morning and return to the USA. We will miss seeing Lynn and Jon, whom we hadn’t seen for 2 1/2 years prior to this. But we will also miss traveling through the sometimes strange and always beautiful country of Romania.

Travel of any kind - but especially travel to a place that isn’t frequented by cruise boats and tour buses filled with English speaking people like us - is eye opening. We learn that much is sometimes profoundly different in how people live. We also learn, I hope, not to make judgements.

This drone shot of farmland in rural Romania may illustrate this. Most of the cropland you see in this photo was or is planted with corn —just like in the Great Plains. If you wonder why there are so many distinct strips it is because this land is divided to serve several farmers. In the USA we would say this is inefficient. In this part of Romania, they would say that this land provides a living - food, housing and clothing for the farmer and his/her family. And, as the owner of the rural retreat Lynn had booked for our stay said, this kind of farming is “sustainable” in ways that modern farming and grazing may not be.

This land has been providing a living for centuries and will continue to do so for generations to come. How can you not admire and perhaps learn from that?

DJI Minie Pro 3 5 frame HDR