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Individual Travelers

Embark on a life-changing experience

Where to look for faith vacation opportunities

When it comes to taking a faith vacation, you now have many choices as an individual traveler. You can choose from not only holy lands and missionary travel, but also cruises, adventure trips, active travel, rallies, attractions, and much more. The hardest part today is not deciding on whether to embark on a faith-based vacation, but rather – which one.

Where can you look for faith vacation opportunities? First, inquire of course as to whether your church or faith community is offering any trips. Next, check to see if any religious organizations (i.e. singles Web site, women's ministry, etc.) you belong to might be hosting a trip. Also get a copy of local or national religious newspapers and publications, as many churches and groups often advertise their trips here.

One of the best places however to look for faith vacations is the WRTA Online Directory (click here www.religioustravelassociation.com/wrtapartners.htm). Not only can you search for travel companies that specialize in faith journeys, but you can also conduct searches for exactly what you want. For example, if you want a faith-based cruise.....simply visit the section for cruise agencies. If you were looking for a mission trip opportunity, you could search for missionary travel companies and agencies. One thing is for sure - you will not lack for companies and agencies specializing in faith travel.

To sum up, there's never been a more exciting time to embark on or lead a faith vacation. Unlike ever before, your options are almost as unlimited as your imagination. If you want faith adventure trips such as multi-day whitewater rafting, they exist. If you want faith active trips such as hiking or bicycling through another country, they exist. If you want faith educational study trips, they exist. And possibly best yet, if something you want currently doesn't exist, you can always create the trip and lead it. Out of the more than 300 million religious travelers from around the world, surely others share your same travel wishes and desires.

Choosing independent or group travel

Another question many Christian travelers are faced with is – whether to travel independently or with a group. There are of course advantages to both. Independent travel provides virtual unlimited freedom, whereas group travel provides companionship and security.

Let's look at each of these a bit more in-depth. As you debate whether to travel on your own or with a group, let's look at the benefits of traveling solo first. As mentioned, you have virtual unlimited freedom. Translated, this means you can essentially choose to do what you want, when you want, and go where you want. Other positives include the ability to either budget or spend as much as you like. In short, everything is your choice. Another benefit is the ability to experience the local culture very intimately, as it's usually just you and the country you're visiting. In short, traveling independently to a holy site or on a retreat, it can sometimes be a wonderful way to travel.

As for traveling in a group, this form of travel is the most popular with faith communities. We see virtually every kind of group these days taking trips together from women's ministries to men's ministries to family ministries to singles groups and the like. The advantages of group travel are a laundry list long. Benefits ranging from greater security, comfort, and ease to trips being more cost-effective (groups have greater buying power), less worrisome (the group travel leader/director does all the work), and more educational (your guides teach you each day about the local culture, people, foods, etc.).

Above all, one of the greatest rewards group travel brings is fellowship. As many faiths are built upon experiencing community and fellowship , that is exactly what is experienced when traveling with others. For this reason alone, many churches and religious organizations are taking advantage of traveling together. And if nothing else, fellowship is probably the top reason to consider traveling with your church or religious organization. For this reason, the vast majority of people of faith journey in groups versus on their own or independently.

Everyone takes a vacation -

get your pastor and church involved

Let's face it virtually all of us take vacations. In fact, statistically many people take at least one trip per year. Knowing this means that a majority of your fellow church or religious organization members are taking vacations at least once a year.

What does all this mean? If you're hoping to embark on missionary travels, on a cruise, retreat, monastic guest-stay, or to a holy site trip overseas, chances are that others from your community might be interested in the same type of trip as well. What should you do? Get your religious leader and church (or religious organization) involved.

Maybe consider serving as the trip organizer or leader. Or, consider launching a travel ministry if your church or religious organization currently does not have one. You will probably be surprised by the great amount of interest such a program creates. In fact, your greatest consolation may lie in knowing that you are providing a tremendous service for your community. Not only will you be providing people with a faith travel option for their next vacation, but you will also be building friendships and bridges among members. It doesn't get any better than this!