For many of us, vacation season is a time to reconnect with our spiritual center. Read on for ideas on creating your own journey.
Karen Wingert's idea of a good vacation is to get in touch with her spiritual side. A couple of years ago she traveled to Assisi, Italy, with Unity Rising, a travel ministry in Columbia, Missouri.
“It's a very religious-based city,” said Wingert, who lives in Columbia and serves on the board of Unity Rising, formed by the Rev. Kristen Powell to engage participants in adventures of body, mind and spirit. “We spent time every day in meditation and active prayer, and then we toured and got the religious component and history of Assisi too.”
Last year the group headed to the Incan ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru.
“Machu Picchu has an incredible history,” Wingert said. “So as we were learning the history and the significance of the spiritual things that happened in that environment, we tried to absorb it and then do our own cleansing and our own meditations.”
Wingert is far from alone in her pursuits.
The faith-based division of Globus, a tourism company that dates to 1928, has seen double-digit increases in tours every year since 2004, said Mike A. Schields, director of group sales and emerging markets.
“It's been lucrative enough to keep investing more and more,” Schields said.
Globus' Religious Travel Study last year found that 4.5 million people have traveled intentionally on a religious or faith-based vacation. By 2012, the number is expected to climb by another 9.7 million travelers.
Spiritual travel encompasses a lot more than trips to cathedrals and dusty religious sites. Faith-based travelers build houses and schools, do yoga exercises in the desert, and meditate and pray at monasteries. Some even combine spiritual renewal with a little time on a deck chair aboard a megacruise ship.
So whether you're packing your bags with sunscreen or a Bible, a hammer or walking shoes, there's bound to be a faith journey that appeals to you. We've compiled a few ideas, just to get you started.
Cruise Control
Cruising? Since when have all those umbrella-topped drinks and shore excursions had any role in renewing your connection to God?
Actually, a retreat or structured cruise can change “people more in seven days than in 20 years of just occasional Sunday worship because it's a concentrated positive injection into a person's life,” said the Rev. Christopher Ian Chenoweth, founder of the online prayer ministry Positive Christianity.
Positive Christianity has organized one or two spiritual retreat cruises a year since 2002. This year's seven-day Western Caribbean cruise aboard the Carnival Conquest will leave Galveston, Texas, on November 8 and visit ports such as Cozumel, Mexico; Montego Bay, Jamaica; and Grand Cayman.
The difference between it and other fun-in-the-sun cruises? Thirteen hours of nondenominational spiritual programs, led by a variety of speakers, including Chenoweth, former senior minister at the Unity Village Chapel in the Kansas City area.
Participants can attend as many or as few of the programs as they'd like on the cruise's days at sea.
“I send out several letters ahead of time saying, ‘This is your spiritual retreat cruise. If that for you is sitting on a deck chair and not attending one of our programs, that's your retreat,'” Chenoweth said.
Program topics vary. Chenoweth expects his to be on positive thinking.
Cruise prices this year start at $425 per person for an inside cabin, including accommodations, food, on-ship entertainment, and programs. To learn more, see www.positivechristianity.org and look for “Spiritual Retreat Cruises.”
Positive Christianity isn't the only organization to lead spiritual cruises. Among the largest is Inspiration Cruises. To learn more about it, see www.inspirationcruises.com or call 800-247-1899. For other ideas, see a travel agent who specializes in cruises. You can find one by contacting the Cruise Lines International Association at www.cruising.org.
Hands On
Want to put your faith into action? Volunteers for Peace, a nonprofit organization founded in 1982, sends volunteers to more than 100 countries around the world. Projects, most lasting two or three weeks, are available for adults, teens, seniors and families.
“No matter what religion you follow—or don't happen to follow—I think there's a common bond between all people that seeks to have what they would call in Christianity ‘in communion,'” said Amy Bannon, executive director of the Belmont, Vermont-based organization. “There is a commonality between all religions and all people. We want to understand each other.”
Volunteers for Peace helps nurture that commonality with projects such as working at a Palestinian refugee camp outside Bethlehem, rebuilding a house in Kenya and taking part in healing and reconciliation workshops there, and participating in a peace camp in Concord, New Hampshire.
In most developed countries the basic fee is $300 for a multiweek placement that includes food, accommodations, and work materials. Volunteers arrange and pay for their own transportation. Contact www.vfp.org or call 802-259-2759 for details.
Other organizations often work on more specific projects in specific countries. Transformational Journeys, a nonprofit organization in Kansas City, Missouri, sends workers on eight to 10 trips a year to Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala and Tanzania.
Projects range from arts and crafts and English classes to home repair, water projects and church painting, said executive director Candace Kaster.
“I think the number one thing we hear from people is that they thought they were going on this trip to serve, when in reality they were the ones being served,” Kaster said.
Trips through Transformational Journeys last 10 to12 days and cost from $1750 for a trip to Guatemala to $4800 for a trip to Tanzania. Prices include transportation, food and lodging. See www.tjourneys.org or call 816-808-3668.
Other resources: International Volunteer Programs Association (www.volunteerinternational.org, 646-505-8209) or the book Volunteer Vacations: Short-Term Adventures That Will Benefit You and Others by Bill McMillon (Chicago Review Press; ninth edition, 2006).
Reality Check
To change the world, you need to learn more about it. Global Exchange, a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, specializes in trips that help its participants to become better citizens of the world. It organizes about 100 trips a year to 37 countries.
Instead of volunteer vacations, Global Exchange's niche is study, or “reality trips.”
“For me, every single trip has a purpose and an intention behind it of connection to the human spirit, to people who may sound different from us and eat differently from us but really have similar desires,” said Malia Everette, director of Global Exchange's Reality Tours. “Half of our business is customized, and we've done a number of trips with churches and faith-based groups.”
Some examples of trips this year: “Chiapas—Indigenous Land Rights and Bio-Diversity,” in Mexico; “Land, Health and Development,” in South Africa; and “War and Displacement in the Middle East,” in Jordan and Syria.
Some trips are more difficult, at least emotionally, than others, Everette said.
“They are heavy. I just got back from a trip to India, and it's all about the living legacy of Gandhi on contemporary India. Yes, you're going into a rural community that's really poor, but it's also very inspiring.”
Prices run from about $850 for nine or 10 days in Mexico to $2,950 for 14 days in South Africa, including food and accommodations, entrance fees, honorariums for speakers and leaders, and internal airfares, but not international airfare to the destination. To learn more, contact Global Exchange at www.globalexchange.org or 415-255-7296.
Just Desert
Maybe you're the type who prefers an inward journey, taking time to reflect on your soul and search for renewal. With maybe a relaxing massage along the way.
Many people find answers in the Arizona desert, especially in the Sedona area, known for towering red sandstone cliffs.
If it's personal growth you're after, check companies like the Sedona Intensive, which offers a five-day structured program that encompasses massage therapy, psychology, pilates, yoga and meditation.
“We don't consider ourselves religiously affiliated. We're more spiritually based,” said Scott Carney, codirector of the Sedona Intensive. “We're trying to get people in touch with their own personal concept of a God or higher power.
“I would call it a spiritual renewal retreat. Many of the people we help come from grief because their spouse or child has died and that was their whole identity, or they come because they've had high-profile jobs and suddenly they've been let go and their whole identity has been wiped away.”
The Sedona Intensive's one-on-one therapies come at a price. A five-day program runs about $8000, excluding lodging in Sedona. For information, see www.sedonaintensive.com or call 800-647-0732.
Another organization to check is the Sedona Meditation Training Company, www.sedonameditation.com. For spiritual sojourns and vortex hikes, one choice is Sedona Private Guides
(www.sedonaprivateguides.com).
On your own, check out the magnificent and inspiring Chapel of the Holy Cross, nestled among the rocks (www.chapeloftheholycross.com).
For general Sedona information, contact www.visitsedona.com.
Look Inward
If your inward journey directs you to a more private (and less expensive) destination, retreat centers and some monasteries welcome you for just that.
Near the Missouri River in Atchison, Kansas, the Benedictine Sisters at Mount St. Scholastica offer private, prayerful retreats or programmed group retreats.
The accommodations are simple, “just a bed and a chair and a dresser,” said Sister Eleanor Suther, director of the monastery's Sophia Center. “People usually stay one or two days, but some people stay a week. We have one woman who comes for about 10 days at a time several times a year. She does her yoga in her room, and we rarely see her.”
Meals can be taken privately or at the monastery. Retreatants pay $40 a night for lodging, $20 for meals.
Programmed retreats this year are offered on topics such as “Inner Healing: Freedom Through Reconciliation,” “Centering Prayer,” and “Illuminating the Word: The Gospel of Luke.” Prices vary.
For information about retreats at Mount St. Scholastica, see www.mountosb.org or call 913-360-6173.
Other convents and monasteries around the world welcome visitors too. Among choices are the Clear Creek Monastery in Hulbert, Oklahoma (www.clearcreekmonks.org), the Holy Trinity Monastery in St. David, Arizona (www.holytrinitymonastery.org), the Saint Benedict Center in Madison, Wisconsin (www.sbcenter.org), and the Richmond Hill Retreat Facility in Virginia (www.richmondhillva.org).
A guide to retreats is Sanctuaries: The Complete United States—A Guide to Lodgings in Monasteries, Abbeys, and Retreats by Jack and Marcia Kelley (Crown Publishers).
For retreats in Italy check www.santasusanna.org for recommendations from the American Catholic Church or www.DolceVita.com.
All Together Now
Maybe you'd like to follow in the footsteps of the apostle Paul. You'd like to explore the lands of the European Reformation. Or you'd like to see biblical sites in Egypt and Jordan. But it's a just a little daunting to even plan such a trip.
For many people, group travel is the answer. Hotels? Booked. Admissions? Got it. Transportation from place to place? Not a problem.
Globus' faith-based travel division, lists 13 specific itineraries this year but “endless combinations and permutations,” said group sales and emerging markets director Mike Schields.
Travelers journey from destination to destination by motor coach, generally with 25 to 45 passengers and tour leaders. Often, congregations travel together or in small groups. Sometimes it's just a couple or two or three friends. All tours are different, of course. On some, there's a rail component; on others a cruise.
And, oh, the places they go.
Tours include “Turkey and the Book of Revelation,” “Irish Faith and History,” “The Legacy of Pope John Paul II,” and “England's Christian Heritage.” The most popular tour is “Footsteps of the Apostle Paul,” in Greece and Turkey. Next year Globus will lead travelers to Oberammergau, Germany, known for its Passion Play, which is performed just once every 10 years.
And back this year: Israel, for the first time since 2002. “Israel is always the fastest market to rebound,” Schields said. “It just comes roaring back every time.”
Most trips last eight to 12 days, depending on the destination. Prices vary, too, but the Israel trip, for example, costs $2099 a person, excluding airfare.
For many people, this kind of travel represents “a kind of reawakening of their spirit,” Schields said. “Every person reacts differently. Some are moved. Some have their spirit strengthened. Others just have a darned good time and that's what they want.”
For information about Globus' faith-based tours, see www.globusfaith.com or call 877-797-8793. To check out the competition and comparison shop, contact a travel agent.
On Your Own
Perhaps no city offers so many must-see destinations—both sacred and secular—as Rome, the Eternal City. With some careful planning, it's an easy destination to tackle on your own.
Any Rome itinerary is bound to leave out dozens of spectacular sights, but here are 10:
Vatican City. The frescoes, mosaics, statues, and riches will make you ooh and ah. The restored ceiling of the Sistine Chapel is amazing—you'll wish for a cot so you could lie down and stare up longer. Explore St. Peter's Basilica and St. Peter's Square.
Patriarchal Basilicas. Rome has four patriarchal basilicas, including St. Peter's in the Vatican. The others are St. Paul Outside the Walls, which stands on the burial site of St. Paul; St. John Lateran, considered the oldest church in the world; and St. Mary Major, built in the fifth century.
Catacombs. Dozens of ancient Christian underground burial tombs have been discovered, but only a few are open to visitors. If you visit, look carefully for ancient Christian symbols, including doves and fish.
The Roman Forum. The ruins of the Forum, the ancient center of Roman politics and culture, are perhaps Rome's signature attraction. And the ruins are still being uncovered.
The Colosseum. Gladiators and wild animals, oh my. You can't leave without seeing this symbol of Imperial Rome.
Spanish Steps. One of the world's best-known staircases takes its name from the nearby Spanish Embassy to the Vatican.
Villa Borghese. Rome's central park offers a few minutes' rest from the tourist throngs. It's home to one of the city's most celebrated museums, Galleria Borghese.
Piazzas. There are no better places to people-watch than Rome's public squares. I had two favorites. Check out Piazza del Popolo, with twin churches and three fountains, and Piazza Navona, featuring beautiful Bernini sculptures in its fountains.
The Pantheon. The pagan temple was built about 12 B.C. by the Roman general Agrippa and later became a Christian church. Mass is still said there.
Gelato. Italian ice cream is a must—at least once a day. Fortunately, every Roman neighborhood has a gelato stand. Enjoy.
Ask your travel agent about packages to Rome and elsewhere in Italy. Or see www.italiantourism.com or www.romaturismo.com.
