Jim’s Catholic Trips

Hello pilgrims!

I am very excited to announce the 2010-2011 Catholic Trips pilgrimage schedule…………

TOURS-

Italy-we will visit rome and all the holy places in that city, besides traveling to assisi and tuscany.

Lourdes-visiting holy shrines throughout france, in addition to taking a river cruise out of paris to see the beaches of normandy, honfleur, and other notable sights.

Poland-visiting the holy sights in krakow, warsaw and exploring many of the terrific sights for tourists.

Oberammergau-enjoying the passion play, and traveling in bavaria and austria as well. we will see exciting places where the sound of music was filmed among other places.

Medjugorge-visiting this holy place. an opportunity to renew your faith in an environment that spiritually moves people every time they visit.

South America-we will stay in a lodge in the amazon jungle and also visit machu picchu. a spiritual journey beyond your wildest dreams.

Africa-we will go to kenya and enjoy safari’s, visiting villages, and learn more about this fascinating country.

New Zealand & Australia-we will travel the north and south island of new zealand and offer a tour of australia as an optional add on trip.

CRUISES:

Mediterranean-we will visit the greek islands and sail out of italy.

Caribbean-this cruise will be used as a fund raiser cruise for all catholic non-profit organizations.

Mexico-we will sail out of california and sail to mazatlan, puerto vallarta and cabo san lucas.

Alaska-we will visit all the exciting ports in alaska, and offer a land tour to denali park as an optional tour.

ROAMIN’ CATHOLIC GETAWAYS-

New York City-includes a broadway show, great shopping with a catholic twist.

Chicago-we will enjoy all the windy city has to offer.

Washington D.C.-we will visit the national cathedral and enjoy the great sights in the city.

DisneyWorld-we will enjoy four days in the magic kingdom.

New Orleans-from sights to shopping, this will be a festive trip.

Seattle-a very exciting look at this bustling city.

All the details of these trips will be available on January 1st! So be watching. If any of these look good to you, and you would like to be added to the waitlist to receive a flyer, we will put your name on the list and send the information to you before anyone else sees it. Just email me at Jim@CatholicTrips.com

Have a great weekend everyone!
Jim West

• Comments »

Hi all!

We are hiring in our Catholic Trips office, someone to organize our pilgirmages and help escort our trips. A travel background is helpful, but not necessary. For more information about the job description, contact Jim West at Jim@CatholicTrips.com

Thanks!

Jim

• Comments »

For those of you who do not already know this, Catholic Trips is a division of a large travel corporation called Travel Alliance, Inc. Under this corporate umbrella are many niche travel markets, that specialize in unique travel experiences. For those of you who might be interested, the following are some of the niche travel companies you might enjoy:

SCRAPBOOKING www.ScrapMap.com
QUILTING www.SewManyPlaces.com
COOKING TOURS www.TuscanyCookingTours.com
FARMING www.AgTrips.com
GARDENING www.ToursInBloom.com
HAIR STYLISTS www.AreWeHairYet.com
HONEYMOONS www.HoneymoonsRUs.com
CRUISES www.CruiseRebate.com

There are many more companies, but I thought I’d let you take a look at these to see if any of them might be attractive to you.

Have a blessed day!

Jim

• Comments »

In just a couple weeks, we are going to be launching a very exciting travel program that gives those of you on a tight budget and not too much time off, the opportunity to go on a vacation here in the United States and Canada. Our program is called “Roamin’ Catholics with Jim West, and I am so excited to be your special host on these trips.

We will stay four days in one destination, a Thursday-Sunday, someplace that fun, and the approximate cost for the trip will be under $600 per person. Then the following month, we’ll roam someplace else. It will give you an opportunity to celebrate your Catholic faith and combine this with a great long weekend vacation.

Be watching, the exciting news is coming in just a couple weeks, and I’m sure you will find at least one place that you will want to go.

Until then, keep praying, keep loving and let your light shine!

God Bless You!

Jim West

We will do go to places like New York City, Santa Fe,

• Comments »

Hi everyone!

Just got this in and thought it was worth passing along to you, especially in today’s economy. We have a 7-day cruise sailing next January 10, 2010 on a brand new ship-Carnival Freedom.

The ship sails from Ft. Lauderdale, and goes to Key West, Grand Cayman, Ocho Rios, and has two days at sea!

The cost for the port charges, taxes, all meals, entertainment and activities, inside cabin accommodations, complimentary gifts, chocolate covered strawberries, bottle of champaign, and personally escorted by Catholic Trips owner-Jim West! All this for only $595.00!!

Don’t delay, we have 25 cabins held at this price. Pay only a few dollars more and upgrade to a window cabin, balcony or balcony suite!

And contrary to what you may have heard or experienced about Carnival Cruise Lines, I can tell you, since I was just on this ship a week ago, it is a FANTATIC ship, great food, wonderful entertainment, very comfortable cabins and a very friendly staff onboard the ship. Honestly, this cruise is an incredible value!

And for every full paying person who joins us on this cruise, we are donating out of our commission, $25.00 to the TEC Conference.

Why pay more for your cruise in the Caribbean when there is a deal like this out there?!

Call our office to place your $100 deposit and don’t forget to ask about our low monthly payment plan. Only $75.00 a month!!!

Contact Bridget at 877-463-8747

• Comments »

Our pilgrimage to Italy has 10 spaces left before we start our waiting list. If any of you would like to receive a flyer on this trip, please contact Bridget in our office as soon as possible. Bridget@CatholicTrips.com You can also read the day to day itinerary on this website.

The spiritual director for this pilgrimage is Fr. Joe Dondanville, a personal friend of mine, and someone who travels to Italy with us every year. He is a gem! Having Fr. Joe as the spiritual director will enhance your trip to Italy in incredible ways, I promise you.

I will also be coming along on the trip to make sure every aspect of the pilgrimage goes smoothly. We are capping the number of participants to 30 people, so if you are interested, please contact our office this week!

Grazie Mille!

• Comments »

JAMBO!!

I have just returned a couple weeks ago from one of the most extraordinary trips I’ve ever been on…….ever-an expedition in Africa! It was truly one of the best travel experiences in my life, no question about it. Although I had been to Africa on six previous tours, this was by far, the best. From safari game drives each day, to visiting a tribe in the Masai Mara for the day, our trip to East Africa was without doubt a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I’ll be posting some photos next week on this site to show you.

While I was there, I had the great opportunity to talk with Catholic college students. They told me what it is like growing up Catholic in Kenya, and the idea came to me as we were talking, what if we brought American/Canadian Catholic college students over to meet these college students?!!!!

So the wheels are in motion now to bring 20 college students to Kenya during Christmas break 2009-2010 for our Catholic College Africa Adventure Tour!

I am working with a local priest in Nairobi, who is affilitated with the Bishop’s office there, and they have inexpensive housing for our entire group. We are putting together our itinerary and finalizing everything this week. If any of you would like information about this trip, or if you know someone who might want information, please email me direct at Jim@CatholicTrips.com and I will send it out to you.

Our trip will cost roughly $2800, including airfare, accommodations and most meals. We will not know the exact price until we can secure the airfare in February, but this gives you a good idea of what the price might be.

Also, we have set up a payment plan for this and all our Catholic Trips’ pilgrimages. You can make monthly payments, and it will automatically be deducted from a credit card or debit card that you provide for us.

Finally, if there is a dynamic priest that you know who might want to be our spiritual director on this Catholic College Africa Adventure Tour (CCAAT) please tell them to contact me as soon as possible.

Asante, which means thank you!

• Comments »

“I forgive you this Christmas.” Even saying these words is difficult for me when I think of certain people in my life, but it’s an opportunity for me to move on and prepare for an exciting new year.

Family, friends, coworkers, neighbors, it doesn’t matter who, at least one of them have done something that doesn’t make it so easy to forgive them. I know I personally can’t always say I forgive someone readily if they have done something that has really hurt me, but I know for my own well being, it needs to be said.

In my prayers, when something like this occurs, I often ask Jesus to help me find a way for my heart to honestly forgive, and I struggle sometimes when I think of certain people and I find it very hard to get to that point. I’ve been hurt, but who hasn’t right? This Christmas, I am getting on my knees and truly asking for Jesus to intervene and help me forgive, especially those people whom I have struggled to forgive.

For any of you who might know what I am talking about, say this prayer with me now: “Dear Lord, how often I have asked for your help in forgiving (say the person’s name). I find myself always thinking of how they hurt me and I even want some kind of revenge or something to happen to them to show them how they hurt me. Please heal these feelings Jesus, and make me a better person, a better Christian. With any pain I may feel because of them, this time of year, I ask for your comfort and your healing. Please find a way that my life can connect with their life again in a more loving way. I believe you can provide the miracle Lord. Guide me to a better place and help me realize whether they apologize or not, they are still your child, loving, kind and human. Help me see only their good qualities, the qualities I choose to focus on from now on. Help me eliminate the negative things about this person and only see good. I ask all of this through Jesus Christ, Amen.”
The holy spirit has guided me to write this today, and I trust that is what I was supposed to do, without reservation. Of course, I write this for my benefit more than anyone elses, but if it’s helped you, I’m glad.

God bless all of you this Christmas, and I wish you all a wonderful, healthy and happy New Year!

• Comments »

No one could be happier when I received the confirmation that Archbishop Roger Schwietz will be our spiritual director for our Lourdes pilgrimage next year. All the details can be found on this website. We are currently finalizing the pricing for this pilgrimage, but if you’d like to be the first to receive the information (before the rest of the population does), please email me and I will put you on a list to receive this a week or so before anyone else does.

This pilgrimage is also a fund-raiser for the TEC Conference. As a former TECite, and avid supporter of the TEC (Teens Encounter Christ) program, I am thrilled to be participating in this pilgrimage.

I promise you, if you’ve ever wanted to join a pilgrimage, and have had a desire to visit the holy sites we will be seeing, this is the trip you want to be on!!

A little inside information-Archbishop Roger was paramount in my decision to start Catholic Trips in the first place, so I am passionate and enthusiastic about traveling with him again!

Have a great Saturday!
Jim

• Comments »

Hi good Catholics!
I am curious, having been an alter boy for six years when I was just a wee tike, do you have a favorite alter boy story to share? If so, why not share it with my blog readers.

My favorite was when I was serving mass for a funeral. I was holding the incense burner and no sooner did Father put incense on the charcoal, then my eyes became all watery from the smoke that kept rising into my face.

After the mass, the relatives of the person who died came up to me and asked if I knew their deceased loved one because I was crying so much on the alter.

Ahhhh, the life of an alter boy. Share your stories and let’s see who I should send a Catholic Trips totebag to for the most amusing story!

Happy Saturday!
Jim

• Comments »