Tonight, May 2nd, EWTN will air our first episodes, featuring the National Shrine of St Rita of Cascia in Philadelphia, PA.

We began preparing for and filming this episode way back in 2006, when we interviewed the then-director, Father Michael Di Gregorio, OSA. You can tell in the episode, I look different when I interview Father Michael compared to other parts of the show. That’s because we went back, three years late in 2009, to reshoot and interview the new director, Father Joseph Genito, OSA. I forget why we went back to reshoot. We may have gotten a newer camera or maybe I lost some weight… LOL.

There are so many things I love about this shrine and about this episode. I think the first thing I should mention is the saint to whom it is dedicated, St Rita. My family has always had a special devotion to St Rita. I don’t know why. I remember, as a little girl, seeing a book on St Rita by my mom’s bedside. One of my sisters took St Rita as her confirmation saint. And my family, like many, always believed that St Rita was the patron saint of bad marriages and abused wives because the hagiography (saint history) told that St Rita had been abused herself.

One of the very first things that Father Di Gregorio told me when we met him, back in 2006, was that that history is false. He talks about it in this episode, and explains why people believed that she had been abused, and why it is believed now, that she wasn’t. He even wrote about it in his book (which you can buy at the Shrine or here).

I remember, when we first started promoting The Faithful Traveler, that some people who watched this episode got very angry with us when they heard this new information. And I can understand why. When you are enduring the sad pain of an abusive marriage, or any other of the many sad states in life, it helps to know that there’s a saint in heaven who’s endured and survived, even changed their situation through his or her faith.

What I set out to do with this episode was to present the facts, and then show that even if St Rita wasn’t abused, that doesn’t mean that those who are suffering like that can’t turn to her for help. She is, after all, the patron saint of impossible causes, and there are many other reasons for this. Her great faith in the face of trauma and sadness mirrors that of those who are being abused. She never stopped trusting God, she never stopped praying. That’s what makes her such an awesome saint and example for those of us suffering in this vale of tears, right?

Another reason why I love this shrine is because of the amazing art of Anthony Visco, which you can see everywhere. At the time (I’m not sure if this is still true), Mr. Visco was a parishioner of this parish, and he gave his great talents to helping decorate this amazing shrine. From the beautiful statues of St Rita and her patron saints (that’s St Augustine above), to this beautiful image of Christ that resembles the one St Rita was looking at when she received her stigmata,

to the bas reliefs of Jesus’ ministry along the hallway,

to the beautiful panorama of St Rita’s Cascia,

Anthony Visco helped make this Shrine an absolute FEAST for the eyes. I’ve never met an artist as talented and prodigious as Mr. Visco, and I’m blessed to say that we were albe to not only meet him, but interview him for our episode.  (He’s awesome!)

And that’s JUST the lower shrine! The upper church has some of the most amazing stained glass windows I’ve ever seen! I absolutely love them all, and encourage anyone who comes to this city to stop and see them! Here is just a sampling:

There are so many more amazing things to see at this shrine. AND, here’s the best part–St Rita’s feast day is coming up soon, on May 22nd! So if you’re in the area, come to celebrate it! And bring a rose (I think they sell them at the shrine on that day), because every year on her feast day, they bless roses in honor of the miracle of the rose that happened shortly before her death.

Don’t know the story?
Check out our episode today on EWTN! 
Buy the DVD!
Read the book!
Visit the shrine!

I’m going to put some of my pictures of this shrine up on my Picasa page. Look for them in a bit.

I hope you like the show!

Interview: The Faithful Traveler

By St. Josemaria Institute

Personal blogs and photo/video sharing sites dedicated to travel are transforming how people travel and see the world.  They are also contributing to reviving and increasing the interest in pilgrimages.  Among them is The Faithful Traveler.

The Faithful Traveler, hosted and produced by Diana and David von Glahn, is a travel series that takes viewers on tours of shrines, cathedrals, and pilgrimage sites to “discover the treasures of the Church and gain a deeper understanding of the Catholic faith.”  The series is airing this month (May 2013) on EWTN and is also available on DVD.

With the Marian month of May upon us, and summer around the corner, we are very grateful to Diana for taking the time to speak with us about her faith-filled travel experiences and about the meaning and impact of pilgrimages today.

Q:  What inspired you to produce “The Faithful Traveler” and what is the mission of the series?

A:  Ten years ago, my husband, David, and I were planning our honeymoon to Paris and the Loire Valley. Around that time, we had been watching a lot of the Travel Channel, and we noticed that, while the shows sometimes visited Catholic sites, they usually spoke of them with a lack of understanding. We thought it’d be great if there was a travel show that looked good enough for the Travel Channel, but that covered Catholic locations with respect and faith, and we joked about creating it ourselves. We even pretended to be doing so while on our honeymoon, as we visited places like the Miraculous Medal on the Rue de Bac and the amazing church of Sacre Coeur. When we came home, we thought, “Let’s try it!”  So, we bought all the equipment we could afford and taught ourselves the craft of television production.

Our goal with The Faithful Traveler was to inspire, entertain, and teach, but to do so in a way that rivaled many of the secular television programs currently on TV. While secular TV was rife with many slick productions, most of them presented atrocious untruths about our faith, and while Catholic networks presented truthful programs, they lacked high production values, usually presenting a panel of people sitting in a room talking. Neither of those programs appealed to us, so we set out to create something that entertained and inspired while presenting the amazing majesty of the history and tradition of the Catholic Church.

Q:  When and how did you discover the pilgrimage tradition?

A:  While David converted to Catholicism shortly before our wedding, I’ve been Catholic all my life, and I’ve always loved visiting Catholic churches and pilgrimage sites, and admiring the art, architecture, and history behind them. I grew up in San Diego, California, where we were blessed with the legacy left behind by Father Junipero Serra and the Franciscans, who left California dotted with amazing Missions. As I grew up and travelled the country and world for school and work, I always gravitated toward Catholic places, because, while I might have been in a foreign state or country, a Catholic church is always home.

Q:  How do you explain the differences between a trip/tour/vacation and a pilgrimage?  How do those differences impact and enrich the travel experience?

A:  I like to mix the three as much as I can, and I think anyone can do so with a little planning and forethought. Blessed Pope John Paul II said that vacation is a great time to grow in our faith, and I tried to imbue The Faithful Traveler with that concept. When we travel for business, we’re usually focused on our business purpose, and when we travel for vacation, our goal is often relaxation or sightseeing. Pilgrimage can be those things and so much more. We can learn while on pilgrimage, about a saint, for instance, like when you visit a shrine dedicated to him or her, or about a Catholic devotion, like that of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. We can relax while on pilgrimage, like when we sit in a beautiful cathedral and let the light from the stained glass bathe our souls in peace, or when we reflect on the statues and think about the lives of the saints, or on the crucifix and think about God’s great sacrifice for us.

We can also make sacrifices and acts of reparation during pilgrimage, and doing so definitely gives our visit so much more spiritual heft. Of course, we can do that whenever we travel for any reason—driving in the car to work, dealing with long lines at the airport or grumpy travelers we might encounter. There are so many opportunities to offer things up. But pilgrimage is a perfect opportunity for that. Many pilgrims will walk long distances to a shrine, sometimes even barefoot or on their knees! There are many traditions associated with pilgrimage that include sacrifices, and many times, pilgrims make a pilgrimage to ask for a favor of God or a healing of some sort.

Q:  What do you think people today are seeking when they go on a pilgrimage or simply when they travel to sacred destinations?  Can you share any anecdotes with us from your encounters with pilgrims? 

A:  I think St Augustine said it best when he said, “our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” We have a God-sized hole in our hearts, and pilgrimage helps us fill that hole in a concrete way. We leave our homes, we travel a distance, and we arrive at a spot that, for one reason or another, makes us feel closer to God. As Catholics, we know that God is as close as our nearest Catholic church, where He waits for us in the tabernacle, body and blood. But there’s something special about visiting a magnificent place that does nothing but glorify God in its art and architecture, or that represents an important historical event or person in our faith and tradition.

As we produced The Faithful Traveler, we were blessed to visit many amazing places, all of which helped us grow in closeness to God and His saints. I think of the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark, New Jersey, which has the most amazing stained glass windows in any church outside of Chartres Cathedral in France. Or the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Baltimore, or the small yet amazing Miraculous Medal Shrine here in Philadelphia. These are houses of God, built to honor Him, His Blessed Mother, and the saints, to thank them for everything they do for us. Just stepping inside of them raises my heart and mind to God, and I never want to leave when I’m there.

I’m blessed to live so close to the Miraculous Medal Shrine, where I often go for some of the best confessions I’ve ever had. Every Monday, the Shrine is full of pilgrims from entire states away, of a wide variety of nationalities. They’re all there to praise and honor Jesus and His Blessed Mother under the title of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal. Every Monday, they pray a novena that has been going on for decades, and they often tell of prayers answered and favors granted by Jesus, through the intercession of Mary. It’s just so wonderful to be among these pilgrims, who have such faith and who don’t give up on prayer, even if it takes years, decades. They trust that God hears them, and that our Blessed Mother will help them by bringing their prayers to her Son.

Q:   In your series you do a wonderful job at showing some of the beautiful places of pilgrimage in the United States; however, during this Year of Faith, we are encouraged to go on pilgrimages to the See of Peter, to the Holy Land, and to the major shrines of Our Lady.   Have you had the opportunity to visit these?  How has your pilgrimage to these places impacted your faith?  

A:  I haven’t been able to visit any of the major Marian shrines, like Lourdes, Fatima, or the Basilica dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, but I hope to do so sometime in my life. We have been blessed to visit Rome, where I went mad trying to visit every single Catholic church in the city (I was unsuccessful). We’ve also been blessed to visit St Teresa’s Avila and the Benedictine Abbey, Santa Maria de Montserrat in Spain. And, of course, our honeymoon in France gave us the opportunity to visit the Miraculous Medal Shrine on the Rue de Bac, where Mary appeared to St Catherine Labouré, and where the Miraculous Medal was created.

Recently, and very unexpectedly, David and I were blessed to travel to the Holy Land on a pilgrimage with the Archdiocese of Philadelphia organized by Select International Tours. Our second series of The Faithful Traveler will feature this trip and what it was like to be there. (Check our website for news of its broadcast!) Travelling to the Holy Land is an experience unlike any other. We did see some beautiful churches and cathedrals, like the spectacular Church of the Agony at Gethsemane or the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. But in Israel and Palestine, there is nothing like walking the land that Jesus, his Blessed Mother, and disciples walked. The Sea of Galilee and the Garden of Gethsemane touched me the most, because those are God-made cathedrals that honor His Son. Seeing them brought the Gospels to life for me. I will never pray the rosary or hear the Gospels as I did before visiting this magical land, and for that, I am eternally grateful to God and to those who made our trip possible. I think everyone who joined us on this pilgrimage would agree.

Q:  What are some of your tips for making a good pilgrimage: preparation, prayer, reading, logistics, etc.?  Additional or special tips for family pilgrimages?

A:  First and foremost, prayer is essential, both before and during every moment of your trip. Grab on to a rosary and don’t let go! You’d be amazed at how it centers you, calms you down, and helps you mentally prepare for whatever this crazy world throws at you.

Secondly, prepare as much as you can. Get some guide books. Look online. Watch The Faithful Traveler! That’s why we created it! We wanted to give people a way to learn before they go, so that when they visit a site, they know what they’re seeing. Travel is so much more beneficial, you get so much more out of it if you know what you’re looking at! Not too long ago, David and I were in Segovia in Spain, and we were touring around some historical site, and out a window, I spotted a convent; I had no idea what it was. Later I found out that that convent, which was a Carmelite convent, housed the tomb of St John of the Cross! I hadn’t done enough research, so I missed out on seeing the tomb of one of the greatest Carmelite saints alive! So, knowing before you go is very important.

Lastly, I’d say don’t forget where you are! When you are a pilgrim, you are a witness of Jesus Christ and His Church. Travel and tourism can bring out the worst in people, and there’s nothing worse than being a bad example of Christianity inside of a shrine. On our trip to the Holy Land, as we were ascending the tight stairs to the site of Jesus’ crucifixion, two men in front of me started pushing and shoving each other because somebody cut in line. I was amazed. I said to them, “Gentlemen! Remember where you are!” It’s amazing how the devil likes to sneak in wherever we let him. I am reading a book right now about Padre Pio, and it tells of how people would push and shove their way to the front of the church to get the best seats in the house when he celebrated Mass. Such uncharitable behavior should never be part of who we are, especially inside of a church or holy place. God sees us, and while we might get the best seat here on earth, I’m sure that the uncharitable method we take to get it will affect where (and whether) we sit at the Heavenly Banquet.

Q:  The month of May is traditionally dedicated to the Virgin Mary, which is marked by the practice of many beautiful devotions and customs in her honor, including pilgrimages.  St Josemaria Escriva explained that, “Seeing how so many Christians express their affection for the Virgin Mary, surely you also feel more a part of the Church, closer to those brothers and sisters of yours.  It is like a family reunion (Christ is Passing By, 139).”  How do you believe travel, in general, can expand our view of the Church and bring us closer to our family in the Faith?

A:  Travel gives us so many opportunities to give thanks to God, to be good, and to make sacrifices. It gives us the opportunity to behave like the Christ-bearers we purport to be. It also gives us a wonderful opportunity to meet people who experience God and the Church in ways that are different from ours. There’s nothing like attending Mass in a foreign language, and yet still knowing what is being said (aside from the homily!). It always reminds me of the universality of the Catholic church. The Mass is the same, in Philadelphia, in Rome, in the Philippines, and in Africa. And I absolutely love that. I also find it fascinating to see how sacred art differs from country to country. For instance, in churches in Spain, Jesus is always a little bloodier than he is here in America. I love the dichotomy, and I think it says a lot about the difference in cultures.

Travel also gives us many wonderful opportunities to grow in holiness by practicing the virtues of charity, patience and humility. I love to learn as much about a foreign language as I can before I go somewhere—I see it as a sign of respect. Sadly, we Americans don’t have the best reputation abroad, and are often seen as selfish and entitled. I find that humility in all things brings great benefit. When you approach a stranger in humility, you’d be amazed at the wonderful things that can come of that meeting! In my travels, I’ve met with kind and generous people as well as mean and intolerant people. You never know what you’re going to get. But it always helps to remember that other people are always a great way to grow in holiness—they either inspire us or challenge us. How we respond is up to us.  By behaving in a manner that is devoid of expectation and pride, we can allow others to see Christ in us, and we can see Him in them, and that, I think, expands our view of the Church to include everyone, while simultaneously making the world a smaller place by bringing us closer together in faith.

Hi everyone!

I just received some exciting news from EWTN!

They’ll be reairing our first season May 2-20, 2013 (barring any breaking news)! It’ll be on at 3 am and 6:30 pm. So mark your calendars! Set your DVRs! Tell your friends!

Always check their online schedule first to make sure.

Don’t know if you get EWTN? Use their handy dandy channel finder.

I hope everyone is having a blessed Lent!

Sonja Stark, our friend and trusty camera superwoman, will be speaking THIS THURSDAY at the Apple Store on the Upper West Side.

If you can, go and say hi! She’s great, and joined us on our Holy Land trip!

Traveling with Technology: Sonja Stark
Videographer and blogger Sonja Stark of PilotGirl Productions travels the world shooting footage and writing hundreds of articles from the road on her MacBook Pro. Join Sonja to learn about her latest projects and how Apple technology helps her stay organized wherever she goes, from Greenland to Mount Everest.

Thursday, February 21, 7:00 p.m.
Apple Store, Upper West Side
1981 Broadway (at 67th St.)
New York, NY 10023

Yeah. It’s me, Diana. So, uh… what’s been going on?

Oh, that’s what YOU want to know? Yeah… well, I know… it’s been a while. Sorry about that.

What can I say? There are only SO many blog postings that can come from the constant, neverending, nitpickery of editing a television series. I love it, mind you! It’s been an absolute JOY editing this series and reliving our travels to the Holy Land. And I have to say, this series has ended up being about five THOUSAND times better than I could have ever expected it to be. (That’s what comes of having the Holy Spirit as your Executive Producer. I really should credit him at the end of the show, but you know… I don’t think he really cares about that!)

So, here we are. About a year and a half after we returned from the Holy Land, and I am just about ready to send these six episodes to EWTN for vetting. (They have to approve everything as kosher before they decide to air the series, naturally.)

I’ve watched each episode about twenty to thirty times, nitpicking every single thing–sound, movement, images, music, you name it! It’s been scrutinized! And these shows are awesome. I am so proud of them. Thank you, Jesus.

The last thing that has to happen this month is I have to record my final voice overs. Here’s the deal with that:

See, as the show was being edited, the script morphed. I wrote it, originally, and then as I recorded my voice overs, I decided, “Oh, that doesn’t sound right,” and changed it. Or I might have encountered extra footage I didn’t know I had, so I had to write something to say about that. Or whatever. Usually, I’d record the VOs in my office, sitting at my desk, with the window to my front yard.

My neighbors like to mow their lawns 24/7. Did I mention that? So that hum is often in the background. Or my dog scratches, his collar jingle-jangling. Or the police helicopters hover overhead. Or my computer hums, the AC or heat goes on… You’d be amazed at how noisy the world becomes when you need to record voice overs.

So, last weekend, my husband, David, and I set up a little sound booth in our basement. We got a really good mic, an equalizer box, and a really heavy blanket and set up this little spot downstairs. The problem is… it’s so quiet and dark and serene down there. My voiceovers end up being absolute snoozefests. Oh my gosh. Listening to them made me want to punch myself in the face and yell, “WAKE UP!” LOL. Seriously.

So, I’m gonna give it another go today. Pray I can sound alive. LOL.

While I work on that, my dear friend Teresa has agreed to create our maps for us. You know, you can’t do a travel show without maps. And my stick people are ugly, so…. Teresa to the rescue! She’s an awesome artist and creative person. One of those people that you have a hard time believing are real, because they’re so nice and talented and loving. I am blessed to have Little T in my life. And not just ’cause she’s doing my maps.

So after all the VOs are recorded and the maps are drawn, and I drop them into my timeline, I have to just check my sound levels, and then, it’s off to EWTN. At that point, it’s their decision, whether and when these episodes appear on their network. I’m hoping they’ll air the series in Spring, but, you know. God’s time.

But none of this would have been possible without the generosity of Select International Tours. Have you checked out their website? They really do some great tours. I’d never been on one, and I REALLY enjoyed it.

So THAT is what’s going on with me. Here’s a little screenshot of my desk right now.

Pretty cool, eh? I like it.

Hi all!

I just wanted to let you know that, from now until the end of the year, we will be offering free shipping on all (U.S.) sales of The Faithful Traveler Season One DVDs! That’s 13 episodes, six hours of fun exploration of America’s Catholic treasures!

Get your copy today! They make GREAT prezzies!

Order from our website:http://www.thefaithfultraveler.com/

I’m still working away on our Holy Land episodes, but I wanted to break this radio silence to wish you all a prayerful and blessed Holy Week and a joyous Easter!

Also, I wanted to tell you about my recent interview on Travelujah, which was just posted. You can find it here. I’ll also post it below.

If you’re interested in all things Holy Land, definitely subscribe to Travelujah’s wonderful and informative newsletters. I love them.

The Faithful Traveler makes a Holy Land Pilgrimage

A native San Diegan, Diana calls herself a ‘cradle Catholic’, and has always gravitated toward Catholic places. Over the years she increasingly found herself fascinated by Catholic art, architecture and history. After completing law school and even starting to practice professionally, she realized law simply wasn’t what she wanted to do with her life. Deep into planning her own honeymoon, she struck up the idea of a travel show focusing on religious and historic sites and thus, the “Faithful Traveler” was born.

Diana von Glahn, the Faithful Traveler

Diana von Glahn, produces and hosts The Faithful Traveler, a travel show carried regularly on EWTN featuring Catholic shrines and places of pilgrimage all around the world. Recently, Diana made her first pilgrimage to the Holy Land and experienced the holy sites first hand. Travelujah asked her about her recent journey.

Travelujah: What were some highlights of your recent trip to the Holy Land?

Diana – The Faithful Traveler - Picking highlights from the most amazing trip ever is hard to do. But I’ll try. The thing about going on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, as a Christian, is that you must realize that very few of the places you will be visiting are what they were during the time of Christ. Two thousand years is a long time, and during that time, many groups of people have come and gone from the Holy Land. So, you won’t be seeing the manger where Christ was born, or a church built by St Helena. You’ll be seeing a church built on the ruins of a church built on the ruins of a church where this historical event occurred more than 2000 years ago.

Still, everything is amazing. My favorite places were the Garden of Gethsemane, which is beautiful, and which is the home to olive trees that are more than 2,000 years old! I had no idea olive trees could live that long, and to think some of these trees might have seen Christ during his agony?! Wow. It blows your mind. My other favorite place was the Sea of Galilee. Another spot of nature that can’t have changed much since Christ’s time. There is an electricity at the Sea of Galilee that is unmistakable. It’s like the water is brimming with pride, for having once supported Christ’s footsteps. Going out on a boat into the sea is moving, and visiting the historic spots along its shores brought me to tears many a time.

Sea of Galilee boat ride

Every place we visited in the Holy Land was amazing. But something completely unexpected was the FOOD! Oh my goodness, the food. Everything we ate was glorious. I couldn’t get enough hummus, pita, olives, cheese. It’s the Mediterranean Diet in the most ideal circumstances. And I looked forward to every meal.

Travelujah: Every trip has things that don’t go exactly as planned. Can you share one of those stories?

Diana – The Faithful Traveler: It’s just life that things don’t go as planned. And when you’re trying to produce a travel-based television show, compound that by ten!

Our trip to the Holy Land provided us with many of these blips. For instance, shortly before we left, I got some kind of cold that held me in its grip for more than a month. As I started to feel a scratchy throat the Monday before we left, I visited my doctor who said it would be gone by that Friday. I even lost my voice for two days, which is unacceptable when you have to speak in front of a camera!

At the Western Wall

One morning, I had to wake up at 3:30 am to get ready for a 5 am bus meeting. Our group would be walking the Stations of the Cross in the early morning, to avoid the normal bustle of shopping that surrounds the Stations, and to allow for quiet reflection. I felt horrible. And as we came off the bus, I remember thinking, “I can barely breathe!” And then it struck me: Jesus walked this very road, and more likely than not, he was having trouble breathing, too. AND he was carrying a huge cross, AND he was being whipped, and spat upon, and cursed at, and he kept falling, and he had a crown of thorns on his head… and he knew he was about to be crucified. At that moment, I felt BLESSED to be feeling so awful. I know, it may sound odd, but we Catholics often say “offer it up,” meaning that you should offer your sufferings up to Christ. It’s like you’re saying, “I offer my sufferings to you, as a way of sharing in your Passion.” And what better place to share in Christ’s Passion, even in that teeny tiny way, than along the Way of the Cross, the Via Dolorosa?

Travelujah: How did your Holy Land experience impact and or strengthen your faith?

Diana – The Faithful Traveler -I’ve never had a doubtful moment in my faith, thank God. But our trip to the Holy Land made the historical aspect of our faith more concrete. Before, I believed without seeing. But this trip enabled me to get just a little closer to actually seeing something of the Divine. Of course, I believe that God is every where, in all of His creation. But in the Holy Land, God became man, and breathed, walked, ate, and died. That’s what makes that land so special. Now, whenever I read the Bible or hear it at Mass, I KNOW what it’s like. I’ve BEEN to Shepherd’s Fields! I’ve seen the dry and yet plentiful lands. I’ve touched the rock that held his cross. And it all feels a little more real.

Travelujah: As an art lover, can you tell us a bit about the mosaics, frescos and other art treasures that you saw?

Diana – The Faithful Traveler: The image that first comes to my mind is the spectacular mosaic of Christ in the Church of the Transfiguration. It is bright and shiny, just as you’d imagine Christ to have been, during his Transfiguration. Then there are the peaceful gardens outside, which are, in a way, God’s art, created for us, beautifying our surroundings.

The images along the walls of the Church of All Nations, next to the Garden of Gethsemane, also comes to mind. I’ve always had a great love for Christ in Agony, so that was truly special.

The Basilica of the Annunciation at Nazareth is wonderful, beginning with the words of the Annunciation carved into the facade, and moving on into the many images of the Blessed Mother, from all around the world. It’s an artistic representation of her life as mother of us all, from her “Yes” that changed the world, to her loving care for all of the children of God. Every where you go in the Holy Land, you see something spectacular.

Mosaic donated by the Philippines, outside the Church of the Annunciation

Travelujah: What surprised you the most about coming here? What do you think other faith travelers would find surprising about a journey to the Holy Land.

Diana – The Faithful Traveler: How nice everyone is, and how safe I felt. I don’t want to pretend there isn’t strife for the people in the Holy Land, but everyone we met was glad to see us.

Travelujah: Did you feel safe during your trip to Israel and Palestine? Are there any traveling or security tips that you can share with us?

Diana – The Faithful Traveler: Absolutely. Granted, we didn’t enter into any trouble zones, but we didn’t meet with any issues on our trip. In fact, many of our pilgrims were saying they felt safer there than in Philadelphia!

I think, no matter where you are, whether it be Europe or Israel, or any city in the United States, you just have to be aware of your surroundings and be smart. Once, when David and I were in Rome, we almost got mugged by two thirteen-year-old girls wielding a box cutter hidden behind a piece of cardboard! If I hadn’t been hyper aware, we would have far worse memories of our time there. Bad things can happen to travelers no matter where they are. The key is just being smart, being aware, and being safe.

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The Faithful Traveler series of thirteen episodes can be purchased from the www.thefaithfultraveler.com. Clip from previous episodes and upcoming episodes on the Holy Land are also featured on the site.  Footage from their trip to the Holy land can be found on Vimeo here: Visit the Faithful traveler on Facebook

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Elisa L. Moed is the Founder and CEO of Travelujah, the leading Christian social network focused on travel to the Holy Land. People can learn, plan and share their Holy Land tour and travel experiences on Travelujah.