Have Faith, Will Travel

Megan Cottam brainstorms ways to integrate faith into your family travel plans this summer.

The sun is finally shining. The onslaught of spirit day memos, special projects due, lunch duties, and awards assemblies slowly fade into the background. The time has finally come for a change in pacing, and with that comes the exciting prospect of family vacations.

Whether it’s a spontaneous getaway, or a multiple-families-involved, years-in-the-making event, vacations can knock us out of our routines. This can benefit our family connections, restore our souls, and give us some much-needed grounding in our lives. However, this routine-breaking can also cause a slip in some of our faith practices. While it makes sense to tell our work emails and house to-do lists to take a back seat, do we really want to tell God, “See ya later” during what we hope will become joyful and life-long memories?

On the contrary, vacations are fertile soil for developing faith traditions in our families. Here are five ways where we can seamlessness invite God into our vacations this summer:

Mass (Any day!)

When I mention Mass, your first thought may be, “That’s only for Sundays.” Hear me out. Diversity within the Catholic Church contains multitudes, and there is no better way to see this by visiting a new parish, even during a daily Mass. The music, the sacred art, the setup of the worship space, and the character of the clergy are all new experiences, especially for our children, who may have never been to Mass outside of their own current parish. What’s Mass like at a church overlooking the beach? One with multiple languages or ethnic traditions? Why does that Mary statue look completely different than the one we have in our parish?

One tool that makes this goal achievable is CatholicMassTime.org, which has done the heavy lifting in research for you. They have documented Mass times throughout the entire country. Simply type in your location and find a Mass near you. As a parish worker, I can vouch that the owner behind the site reaches out periodically to parishes to ensure the accuracy of their listings. Any day of the week, start your day off with family Mass!

Travel Rosaries

How often is your entire family a captive audience during the school year? The Rosary is an accessible and flexible prayer for all your travel realities. Perhaps on the eve of the trip, your family gathers together to pray the Rosary for safety and blessings during your time away. This can ease travel anxiety, help anticipate joy, and invite God into the entire experience.

Road tripping? The Rosary is naturally divided into decades and you can create your own timing. Perhaps every time you cross a state line, you recite a decade, or you can choose to mark each hour on the hour. The pacing is up to you, but with a few short prayers at a time, you have woven faith into your travel.

Flying instead? Seek out the interfaith chapel during your layover and help relax everyone with this prayer before crowding back onto the next airplane.

Saint Stories

Audiobooks can help fill long travel days and ease overstimulated minds before bedtime after go-go-go vacation days. Saints are the O.G. superheroes, and their stories are anything but dull! There are many formats out there, but my family in particular has enjoyed the Glory Stories series from Holy Heroes. These come in CD and MP3 download forms, and retell the lives of the saints in first-person narratives that are gripping, accurate, and child appropriate. Adults and kids alike are all sure to learn something and be inspired. Pick stories about your favorite saints, or challenge your family to learn about one you’ve never heard of, and be prepared to grow in your faith.

Nature

With children, especially young ones, we tend to gravitate our lessons to the second person of the Trinity, Jesus. He is tangible, relatable, has plenty of stories and parables, and is often what our children visualize when we say, “Draw God.” Vacation is a great time to expand their understanding of the Holy Trinity. No matter the destination, there is usually some form of nature or impressive structure involved. Take the time to explicitly thank God the Father, Creator God, for His expansive universe, His wonderful artwork of sunrises, constellations, and waves. Developing a sense of awe is a skill for any age, and one which will benefit even the adults.

Gratitude

Travel provides the opportunity for our children to interact with adults and society in ways outside of their comfort zone. From hotel staff and restaurant workers to lifeguards or gas-station attendants, there are plenty of workers helping you along your way on vacation. Showing intentional gratitude and dignity for both the visible and behind-the-scenes workers during vacation helps our children see God in others.

Need a break to shower or plan the day? Have your kids make thank-you notes during this down time for the cleaning crew, chefs, park workers, or other staff who are working hard to make your vacation special. You’ll be surprised just who the kids notice and for what reasons.

Vacations are exciting moments for adventures, growth, and dreams come true. Throughout all of these, God weaves a thread of love as He walks with us through our human experience. As parents, it is our role to make that thread visible for our children.

May you seize the opportunities before you to show God’s presence in all things, and may you have stress-free, family-building, memory-making experiences this summer.

Have an additional tool or strategy for bringing God on vacation that has worked for your family?

We’d love for you to share in the comments below!

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Copyright 2026 Megan Cottam
Images: Canva