Our Journeys include accommodation, most meals, all activities and excursions listed in the itinerary, ground transportation during the trip, our Bible teacher & local guides, and a gift symbolic of the trip’s theme.

Not Included: international or domestic flights to and from the destination, meals not specified in the itinerary, personal expenses, and gratuities for guides and drivers.

No. Flights are not included in the package price. This gives you flexibility to use miles, book from your home city, or arrive early if you’d like extra time in the destination. We’ll provide arrival/departure windows once your trip is confirmed.

Each journey is different. Some involve moderate walking or hiking (Scotland’s hillsides, the Camino), while others are more leisurely (Napa, Tuscany). We design for a range of fitness levels and always include rest, reflection, and unhurried time. Any specific physical requirements will be listed on the trip page. If you have mobility concerns, reach out - we’ll help you find the right journey.

That’s completely fine. Via Ruach journeys are intentionally small (up to 15 people), which means you’re not lost in a crowd. You’ll know everyone’s name by day two. The pace is unhurried. There’s space to be quiet when you need it and community when you’re ready. We’re not a bus tour - we’re a gathered table.

No. Via Ruach welcomes any participant with an earnest desire to know God more, not just limited to the Christian tradition. We do teach from the Bible through a Christ-centered worldview. What drives us is a love for Scripture, a hunger to know God more deeply, and a belief that place and story can shape us in ways a classroom cannot.

We believe Scripture is the inspired Word of God - living, active and sufficient for faith and life. We approach it with reverence, curiosity, and conviction that context matters. When we understand where the Bible was written, who it was written to, and how its original audience would have heard it, the text comes alive in ways that deepen our love for God and His word.

We’re not here to flatten theology or avoid hard questions. We’re here to help you fall in love with Scripture all over again - or for the first time.

You can absolutely come alone. Many of our travelers do. Solo travelers are paired with a roommate of the same gender unless you prefer to pay a single supplement for a private accommodation (inquire for pricing). Traveling solo doesn’t mean traveling lonely - you’ll be part of a small, intentional community from day one.

Yes. We partner with churches, ministry teams, and small groups to create custom journeys tailored to your community. When your church books a trip, you can bring your own pastor or Bible teacher to lead the teaching, and we handle all the logistics - accommodations, ground transportation, local guides, itinerary design, and on-trip coordination.

This is a powerful alternative to traditional missions trips or church retreats. Your people experience Scripture in places where Ruach - God’s Spirit - breathes. Your teaching connects directly to what they’re seeing and experiencing, and the shared journey becomes a formative milestone for your group.

Church partnerships also benefit from simplified pricing and flexible payment structures. Reach out to tracye@viaruach.com and let’s talk about what a custom journey could look like for your community.

We offer a 6-installment payment plan to make these journeys accessible: a deposit at booking, followed by five equal payments spread over the months leading up to your trip. Your final payment is due 60 days before departure. Exact dates and amounts are provided at booking.

All payments are processed securely.

We strongly recommend it and can recommend trusted providers. Travel insurance protects you in case of trip cancellation, medical emergencies, lost luggage and travel delays. It’s a small cost for significant peace of mind.

These plain‑language terms govern your registration and participation in a Via Ruach journey. In them, “Via Ruach,” “we,” and “us” mean Via Ruach LLC and “you” means the traveler registering.

1. Booking & payment

Your registration is confirmed when we receive your $500 deposit and completed form. The remaining balance is due on the payment schedule you select — pay in full, or in installments with the final payment due 60 days before departure. If a scheduled payment is missed and not resolved after we reach out, we may release your place, with the cancellation terms above applying.

2. Cancellation & refunds

The Cancellation & Refund Policy above (Section 1) is part of these Terms and governs all cancellations, transfers, and refunds.

3. Changes to the journey

We design each itinerary with care and hold it with open hands. Weather, the availability of partners, group needs, and the leading of the moment mean the order or details of activities may change. We’ll always protect the heart of the experience. If we must make a significant change before departure, we’ll tell you promptly and, where a change is material, offer you a fair option.

4. Health, ability & responsibility

You’re responsible for being in adequate health to participate and for telling us about anything that may affect your safety or ours to accommodate. Some journeys involve walking on uneven ground, cold or remote settings, or long days; each journey page describes its physical pace. If we reasonably believe someone cannot safely participate, we may decline or limit participation for their wellbeing and the group’s.

5. Assumption of risk & release of liability

Travel involves inherent risks, including those tied to transportation, activities, terrain, weather, illness, and the acts of third parties. By registering, you voluntarily assume these risks and, to the fullest extent permitted by law, release and hold harmless Via Ruach and its team, partners, and suppliers from claims for injury, illness, loss, or damage — except to the extent caused by our own gross negligence or willful misconduct.

6. Travel insurance

We strongly recommend comprehensive travel insurance, including trip‑cancellation and medical coverage. Obtaining and understanding your coverage is your responsibility, and Via Ruach is not liable for losses that insurance would ordinarily cover.

7. Travel documents & requirements

You are responsible for valid travel documents (passport, visas), any required vaccinations, and meeting the entry and health requirements of your destination. We’re glad to share general guidance, but cannot be responsible for denied entry or missed travel due to documentation.

8. Conduct & community

Our journeys are small, shared, and sacred. We ask every traveler to treat others — fellow guests, hosts, partners, and local communities — with respect and kindness. We reserve the right to remove, without refund, anyone whose conduct endangers or seriously harms the group, its partners, or the purpose of the journey. Costs arising from such a departure are the traveler’s responsibility.

9. Third‑party suppliers

We carefully select hotels, guides, transportation, and partners, but they are independent providers. We act as the organizer of your journey and are not liable for the independent acts, omissions, or default of these third parties, whose own terms may also apply.

10. Media & content

We document our journeys through photography and film, both to remember them and to invite others in. By participating, you grant Via Ruach a non‑exclusive, royalty‑free right to use images and video that may include you for storytelling and marketing. If you prefer not to appear, tell us in writing and we’ll honor it.

11. Privacy

We collect only what we need to plan and deliver your journey and to stay in touch, and we handle it per our Privacy Policy. We don’t sell your information.

12. Force majeure

We aren’t liable for failure or delay caused by events beyond our reasonable control — including natural disasters, severe weather, public‑health emergencies, government actions, or travel disruptions. In such cases we’ll act in good faith to postpone, adjust, or offer travel credit as described in the Cancellation & Refund Policy.

13. Governing law & resolving disagreements

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas. If a disagreement arises, we’ll first try to resolve it directly and in good faith.

14. Questions

We’d rather you ask than wonder. Reach us at tracye@viaruach.com and a real person will respond thoughtfully.

At Via Ruach, we collect only what we need to plan meaningful journeys and stay in touch — and we treat it with the same care we bring to everything else. This policy explains what we gather, why, how we protect it, and the choices you have. In it, “Via Ruach,” “we,” and “us” mean Via Ruach LLC; “you” means a visitor, subscriber, or traveler.

The short version: we collect what you give us and a little about how you use our site; we use it to run our journeys and to keep you informed; we share it only with the partners and tools that make a trip happen; and we never sell your information.

1 · Information we collect

Information you give us

• Interest list & newsletter: your name, email, and (optionally) phone, location, which journeys interest you, and anything you tell us in a message.

• Registration & travel: when you book, we collect what a trip requires — mailing address, date of birth, emergency contact, passport details (for international journeys), dietary or accessibility needs, and any health information you choose to share so we can care for you well.

• Payments: billing details needed to process your deposit and payments (handled by our payment processor — see below).

• Correspondence: the content of emails, forms, and messages you send us.

Information collected automatically

• Usage & device data: basic analytics such as pages visited, links clicked, browser and device type, and general location, gathered through cookies and similar technologies on our website Squarespace.

2 · How we use your information

• To plan, organize, and deliver your journey, and to arrange lodging, transportation, activities, and partners on your behalf.

• To communicate with you — confirmations, preparation details, our WhatsApp group and pre‑trip calls, and answers to your questions.

• To process payments and manage your registration and any travel credit.

• To send updates, early access, and reflections if you’ve asked to hear from us — and to stop when you ask us to.

• To keep you safe on a journey, including sharing relevant dietary or medical needs with the partners who need them.

• To improve our website and understand what’s helpful, using aggregate analytics.

• To meet legal, tax, and safety obligations.

3 · Our legal bases (where GDPR applies)

Where the GDPR applies, we rely on: your consent (for marketing and any health information you share); performance of a contract (to deliver a journey you’ve booked); our legitimate interests (to run and improve our business responsibly); and legal obligation (to meet tax and legal requirements).

4 · When we share information

We share your information only with those who help us deliver a journey or run our business — never with data brokers, and never for sale:

• Travel partners & suppliers — hotels, guides, transportation, and local experts who need what’s necessary to host you (for international trips, this may include partners outside your home country).

• Service providers — our payment processor Stripe, email/CRM platform Squarespace, website platform Squarespace, and analytics tools Google, each handling data only to perform their service for us.

• Legal & safety — if required by law, or to protect the safety of travelers, our team, or others.

• Business transfer — if Via Ruach is ever reorganized or acquired, information may transfer as part of that change, subject to this policy.

5 · Payments

We don’t store full payment‑card numbers. Payments are processed securely by our payment provider, Stripe, whose own privacy terms govern the card data you enter.

6 · Health, dietary & sensitive information

Some journeys ask about dietary needs, accessibility, or health so we can care for you and keep you safe. We collect this only with your consent, share it only with the partners who need it (for example, a caterer or guide), and keep it no longer than necessary.

7 · Cookies & analytics

Our website uses cookies and similar technologies to function and to help us understand how the site is used. You can control cookies through your browser settings; where required, we’ll ask for your consent through a cookie banner.

8 · Marketing & your choices

You’re in control of what you hear from us. Every marketing email includes an unsubscribe link, and you can ask us to stop at any time by replying or writing to tracye@viaruach.com. Opting out of marketing won’t affect essential messages about a journey you’ve booked.

9 · How long we keep your information

We keep your information only as long as needed for the purposes above — to serve you, run our journeys, and meet legal and tax requirements — and then delete or anonymize it.

10 · Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, delete, or receive a copy of your information; to object to or limit certain uses; and to withdraw consent. California residents have rights under the CCPA/CPRA, including the right to know and to delete, and the right not to be discriminated against for exercising them — and because we don’t sell your data, there’s nothing to opt out of on that front. To exercise any right, write to tracye@viaruach.com and we’ll respond promptly.

11 · Security

We use reasonable safeguards to protect your information and work with reputable providers who do the same. No method of transmission or storage is perfectly secure, but we take real care, and we’ll tell you promptly if a breach ever affects you, as the law requires.

12 · International journeys & transfers

Because our journeys travel the world, delivering a trip may involve sharing necessary details with partners in other countries, whose data‑protection laws may differ from your own. We share only what a journey requires.

13 · Children

Via Ruach journeys and this website are intended for adults. We don’t knowingly collect information from anyone under 18 without a parent or guardian’s involvement. If you believe a child has provided us information, contact us and we’ll remove it.

14 · Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as our journeys and tools evolve. We’ll post the new version here with a fresh “last updated” date, and for significant changes we’ll let our community know.

15 · Contact us

Questions, requests, or concerns about your privacy? Write to tracye@viaruach.com — a real person will respond thoughtfully.

We’d love to hear from you. Email me personally at tionna@viaruach.com or use the contact form on our site. We’re here to help you discern whether a Via Ruach journey is right for you.