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Big Catholic Family Pilgrimage Travel Tips: Our Lady of Guadalupe and Chalco (Sisters of Mary, World Villages, Girlstown)

We have a big Catholic family. We have 6 kids (so far), so there are 8 of us, and 2 in diapers. We are well-traveled domestically. We've made at least one US national parks trip plus pilgrimage every year for the last decade. I'm decently well-traveled, having made pilgrimages in Europe and a mission trip to Kenya. My wife is a little fresher to international travel. 

So we're making a bit of a leap of faith! If this pilgrimage goes well, we hope to make a long European pilgrimage next year with a bit of Catholic world-schooling/homeschooling: Catholic world-homeschooling. Can somebody coin a better term, please? 

The following will be a bit of a travelogue (to be updated as we go) and a bit of a travel tips guide. Please let me know (comment below) your own travel trips and/or thoughts/improvements on my choices!  ... Stay tuned for updates :)  


Big Catholic Family Pilgrimage - Table of Contents 


    Big Catholic Family Pilgrimage Travel Tips: How to Cut Down on Travel Costs

    Two big tips! With travel miles and the tips below, our 8 plane tickets to Mexico only cost us less than $1500.

    #1 Drive to a Major Airport, then Fly Out 

    With a big Catholic family -- I find -- it's much less expensive to drive the distance to a major airport, then fly out. For Europe, I would drive my family to Atlanta, NYC, etc. For Mexico, we're driving to Houston. This cuts off half the price, right off the bat. Parking and even a night or two at a hotel don't come close to wiping out the savings. This just becomes another fun part of the trip.  

    #2 Accumulate Travel Miles when paying bills, major purchases, etc.

    I have a business with a lot of monthly, money in, money out, expenses. I use a travel miles credit card for these and rack up a huge amount of miles. Don't feel bad about profiting from a credit card company, IF you can do so while still paying off the card every month. OR, if you have a major expense and cash ready to pay it off, like a home remodel, put it on the credit card, then pay it right off.  

    Big Catholic Family Pilgrimage Travel Tips: Getting 8 Passports

    8 new passports (mine and my wife's had expired) ran us over $1200. Yikes! Be prepared for this expense. 

    Pro-tip: Have all paperwork filled out and ready before you get to the post office. We just happened to have a friend in our local post office, who enjoyed the one-hour steady stream of kids. You may not be so lucky! My wife worked on the paperwork in the van, while I transported kids in and out. Teamwork makes the dream work! 

    Big Catholic Family Pilgrimage Travel Tips: How to Store 8 Passports on My Body?

    Jacket with lots of pockets or fanny pack? I decided to go with ...  

    Catholic Pilgrimage Outerwear: Making Your Clothes Your Carry-On AND Carry-All

    Meet the SCOTTeVEST Tropiformer 3D Jacket for Men. It has 22 Hidden Pockets! My goal is for this to be my carry-on AND carry-all for all 8 passports and everything else my big family will need on our excursions. Basically, I'm trying to be the dad Swiss-army knife. 

    This will be my most expensive travel purchase, apart from all the tickets, passports, etc. I'll let you know if it was worth it!


    Post-Pilgrimage Assessment: STAY TUNED ... 


    Big Catholic Family Pilgrimage Travel Tips: Using Carry-On Bags Only

    Here's our plan to use ONLY carry-on bags for our big family pilgrimage. We have one infant, so we can carry-on as many as 7 total bags. We're not counting on the youngest kids to carry much; we're just counting on their carry-on allotments. 

    Here's our plan for carry-ons bags:
    • 2 rolling duffle bags 
    • 2 duffle bags strapped onto the roller duffle bags (above)
    • 1 backpack duffle
    • Plus, 1 stroller checked in and out at the gate >> This doesn't count towards our tally. The airlines provide this as a service. 

    Here's our plan for who carries which bags:

    • My wife and I: 4 bags, we'll each have a roller with a duffle strapped on 
    • Oldest girl: carries infant in arms
    • Oldest boy: pushes stroller with toddler
    • Older boy: backpack duffle (or hang on stroller)

    With this arrangement, we still have two carry-on slots not being used! We're packing some of the extra Gonex duffle bags, just in case we need more room. We found some really inexpensive (gulp) duffle luggage on Amazon. We also decided on distinct colors to make sure we don't get out luggage confused with that of other folks. 

    We bought 6 bags for under $200. We bought 3 of each of the following (an extra of each):

    $29 Gonex Duffle Bag, 40L,
    dimensions: 20.8 x 13 x 9.8 inches (well within limits),
    basically folds down to the size of a ketchup packet LOL

    $29 Rockland Rolling Duffel Bag, 40L, 
    dimensions: 22 x 12.5 x 11 inches (well within limits)


    Regarding the carry-on dimensions, I found this tip on Reddit from a guy who took the time to measure the sizing bins: 

    The limit is officially 22" x 14" x 9". The sizer is actually (roughly) 23" x 15" x 10" to avoid arguments. Any suitcase less than 23" x 15" x 10" will fit the sizer. Even an in inch or so beyond that is fine although technically oversized. The GA are really just looking for comically oversized bags or people with multiple suitcases.

    Post-Pilgrimage Assessment: STAY TUNED ...  


    Big Catholic Family Pilgrimage Travel Tips: What to Wear?

    My boys and I like to altar serve together, especially at pilgrimage sites. Here's my big hairy audacious goal (BHAG). My goal is to have one set of clothes that I can wear everyday (except for undies) that's comfortable and appropriate for all the following: 

    • Traveling
    • Hiking up Tepeyac
    • Urban walking trips
    • Chasing after kids
    • Playing sports with the ladies and sisters of Girlstown (this may be the most impossible of all the goals, LOL)
    • AND altar-serving or attending Holy Mass

    Catholic Pilgrimage Footwear 

    I'm going with Vans High Top Sneakers. This is not because I'm trying to be a cool dad. I'm going with these for a mixture of ankle support, being all black, relatively cheap, and good for all the above.



    Post-Pilgrimage Assessment: STAY TUNED ... 

    I've also been loving these Merino wool socks I found on Amazon. These have been great for altar-serving, too. 


     

    Post-Pilgrimage Assessment: STAY TUNED ...

     

    Catholic Pilgrimage Pants

    I wanted to get these pants, the Proof 72-Hour Merino pants from Huckberry, but decided to save money and use what I already have. Gear Junkies rated these really high, and I like a Merino option. That thousand-pocket jacket should cover my needs here. 


      

    Big Catholic Family Pilgrimage Travel Tips: Computers and Tech?

    I've got an Android phone, because I use a lot of Google apps for writing, email, etc. We'll be using WhatsApp to keep in touch with the homefront. 

    Do I Need a Power Adapter for Mexico?

    I'm told I will not need a power adapter for Mexico ... gulp. 

    Post-Pilgrimage Assessment: STAY TUNED ... 

    Catholic Pilgrimage Computer

    This should not be a major writing trip for me. Otherwise, I would probably bring my normal laptop. Instead, I'm going to try using an iClever bluetooth foldable keyboard:


    Post-Pilgrimage Assessment: STAY TUNED ... 


    Big Catholic Family Pilgrimage to Our Lady of Guadalupe: Pre-Trip Reading Guide

    In addition to Our Lady of Guadalupe, we are visiting Chalco, home of one of the many GirlsTowns worldwide founded by (Venerable) Fr. Aloysius Schwartz, because of this book, Priest and Beggar by Kevin Wells


    What a great book! This one of the only books that I've read in the last two or so years that I could not put down. Do yourself a favor and read it. Kevin Wells is the latest in that long line of great, former Baseball journalists-turned-writers.

    Also, this is my favorite Our Lady of Guadalupe-specific books: The Story of Guadalupe: Luis Laso de la Vega's Huei tlamahuiçoltica of 1649:


    This is a translation of our oldest extant document about the apparitions of Our Lady to St. Juan Diego and Juan Bernadino. This is where we get the words we have from Our Lady of Guadalupe, herself, such as the following:


    I composed a Novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe using the quotes, prayers, and accounts of miracles from this book.  




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