Every Canterbury pilgrim gets a final travel letter a few weeks before departure, with the details of their own trip. Most of what is in it is the same whatever the destination, so here it is in one place: what to bring, what to expect, and what happens if something goes wrong. Your own letter will carry the specifics, including your flights, your hotels, your daily schedule and the mobile number of the Canterbury representative travelling with your group.
Your documents
Airline tickets. If Canterbury arranged your airfare, your seats are booked as group tickets and there is no paper ticket. The flight schedule we send you is your confirmation. At check-in you present your passport and the agent issues your boarding pass. Arrive at the airport three hours before departure.
Seating. The airline assigns group seating in blocks, and individual seat requests are not possible on a group booking. If you are travelling with a companion, check at the desk whether you are seated together. The agent will move you if seats are free, but this is the airline’s decision and not ours.
If you booked your own flights, send your arrival and departure details to hello@canterburypilgrimages.com so we know when to meet you.
Passports. Abroad, your passport is your most important document. Carry a photocopy separately from the passport itself and keep a photo of it on your phone. Both make a replacement far easier if it is lost, damaged or stolen. Make sure it is valid for at least six months after the day you return home, which covers every country we visit. If it expires sooner, renew it before you go, and allow several weeks.
Visas and entry rules. What you need to enter a country depends on your passport as well as your destination, and the rules change. Check yours with Sherpa’s free entry requirements checker: choose your passport, then each country on your itinerary. We will also point out anything your trip requires before you travel. See the passport and visa rules for every country we visit.
Luggage
Where Canterbury arranged the flights, your ticket normally allows one checked bag, one carry-on and one personal item.
- Checked bag: up to about 50 lbs (22 to 23 kg), and no more than 62 inches in length plus width plus height.
- Carry-on: no larger than 21 x 15 x 9 inches including handles and wheels, and on many airlines no heavier than about 17 lbs.
- Personal item: must fit under the seat in front of you, up to about 17 x 13 x 9 inches.
Anything over the allowance is charged by the airline and paid by you at the desk. The current limits are here, and they do vary by carrier, so check your own letter.
Pack light. You will be lifting your own bag on and off coaches, in and out of lifts that were built long before rolling luggage, and up hotel stairs. You can buy most things you forget, and you will want room for what you bring home.
What to pack
Layers. Whatever the season, mornings and evenings run cooler than afternoons, and church interiors are cold in summer and colder in winter. A light waterproof jacket or a compact umbrella earns its place in any month.
Shoes that have already been worn in. Comfortable, closed-toe, with grip. You will walk on cobblestones, worn marble and uneven ground laid down centuries before anyone thought about ankles.
Something to cover your shoulders. Most churches, cathedrals, basilicas and shrines will not admit bare shoulders, and many ask that knees are covered too. A shawl or light scarf in your day bag solves it, and means you are never turned away at a door you have travelled a long way to walk through. No shorts, and no skirts above the knee.
Sun protection. A hat, sunglasses and sunscreen, even where the forecast looks mild.
Medication in your carry-on, never in the checked bag, in its labelled prescription bottle, and only as much as the trip requires. See your doctor before you travel so prescriptions are in order. The security rules for liquids and medication are worth reading if you are carrying anything unusual, and there is separate guidance on travelling with a CPAP machine.
A rosary. Bring it.
Money, phones and plugs
Tell your bank and your card company your travel dates before you leave. Fraud systems freeze cards that suddenly appear abroad, and a bank that knows you are travelling will replace a card far more quickly if something happens.
Use an ATM when you arrive rather than exchanging money at home or at an airport counter. Your bank’s own processor sets the rate and does not add a conversion fee. There is usually an ATM at the airport and another near the hotel. Cards work in most places, but carry some local cash for small vendors, candles, and gratuities. How much cash to bring and what is expected for tips are both answered in the Support Center.
Electricity. Bring a universal adapter if you are taking anything electrical, and check the voltage your device accepts before you go. Plug shapes and voltage differ by country and your letter will tell you which you need. See the plug type for every country, and where to buy the right adapter.
Phones. Call your provider before departure and ask what an international plan costs for the dates you are away. It is almost always cheaper arranged in advance than roaming without one.
Travel insurance
Canterbury offers Allianz travel insurance, and a plan can be bought any time up to the day of departure. The price depends on the total trip cost, your age and your state of residence. Call (800) 653-0017 for a quote or to buy.
The comprehensive plans include 24 hour assistance for flight delays and cancellations, lost travel documents, language translation, emergency cash, and help finding a doctor or hospital. If you insured the trip before your flights were arranged, you can raise the coverage to include the airfare. When to buy it matters more than most people expect, because some benefits depend on buying within a set window of your first deposit.
What a pilgrimage asks of you
A pilgrimage is not a vacation or an excursion. It is a spiritual journey, and it creates opportunities to deepen your faith that an ordinary trip does not. Millions have gone before you looking for a physical way to connect with their faith in Christ. You may find that standing near a saint’s tomb, seeing a relic, or praying a Marian devotion moves you in ways you did not expect. Come with an open heart. Your chaplain is travelling with you to guide that part of the journey.
Walking. Expect a good deal of it, often on hard, uneven surfaces in places built centuries ago. Rest when seating is available, and offer the tiredness up. If walking is difficult for you, tell us before departure. We recommend bringing your own wheelchair, since finding one abroad is not as simple as at home and most hotels do not keep them. Wheelchair users travel with their own companion to assist them. If you have a recent injury or a condition we should know about, tell us in advance rather than on the first morning.
The daily schedule. You will have an itinerary before you go. Each evening a detailed schedule for the following day is posted in the hotel lobby, and any live changes go to the group chat.
Meals. Breakfast and dinner are included on most pilgrimages, and some include lunch. Dietary requirements are collected at the time of booking, and if nothing was noted we assume you can eat what the group is served. Changes asked for at the table delay everyone, so raise anything with your tour manager early. Carry snacks and a refillable water bottle, because the gap between meals can be long on a full day.
The coach. Most groups travel by luxury motor coach. Board at the time given. Many streets do not allow a coach to wait more than a minute or two and some will not admit a full-size coach at all, so you may be set down near a site rather than at its door. Watch your guide when boarding, since other groups are often parked alongside in coaches that look much like yours.
Name badges. Wear yours. Several groups are often at the same shrine on the same morning, and the badge is how your guide finds you and how you find your group.
Beggars and pickpockets. The places you are going are full of welcoming people. They also attract a few who work the crowds. Do not engage with beggars. Men, wallet in a front pocket. Women, leave the bulky handbag at home.
Photographs. Take them. But flash damages old pigment, and where a sign says no photography it means it, so respect the signs and the moment.
Staying in touch
Two apps do the work. Vamoos holds your itinerary, your hotels and your flight details in one place, and you are sent an invitation to it before departure. WhatsApp is the group’s communication channel: an announcements chat where your guide posts schedule changes and real-time information, and a general chat for the group to share photographs and stay in touch afterwards. Download both before you leave home, while you still have familiar wifi and your own charger.
If a flight is delayed or cancelled
The airline rebooks you. Go to the gate or the airline desk and get the new itinerary. Canterbury cannot rebook a ticket that is in the airline’s hands, and trying to do it through us costs time you do not have. Once you have the new flight details, call us, and we will meet you at the airport whenever you land, however late.
Delays are wearing. They are also the first part of the pilgrimage rather than an interruption to it, and patience with an airline agent who is having a worse day than you are is its own small offering.
When you arrive
Collect your checked luggage, clear customs, and go to the arrivals hall. A Canterbury representative will be there with a sign, expecting you. Pilgrims arrive across the whole day, so there may be a short wait with your escort while others come through. Your tour manager takes it from there. If you cannot find your representative, call the number in your letter.
Who to call
- Business hours: (800) 653-0017, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm Eastern
- After hours, travel emergencies: (800) 653-0017, extension 9, answered around the clock
- Email: hello@canterburypilgrimages.com
- Allianz, from the US: (800) 654-1908
- Allianz, from abroad: (804) 281-5700, collect calls accepted
Your own letter also carries the mobile number of the Canterbury representative travelling with your group, live for the dates of your trip. That is the number to use on the ground.
Anything not covered here is almost certainly answered in the Pilgrim Support Center, and if it is not, call us. It is a better use of a Tuesday afternoon than worrying about it in August.
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