How Do the Duggars Manage Traveling? Not Without the Occasional ‘Home Alone’ Mishap

Mar 16, 2018 5:26 pm

By Mary Grace Garis

From Ireland to China and everywhere in-between, the Duggar family is constantly on a vacation — and no, we're not talking about a mission trip. Jim Bob and Michelle have always been big on that whole family vacay thing, which is stressful enough when it's just you and your brother slapping each other in the back seat of your parents' minivan. Add another 18 siblings on top of that, and you've got one hell of a headache… but hey, it'll be in an exotic location.

Still, the logistics of traveling Duggars still sort of mystifies us, no matter how many countries they go to. Here's what we've learned about their process over the years:

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Packing for the gigantic family typically takes over a week… and is left primarily to the women.

At least, that used to be the case. Back in 2011 when the Duggars were about to hit the ski slopes, Jessa explained just how many items of clothing they were bringing… aside from their coats and snowsuits. "This trip we'll probably pack…about 100 pairs of pants," she mused. Add on top of that their 200 shirts, 300 pairs of socks, and 56 shoes, and you've got yourself a traveling Walmart.

Jessa also explained that she was the head of the packing committee — self-appointed, to be fair. "We tried to have the kids pack themselves but I didn't really like the things they picked out," she said. She wrangled Jinger into this horrible task and they had been doing it for at least six years at the time.

Is that the case now that Jessa and Jinger are out of the house and married? Not necessarily. But you can be damn sure Jim Bob and Michelle aren't folding 100 pairs of pants into 40 suitcases.

God, baggage claim must be a nightmare.

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Each kid has a buddy for home and travel, but it's not a flawless system.

In an early episode of 19 Kids and Counting, the family gets stranded at Newark Liberty International Airport for four hours and during that super fun wait, Jackson gets lost. Apparently Michelle and Jim Bob let him go to the bathroom by himself — at the time he's about five years old — and it's not until a TLC cameraman hears an announcement about a lost kid named "Jackson" do they take note. In fact, the parents are joking with the cameras and security when the clearly distraught Jackson goes to Jana for comfort.

But whatever, at least they never left any of their kids behind at home at Christmas.

…on camera.

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For road trips, they fill their van with pickles and hope for the best.

No, that's not true.

…that's not exclusively true.

In a blog post about their road trip snacks, Michelle listed pretzels and crackers as the fam's favorites, and Ziploc bags of watermelon and cantaloupe on the fruit front. But there was one prevalent smell and taste that dominated the Duggar vans, and that is, you guessed it, pickles.

"That's our favorite snack at home and on the road," Michelle explained (duh). "And for some reason, my kids said if they feel nauseous, the pickles seem to help them."

Well, we're feeling a bit nauseous, so can you pass some over?

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Even in a family as strict as their's, it seems like no country is off-limits.

It's insane enough that they could wrangle up the kids for a road trip to LA in the special On the Road with 16 Children, or that they could gather everyone for their Today show appearance in New York. But they have legit traveled internationally with their army of kids.

Where? To name a few spots, Japan, China, Malaysia, El Salvador, Jeruselum and as previously mentioned, down under. Like, the only family that travels more are The Simpsons and that's because they are literally cartoon characters.

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Where Jim and Michelle go, everyone goes… except recently.

Jinger and Jeremy were noticeably AWOL on the last Duggar family vacation to Australia and New Zealand, but they supplemented with Josiah's new fianceé Lauren Swanson, so whatever. Typically, however, when Michelle and Jim Bob want to do something, they wrangle the entire family. That includes spouses, grandbabies, hell, even Grandma Duggar and cousin Amy get in on the action sometimes.

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But the big question is, how do they afford it?

Welp.

We're sure involving a camera crew on every vacation has got to help.

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