Packing - AAH! It's almost time to go!

Packing – AAH! It’s almost time to go!

In my inexperience, I did not start packing until the day before we left (and our flight left at 8:25am, so early morning start the next day).  This was another bad decision.  It took at least 12 hours to pack our 5 for 70 days .  Here is a rough list of what to bring:

1.    Clothes for all seasons you will be in the country.  N China gets cold!

2.    Homeschool materials (if you homeschool)

3.    Swimsuits (hotel had indoor pool)

4.    One thing we forgot – should have packed new toothbrush heads! Oops. 

5.    Tried to bring all the toiletries we would need, especially deodorant and toilet paper. Toilet paper can be found, but good to bring with you when you are in public – did not find any public restrooms so far that had toilet paper.  Have been luck in finding some western toilets (China mainly uses a porcelain hole in the ground and no toilet paper). 

6.    Also brought exercise clothes, tennis shoes, etc.

7.    Coats/shoes

8.    Few extra toys for girls – a puzzle, a game, a small lego set, a small set of paints, a few small busy bags – We aren’t exploring all the time – we have primarily been touring when my husband is off work.  But when he is working, we do have a lot of time to fill.

9.    American goodies to give as gifts, especially if you expect to be invited over to a persons home while in China.  The Chinese (as well as people from many other countries) are thoughtful guests and are used to giving a gift to their host.

10. Any American items that your Chinese connections might need that they can’t easily find in China
11. Electronics and their CHARGERS
12. Medications
13. Passports/Passport Holder
14. Guide books/Chinese Dictionary/City maps

Make sure to check your airlines rules on how many bags you can bring for free, and their weight/size limits.  We flew Air China and was allowed 2 bags each, 50 lbs max each.  We found those rules to be generous and did not use all the bags we were allowed.  We limited clothing/etc. for everyone since we would have a washer/dryer and could wash clothes often. 

Carry-on Bags

Each of us, including the 3 kids each brought a carry-on back pack filled with an empty water bottle (fill it once you get through security and save money on buying super expensive water bottles at the airport stores), snacks and entertainment.  Kids had a few electronic devices to share with games/movies, headphones (some of the planes did provide headphones, but not all), and new coloring books, crayons, activity books, reading books/magazines, and a doll.  We tried to provide variety since we knew it would be a very long 30 hours of travel, but also wanted to limit it so we don’t have too much to keep track of or lose.  Good things to also have on hand – extra set of clothes (or 2!) and a few toiletries (hair brush, etc.) if kids have an accident or if your luggage does not make it to your destination.  Our 4 year old did have an accident on the 14 hr international flight and our luggage did not make it to Dalian.  So everything came in very handy!

A word on melatonin: our pediatrician did not recommend it.  And I read an article that discouraged its use on children.  Many friends did recommend it to me, we did buy it and use a pill per child on the international flight.  Would probably not do it again.  It really knocked out the 4 year old and I think that might be why she had the accident in her sleep.  Plus on the international flight the food schedule was really weird.  Lunch was about 3pm and dinner was at 10pm.  However the kids were too deep asleep to wake up and eat the dinner. 

My recommendation: start packing a few days to a week in advance!  My husbands wise coworker from India told us to pack  2 days in advance and rest the day prior to the journey! Oh if we had only followed his advice!