Three More Days!

Uh, we leave in three days.

Really, as I type this, more like fifty-seven hours.  Whoa.

What do two people pack to travel 6,000 miles for nine days?

Good question.

We each take one of these.  

Along with just our clothes, we have to take many other things.

Scarves, as gifts.

Our donations for treats for the friends at the orphanage.

Some of the food we're bringing.  We are fortunate enough to be able to stay in an apartment with a full kitchen, which helps tremendously with our food budget while we're there.  We are bringing Splenda, powder coffee creamer, individual packs of trail mix, some packaged rice and pasta side dishes, and several individual packs of Justin's Nut Butters, which were on sale at Target for fifty-three cents each.  We're also bringing instant coffee (which isn't as terrible as I expected!), oatmeal, protein bars, Planter's bars, and some cereal pouches of single servings.  I've picked most of these things up as I see them on sale or have a coupon.  It seemed so silly to me on the first trip to bring so much food, but I was so glad we did.  We only had to buy a few things each time at the grocery, and it really saved us money.  We are bringing a lot more this time, but we're also staying twice as long.  If something comes in a box but is also packaged inside the box, I take it out of the box and tape the directions to the front of the package.  I put all of the food into gallon size Ziploc bags so if it spills in my luggage, it just is contained to the ziploc.

A mini version of this was Katie's favorite toy when we were there.  I got her this jumbo "electro-shocker" as they called it today.

I have small gift bags and tissue to package the gifts we're bringing.  We're bringing the marshmallows for the kids at the orphanage, in Katie's groupa.

Our driver and our translator love beef jerky, and you can't get it in Katie's country.  We're bringing this for them.  Hopefully it will hold them over until I go back!

Along with the kitchen, we are so fortunate to stay in an apartment with a washer.  That allows us to bring significantly less clothing.  We are going from one climate to a very different climate this time.

This is here. . . 

This is there. . . 

I wore flip flops and capri pants to work today.  It will be in the 30s in Katie's country while we are there.  So, we will have to pack our coats and gloves.  Booo!  I will also bring a dress, sweater, belt, and heels for court.  Chris will bring khakis, a navy sport coat, a white shirt, and a tie for court.  Chris will bring three pairs of khaki pants, three plaid shirts, one pair of khaki shorts (which he will wear on the plane), four pairs of socks, two pairs of shoes (tennis shoes and court shoes), one pair of cozy shorts, and a few t-shirts.  (And obviously some undies!)  I will bring two pairs of jeans, one pair of black pants, and some yoga pants.  I will likely wear the yoga pants on the plane.  I will also bring three cardigan sweaters, one black pull over sweater, and three shirts for layering, one long sleeve t-shirt and one short-sleeve t-shirt for hanging out at the apartment, four pairs of socks, one pair of tights for court, and one pair of pajamas, one pair of boots, and one pair of slip on shoes.  I will also bring likely two scarves - one warm, and one not.  And we will be gone for nine days.  We will wash clothes once, and should be good!

This is my carryon bag.

In it I will put my iPad (which has all of my books on it), a photo album for court, our court papers, a change of clothes, my makeup, our camera and charger, and my toiletries.  I will also have assorted chapstick, my phone, my purse, headphones, ear plugs, my travel pillow, etc. in here.

Chris carries a backpack, and he will have the laptop, our convertors, his phone (which he loads his books on), his puzzle books, ear plugs, his headphones, a change of clothes, and his toiletries.  

And that's it!  So?  Is it more than you thought?  Less?  I can never tell if we pack light or over pack.  I did feel like we had some things that I won't bring again, and there was nothing really that we wished we had.  I hope we feel the same this time!