I have two China adoption trips
under my belt. Sooooo, I’m the
self-proclaimed subject matter expert when it comes to totally awesome China
packing.
Disclaimer #1:I’ve traveled a bunch. I know a good many first-time adoptive parents traveling to China may be taking their first trip outside the United States. I recently read the blog of a mom who had never flown prior to leaving for China to go and get her sweetie. Those of you who have a few trips under your belt can probably relate well to my packing tips. Those who are “newbie” travelers, take my tips with a grain of salt. Nothing is more important than your comfort and mental well-being on a trip like this. If you really think you need a separate suitcase for food and two tubs of Clorox Wipes, don’t let my recommendations sway you from what you feel most comfortable with.
For packing, I operate under three basic principles. Ready?
1. Less is always more. Always, always, and always.
2. China is not the moon. It is not the end of the world. If you forget something, you can do without or buy it there. It’s TWO WEEKS people. Deal.
3. The only thing you “need” is yourself, your paperwork and travel arrangements (a place to crash and a ticket home). The rest can be negotiated and improvised.
Disclaimer #2
I have only been to China in the hot
part of the summer. The part where it is
hot every-stinking-where in China. I can
probably coach you through winter packing if you’re unsure, but I have never
been to China in the winter.
Disclaimer #3
I have only adopted toddler boys in
diapers who are off the bottle and not on formula. I know nothing about Chinese formula versus
US formula, or cleft bottles.
Luggage & Such
·
Never have more than one
checked bag per person
·
Consolidate when you can
(mom and dad share a suitcase, brother and sister share a suitcase) and/or
mish-mosh everyone’s stuff in all the checked bags (as in EVERYONE traveling
has at least one outfit packed in ALL of the bags, so that no one is totally left
in the lurch if one bag is lost/delayed.
For our last “very
awesomely packed” China trip, we had four people leaving and five coming
back. We took 3 checked bags and packed
a cloth duffle inside of one of the bags that could be used as an additional
checked bag on the way home.
·
Use packing cubes. We used these: http://www.amazon.co.uk/eBags-Packing-Cubes-3pc-Grasshopper/dp/B0013KGELU/ref=sr_1_1/280-8696324-3812369?ie=UTF8&qid=1380138229&sr=8-1&keywords=ebags+packing+cubes
Each family
member/traveler had their own color cube, so it helped cut down on digging
through suitcases trying to find our stuff.
It also helps cut down on potential over-packing (as in you give your
loved one/travel buddy X number of cubes and say “all your stuff has to fit in
here”). I find the cubes to be more of
an organizational (OK, some might say OCD) tool versus a compression tool, but
the bags compress a little. I’ve heard
of people doing the vacuum sealed thing to save space in their bags, but that
won’t minimize your weight and the air WILL leak in at some point, leaving you
a mess on the backside of the trip.
TRUST ME on this. I vacuum packed
for a cruise once. It was great while
packing to go/unpacking once there but a nightmare trying to repack to go home.
·
Each adult took one
regular backpack and each child took their own mini backpack. I used these for the littles:http://www.potterybarnkids.com/products/mackenzie-backpacks-blue-camo/?cm_src=AutoCSLPIP These little packs
can hold a change of clothes, a snack and a few toys and can be comfortably
carried by a mobile toddler.
·
Each traveler should
have a complete change of clothes (if wearing jeans, a clean shirt and a clean
pair of undies) and a small toiletry kit in their carry on. This will eliminate “funky-ness” if the
flight is delayed or give you a clean change if your three year old spills
spaghetti on you during the in-flight meal.
Really, can you believe they actually put marinara sauce on the kid’s
meal?
·
Travel light. I cannot stress this enough. Consider your new blessing on the flip
side. Are you going to be able to juggle
your suitcases, etc and a new child (plus any you brought with you) while
sprinting through the airport trying to make a gate that you’re late for? It is soooo much better to be mobile than to
be prepared. This is A LOT of traveling
and A LOT of moving around, people. You
don’t want to have a caravan of bulky stuff.
·
Strollers – I am a BIG
FAN of taking a stroller to China or buying one there (assuming of course that
you have or are adopting little ones).
For our first trip, Lee and I talked about taking a stroller, but
hesitated to do so because on the trip over, we had no child with us. How would we explain that to the
airlines? We were afraid of “uh…where’s
the baby, you crazy people?” Looking
back, I think we would have managed without being charged (or sent for observation),
but we didn’t take a stroller, nonetheless.
We did, however, buy a stroller for Zack about thirty-seconds after
meeting Zack. I exaggerate…but just a
little. My twenty-six pounds of burning
love cried for an hour upon meeting me and then fell asleep on me in
exhaustion. Twenty-six pounds of
sleeping dead weight kid is no fun. We
high tailed it to the closest Wal-Mart and bought a stroller. On our SECOND trip, we took a double
stroller. A MAC truck of a double
stroller, at that. We were allowed to
gate check it most places we went and it was a great luggage catch-all when we
had one rider. Even when we had two
riders, we had a bin underneath and the handles (stuff can hang from there) to
lighten our loads a little. Thinking
about taking a stroller? Do it. Loved, loved, loved having our strollers both
trips. There are places in China that
are not stroller friendly, but your guides will let you know what they
are. Your guides will give you the
briefing on “what to bring tomorrow” and you’ll have the opportunity to ask yes
or no on the stroller. Two trips and our
guides never steered us wrong.
·
We also took one Ergo
carrier both trips. It was a little
tricky on the second trip with two littles who both wanted to be carried, but
we made it work. We loved having the Ergo. It stayed in our checked luggage (didn’t take
up much space/weight) on the way there for Trip #1 and squished it in a
backpack for Trip #2. We got the heavy
canvas carrier that holds up to 45 pounds and really like it. It’s a “man friendly” dark khaki and Lee has
never complained about wearing it, which he might have done if it had had
cutesy butterflies or something. Honestly
– DO-OVER
ALERT –
I wish we’d have grabbed a second for our second trip since Zack had some
jealousy issues and wanted to be carried, also.
To Flip Flop or not to Flip Flop?
· “You can’t wear flip flops in China…because of the garbage”
· “Bring flip flops to wear inside your hotel but don’t wear them
outside because it’s unsanitary”.
· “People pee in the streets of China, so better not wear your
flip flops”.
To my flip flopping
sisters – flop on. Unless it’s
snowing. Then you’re just silly. Or from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (go
Lions…hey…they need the love, right?).
The garbage anywhere in China that I’ve been is no worse than any other
major US city. And if you see garbage…well
for Heaven’s sake, woman, don’t step in it.
People do pee in the streets of China.
Usually young children who aren’t fully potty trained. These children usually pee (under their
parent’s supervision) into some sort of street drain. If you have visions of your delicate flip
flopped tootsies wading through rivers of pee…well, you’ve not been in any part
of China I’ve been to. I would not
recommend flips for any sort of long-day stuff that resembles hiking. FYI, the Great Wall is CLIMBING STUFF. Truly, it is.
Wear good shoes. But, for dinner
or a casual walk about town, flips or sandals are OK. In SUMMER, people. Take your cues from the locals.
Kid’s Clothes
·
For each trip, we took 6
outfits per child, PLUS a pair of long pants and a hoodie (we were coming from
summer in China to what passes for summer in England).
·
We brought shorts and
tee shirts and two pair of PJs for each child.
·
DO OVER ALERT – we’d have
definitely brought more dry-weave stuff.
Our second summer in China was crazy hot and our boys’ cotton t-shirts
were drenched after just a short time out in the sun.
·
We did not bring shoes
for our new child. Each of our kids came
to us in decent shoes that fit. We
bought new shoes in Guangzhou for both and saved the “Gotcha Day” shoes. Had our kids come to us shoeless, we’d have
felt comfortable asking our guide to take us to buy them. Don’t second guess the shoe sizes…totally not
worth the space it takes up in your luggage.
Buy there.
·
For our first adoption
(2 year old) we brought about half a pack of diapers and bought the rest of
what we needed in China. Warning –
Chinese diapers seem to be less absorbent than American diapers (even if they
say Pampers or Huggies on the packaging), so save your American diapers for
long days out or the trip home. For our
second adoption, we took Pull Ups and night-time diapers for both boys. Zack was mostly potty trained but we didn’t
feel like dealing with underwear, accidents and the mad rush to find the
closest potty “right now”, so Pull Ups it was.
We’ve heard that it is hard to find Pull Ups in China, but we saw them
everywhere in Wal-Mart type stores/supermarkets. So…we ended up taking a truckload of Pull
Ups. When we pack Pull Ups or diapers,
we take them out of the package and pad the perimeter of the bags with
them. For me, this is the most space
saving way to pack them.
·
As it turned out, Kyle
was way smaller than we’d been told, so we ended up having to buy all new clothes
and diapers for him, anyway. We had LOTS
of extra Pull Ups
· Other Kid’s
Stuff
· Toys – do NOT take a ton of toys. Don’t waste the space in your luggage. Obviously, if you’re traveling with kids on
the way over, you will have to take something for them to do – I totally
recommend electronic entertainment. Zack
watched movies on our tablet or slept most of the way to China. I took a few small things for him to do in
his backpack as well, but everything fit in to his little kid sized pack. For toys to give your new child or toys to
play with in China, a couple of simple things such as stacking cups, a toy cell
phone and a couple of toy cars was plenty.
The kids will most likely want to play with something they are not
supposed to or something other than a toy.
Neither one of my kids was remotely interested in a stuffed animal or
lovey while in China. While we were in
Jinan (Shandong Province), Zack and Kyle were most interested in playing with small,
plastic coffee cups that we’d taken from our dinner trays on the flight over
(shhh). Also, keep in mind that kids
coming from an institutional setting may not be used to having a lot. Kyle wasn’t used to having anything and didn’t
need or know what to do with a lot of toys.
Even Zack, coming from a foster home where he was fairly spoiled was well
entertained with just a couple of things.
And…referring to basic principle #2 – buy stuff there. You can buy all sorts of cheap kid’s stuff in
China. If you’re trying to economize on
space, consider a blow-up beach ball. It
weighs next to nothing. We took this
both times and it entertained our children for a whopping 10 minutes,
tops. It might work better for you, but
bottom line, an entire bag full of toys, coloring books, Play Dough and
stickers…not really needed.
· Clothes
for Me
· I took six outfits this last trip, plus what I wore to travel in
– slightly more on my first trip. I took
four dresses, two skorts and one reversible knit skirt. I took four tops that could be worn with any
of the skirts, two of them were dry-weave.
·
I took 2 pairs of PJs
and enough unmentionables to get me through the trip…lots of people say they
wash this stuff out in the sink, but really, these don’t take up much
space. Really large granny bloomers
might, but I won’t go there.
·
I took 3 pairs of shoes
each trip (could have gotten by with two).
This last time I took Skechers Mary Janes, not quite likes these but
almost (and I actually have these shoes, too, super comfy)
a pair of Ecco
walking sandals (bought several years ago) and a pair of “nicer” flippies. I mostly wore my Mary Janes. They were sturdy enough to trek the Great
Wall and cute enough to wear with a skirt or dress for an official appointment.
·
My travel outfit was a
light sweater and a maxi dress. Light,
but kept me warm on the plane.
·
I favor things that all
go together or really splashy (stain hiding) prints.
·
Thoughts on looking cute
– It was hot and we were busy. I wore my
hair in a bun or ponytail most of the time & took no hair appliances (BTW,
every hotel we’ve ever stayed in while in China has a hairdryer). I also took a ball cap, but only wore it a
couple of times. I took a small makeup
bag and a few pieces of jewelry. It does
make me feel better to make an effort, even though China was not a fashion show
or a place I had to “show face”. I still
liked being able to feel put together. I
am of the mindset that families should make an effort to dress nice for official
appointments – and that is any time you will be meeting Chinese officials for
your adoption. For the guy who was
wearing jorts and a t-shirt with the sleeves cut off for Gotcha Day – shame on
you. ‘Nuff said.
·
You can do laundry
cheaply in China. You can also wash
stuff out in the sink (more of a reason to bring dry-weave or “travel” clothes –
check out www.exofficio.com)
· Toiletries
· All hotels in China will have shampoo, body, wash, lotion, and
toothbrush/toothpaste. Many will have
conditioner, razors with shaving cream, and other amenities, such as Q-tips,
cotton, laundry powder, sewing kits, and bath salts.
· For me, I only took my Olay face wipes, the lotion I normally
use on my face, my razor (gotta have my own) and some deodorant. I also took some scented body lotion that
pretty much worked as my “stink pretty” for the trip. All of this, plus my makeup and other stuff,
such as tweezers, scissors, nail clippers and my jewelry bag fit in to one
makeup bag. There is a picture below.
· I took what I felt I needed to get through the trip. If you leave something behind, don’t sweat
it. You can buy most any sort of
toiletry item in China. I’ve been to
only 5 cities in China – not a huge amount of China travel compared to some –
but I’ve never not been able to find what I was looking for if I needed
it. I’ve bought foot powder, cold
medicine, baby supplies, and nail polish remover at a Chinese Wal-Mart, or equivalent. I recently read someone’s blog who talked
about how much the Chinese people smelled and that deodorant wasn’t sold
there. My experience was different, I’m
happy to say. I didn’t smell any funky
people (other than possibly Americans in my travel group who’d been out and
about sweating all day) and I saw deodorant for sale in several places. To each their own, I guess.
· Miscellaneous
Really Awesome Stuff I Was Glad I Had
· I took my Thirty-One Large Utility Tote and Retro Metro
Weekender in my checked luggage. Both
sat on the bottom of the bags, took up no space and almost no weight. The LUT, I used as a laundry hamper while we
were in China and could have used it as a pool bag or shopping bag if I’d have
wanted to. It kept our hotel room less
cluttered and it made taking our laundry down for washing easy. The Retro Metro was an additional checked
back on our way home. It held dirty
laundry and freed up luggage space for the things we bought in China.
· Baby Got Bags – I took all sizes of ziplock bags and lots of
plastic grocery bags. I stuffed these in
to every cranny of my luggage. These
have all sorts of uses. Sealing a dirty
diaper is a HUGE one. All Chinese hotels
come with these itty bitty powder room sized trash cans and liners are
apparently a Western luxury that have not caught on. The little plastic (un-green) grocery bags
are great to keep your garbage from stinking up the hotel room. We used baggies to contain toiletry items, to
organize hair clips and jewelry, to take dry cereal (hello, free baby snacks)
from the breakfast buffet, and to store wet or smelly clothes that didn’t get
washed/dried before you have to move on to the next leg of your trip.
· Tide Pen and pouch of laundry detergent. We did send out for laundry twice during our
last China trip. Having laundry sent
out, even if it’s through the hotel, is cheaper and easier than dragging an
extra suitcase. And…nicer than wearing
dirty clothes. We did rinse out some
things in the sink in our room here and there.
Another reason to bring dry weave stuff!
In cooler weather, I imagine you get more mileage out of your clothes,
but in the summer (especially in the South) your clothes are done after one day
(assuming you’ve gone outside at some point).
· A Ziploc bag of Clorox or Lysol wipes. I used to laugh when I saw these on all of
the “packing lists”. I’ve actually seen
adoptive moms in China “de-germ” a surface before allowing their darlings to
interact with it. I’ve heard of adoptive
moms “re-cleaning” their “yucky” Chinese hotel room. Please.
Anyhoo…I am the least germophobic mom you’ll ever meet. So. I
have no idea what nervous Nellie’s spirit took over my body when I packed this
bag of disinfecting wipes, but I am SO GLAD I did. One of my boys had a nasty diaper
accident. No, I didn’t Lysol my child
(yes, it was briefly considered) but it was a huge mess in our hotel bathroom
at night and I’m glad I had a way to clean it up. I only used a couple, but man-oh-man, I am so
glad I had a couple to use. Had I not had
these, I would have had to call housekeeping and it was nice for all of us to
avoid that.
· A small bottle of Downy Fabric Refresher. I used this to spritz on our “encore
performance” clothing (which there wasn’t much of because of the heat), to
release some of the wrinkles in our packed clothes and as a bathroom air
freshener.
· Medications
· We were not able to get “preventive” Rx meds. We really didn’t need any, either time, but
on my next trip to China, if we have the opportunity to get them, I will take
them. Whoa…did I just type that? Well…I’m still in the post-adoption PTSD
stage, so maybe I’ve got a little keyboard Turret’s going on. That said, we did take a pretty extensive
medical kit with a little bit of everything in it. Here is a picture of my bag, along with my
cosmetic/toiletry bag and our "laundry hamper". The big purple paisley tote folds flat and is light. Sits in the bottom of my suitcase. :
I take
my black medical bag everywhere I travel, and even if I don’t need something out of it, someone
with me usually does. Yep. I am the Girl Scout with the Pepto or the ear
drops, every time. I don’t really bring
a huge amount of anything I don’t take on a regular basis, and if there is
something I do take on a regular basis, I bring it plus a week’s extra supply –
you never know when you might get delayed.
Ha. Ha. Ha. I also take a few
first aid supplies – nothing fancy, but a few bandages and some antibiotic
ointment, for sure.
· Electronics:
· Get a Panda Phone. Google
it. This is a Chinese cell phone rental
service that drops your phone off at your “entry” hotel and allows you to
return it at your “exit” hotel. It is
meant to be for local calls in China, NOT to call/text your family back in the
US. For that, get a calling plan or use
Skype. We felt better/safer with having
a way to connect to our hotel/our guide while wandering around in China. We didn’t use our Panda Phone a bunch but it
was worth having. For each trip, it cost
us about $50.00 to have/use during our stay in China.
· Use a Zuni Router. I’m
not electronics savvy enough to really explain what that is…but you should
totally take one. We didn’t have a
wireless router on our first trip and did on our second and it made a
difference. We were ALWAYS able to get
on the internet and always had a strong signal.
· Get at least 2 VPNs – and make sure they work before you
leave. We used Express VPN and Panda
Pow.
· We took (on our most recent trip) a laptop, 2 tablets, a kindle
and 3 smart phones. Does seems like a
lot, but we did have a lot of kid stuff loaded on the tablets and I liked
having the keyboard to blog. I used my
Android phone quite a bit to look at Facebook and to post brief updates.
· We did not take a power cord/converters. We wished we had but we were all right
without.
· Food
and Stuff
· If you have a blog or a pack list that includes a disposable
tablecloth (so your kids can play on the floor of the hotel without getting
dirty), a set of dishes, packets of oatmeal or macaroni and cheese cups – I have
(nicely) poked fun at you. Ditto for any
kitchen supplies, cleaning supplies and utensils. But…follow your gut. As I said above, I did pack Clorox Wipes and
I’m ever glad I did.
· There is food in China.
Eat it. Unless you are super
picky or on a special diet, just go with the flow. We took a few pop tarts, bags of trail mix
and granola bars, mostly because our Beijing Hotel did not include breakfast and
to “pay as you go” breakfast would have been about $25.00 per head. We could have just as easily gone out to 7-11
and bought some snacks/quick things to eat.
We were always able to find Western style snack food and things that we
recognized and felt comfortable with.
For quick meals in the room, there are so many noodle bowls for sale in
China, and even things like peanut butter and Ritz crackers are there. I’d never pack food, but I know a lot of
people do it.
· HOWEVER…we did pack quite a bit of “Starbucks Via” individual
coffee packets…although there were Starbucks everywhere we went and they could
have been snagged along the way. Most
hotel rooms have tea bags but instant coffee is hit or miss. The coffee at the breakfast buffets is
mediocre. I need coffee upon waking so
that I’m not evil. When it comes to
packing, I generally say there is a difference between a want and a need, and
yes, friends, I NEED my coffee. Ask my
family. They’ll explain it to you.
· My
Bottom Line:
· Enjoy China. Enjoy every
second, for the amazing opportunity you have to be in the birth country of your
child. No matter how crappy your trip might turn out to be, that still may be your only memory of your child's birth country when they sit on your lap later on and say "tell me about...".
· Allow yourself to think in the temporary. Your China adoption trip is not forever. Get through it. If you forgot your deodorant or the hotel
breakfast buffet doesn’t meet your expectations…deal. Tread water.
This is a small pocket in your “real life”.
· Pack light. Pack what you
absolutely must have and don’t worry too much about “what if”.
· Prepare to have a great, crazy, wonderful, at times stressful
and uncomfortable trip. Real life and
real bonding/attachment begins when you are HOME. Tread water and get through China. If they don’t have your exact brand of
Pringles or if you forget your eyeliner – you’ll be OK.
Cheers, People.
1 comments:
Thank you so much for this!
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