Next Time...

One day during the pack out in Virginia I heard myself say inside my head, "Next time I will...." I knew I was open to do this again. I was excited to go despite the stress. I wanted the adventure and all it brings with it, but it seems to me society says you should do this sort of thing on a trial basis. Go for a year or two and then you can commit to more if you like it. I thought it was so odd that before I even boarded the plane I was mentally preparing for "next time" whenever that may be if we are offered the chance. I think it's a good sign, don't you? Lots of people here talk about "next time" and what they would do or should bring. Then end their comments with, "if I even remember any of this by the time we move again...I should probably write this stuff down." So without further delay, here's what I'd do different "Next Time". Leave: As of this moment, not much to change here - we got some bad info and planned our pack out wrong. We thought we would be bringing food. Nope. Singapore lets it in, but Exxon won't ship it. Oops. We were allowed 5 big air freight boxes. We filled 2 1/2. Air freight was the last thing we packed out. I'd do it first next time. Because we had so much empty space, we ended up shipping some of our luggage so we didn't have to drag it around in the airport. I plain ran out of time to drop off winter clothes to friends, so we've got a bunch here that should have stayed. Also have clothes from last summer for Jake that are pretty snug. I've informed him that he must stop growing for 5 more weeks until more of the 2T summer gear arrives so we can ditch the 18 month stuff. I'm sure I'll come up with lots of things I would leave home once we get our sea freight in five weeks. Bring: Kitchen - cookie sheet, pizza pan, casserole dish, medium large mixing bowl, cheap saucepan, MY spatula and rubber scraper, kitchen shears, plastic plates, cups and bowls so the kids don't break the expensive hotel ones, spices for cooking, tupperware for flour, sugar, salt, etc, 200 ziplock baggies (both sandwich size and gallon), kids lunchboxes, water bottle for everyone, four boxes of comfort breakfast cereal Toys and Kid Stuff - ALL woobies, binkies, Potsies, special love things, depending on how long we have to survive without, three favorites for each kid, predetermined alotment of cash to buy new and exciting toys upon arrival in new home, balls, pool toys as well as water wings/life jackets, playdough, markers, craft supplies, glue sticks, pencils, erasers for homework, Misc - printer, paper, ink cartridge, piggy banks/baggies/papers/whatever to pay kids allowance (they're still going to want it even if I'm discombobulated and then I don't have to say "no" I can say "do you have enough of your own money to buy it?"), Angie's fancy pillow that wards off stiff necks and back pain, my brand of face soap (because climate change plus high stress living is sure to bring teenage level acne breakouts), makeup, nail clippers, tweezers, thermometer for sick kids, fever/pain meds for adults and double amount for kids, eye glasses repair kit (screws, screwdriver, soft clothes, detail pliers), small screw driver to install batteries into new toys, box cutter to open air freight, scissors, family calendar, suction cups with hooks or those 3M removable hooks (hang excess swim wear in bathroom to dry, calendar on the wall, artwork from the kids, kitchen towels to dry because it isn't my house and I can't make permanent changes but those things make life much more orderly and tidy), tape (packing, masking and scotch to get you started), power converters as necessary, umbrellas, sun screen and bug spray to get buy until you find something you like, laundry bins (not sure this is a must, but we had 3 rubbermaid bins left at the end of packing so I tossed them in our near empty air freight box to fill the last half a box and they've been real handy - for laundry and go cart racing around the living room too) Clothes - next size up in everything for the kids, but special attention to Sunday clothes (Jake has 12 month slacks that are now better described as capris he's wearing to church these days and nearing the point of belly shirts, poor guy), school clothes, croc/sandal for swimming, swim suits boots/glove/hat/coat if winter, nice slacks for Angie (some days I think I should step it up a little, like for parent teacher conferences or school tours, but this back side isn't finding any pants on this continent that fit), Brian needs more t-shirts, cub scout uniform (and book) Mostly we chose to live light. We didn't forget anything that was huge and earth shattering beyond a stroller. In a moment of sheer exhaustion and frustration that the double stroller wouldn't fit in the air frieght box I gave the small umbrella style double stoller away. That was a definate mistake. Really could have used it. Ended up paying $40 for a single umbrella stroller to save Jake's life from his constant running in the street. Could have been free since we've got another coming on the boat, plus that one only cost $10 in the first place. If that's the worst of our troubles, we're doing really, really well. We have about everything we really need to survive here in the furnished apartment. For being the hoarder that I am, this has gone quite well. It's been nice to not have way too much stuffed into this little place, but as time rolls forward, we're accumulating more and more stuff. I bought some cleaning supplies, laundry stain remover then saw it was only for whites so had to buy more, stuff to mop the floor, misc pans and kitchen goods, food (vinegar, brown sugar, soy sauce, ketchup, etc) that we had to leave and now will have to move. It's fine. It's just across town, just a bit on an inconvenience to move again.