The Packing Challenge

What does one take on a 17 day journey to China to pick up a baby? Well, that’s a good question. One friend commented that the only things he knew he needed for sure were clothing, diapers, and formula. However, there isn’t enough room to pack enough clothing, diapers, and formula. So, you bring clothes for 3 days, diapers and formula for 2 days, and replenish the rest in China. The in-China flight baggage weight limit is 44 lbs. The international flight carry-on weight restriction was 15 lbs. Somehow, we managed to get here with about 140 pounds of stuff. It’s going to take miraculous coordination to successfully move our things between bags in order to not leave our belongings behind in every airport (or pay significant overage charges...) Some of the things we packed are: bibs, a few baby toys, over the counter and prescription medicines of all types for adults and infants, detergent for laundry and dishes, baby bjorn, tongs to retrieve items from boiling water, a vinyl tablecloth to create a play space on a hotel room floor, cheerios- stuffed into any potential containers, a thermos for carrying hot water because the babies drink their bottles hot, 2 computers, video camera, 50 pages of documents, snacks, and meals that can be prepared by adding boiling water (available in every hotel room in China). Our luxury items (the items we brought but shouldn’t have) included our pillows, and a small bag of homemade chocolate chip cookies, labeled “in case of emergency.”