Thoughts on packing

Because we are planning on doing more of these trips, as well as more adventuresome getaways, I was packing this time around with an eye on how little we could actually bring and still get away with it.  My goal is to get us all down to one carry-on each for these trips, and we are fairly close right now, even taking into account that we packed for cold weather and a week's worth of clothes with no washing machine availability, though most likely neither of those criteria will apply for many of our trips.  I got both the boys together into two packing cubes, one large and one medium (I am using these packing cubes as my measuring stick for packing and for buying travel backpacks for all of us).  The husband and I were each in one large and one medium packing cube, but, as I say, I could do just one large if we weren't traveling into colder weather and were able to wash our clothes.  Either way, I'm carry-on ready.  The husband and I are going to get relatively small 40-45 liter travel backpacks, and the boys are going to get 25 liter packs, which will never be all the way full until they are quite a bit older.  Which means that if we each had to carry one of the boys' packs for some reason, we would still be at 65ish liters, the capacity of a smaller but serious trekking/backpacking pack.  We want to be extremely mobile.  Less stuff to carry, less stuff to keep track of, more fun!

This trip has made me consider bringing a few new essentials with us on our next trip and reinforced my thoughts about some of the items I did bring.  Because we were not planning on doing laundry, I didn't bring any laundry detergent.  Big mistake; HUGE!  I brought an extra pair of pajamas for E in case of accident, which we did use, but I should have brought many more t-shirts for him OR some detergent.  That kid just seems to run into dirt wherever he goes!  As it was, I ended up doing laundry at our last stop and had to buy some detergent for ONE load.  Blah!  Never again.

I also thought about bringing at least one light-blocking curtain panel (I have a gazillion knocking around our house since our last place had so many windows and this place already has blocking curtains hung), but I decided not to in the end.  Another big mistake!  Just one panel would have been helpful in every hotel, particularly given the fact that sunset didn't happen until 8:30pm, so we were always putting the boys to bed while it was still light out since we were trying to maintain a somewhat normal schedule given that Germany has only a one hour time difference from Doha.

I brought my usual lightweight bag that doubles as a purse, but I should also have brought a collapsible shopping bag.  How did I forget that bags cost extra in Europe?  So silly; I used to shop at Germany-based Aldi in Cleveland, for crying out loud.  I know the drill!  Just one capacious shopping bag would have been so useful in so many different circumstances, not least when we were buying groceries for breakfasts in our hotel rooms or carting our laundry around.

This trip I brought along a new "travel" purse I impulse-bought last month, but now I don't think I will leave home without it, especially if I can find a slash-proof strap to pair with it.  It's a small pouch with a flap-opening that is just wide enough across to fit my iPad in the outside pocket, with a gazillion other inside and outside pockets, some of them "hidden" and completely inaccessible except by me, some you can access without even opening the bag at all, some for pens, some for a phone, some with zippers...you get the idea!  I used it as a purse and passport holder every day while we traveled but also, most helpfully, as my onboard bag on the plane.  I stuck my few necessities, like head phones, gum, my book, and tissues in this little bag, and it took up almost no space under the seat in front of me and left my much larger carry-on in the overhead bin.  Then the purse fit right back into my carry-on when we disembarked.  Genius!

One thing I am ecstatic we brought was melatonin!  As I said, the light lingered so long every night, we were grateful to be able to keep the kids on a normal schedule despite the (very lovely) light with the help of our little purple pills!

Our battery-operated little clock radio proved so essential this trip for all of us (after years of listening to the kids' sounds on a baby monitor, I sleep better with white noise, too), I am wondering if I should find an actual battery-operated noisemaker that is slightly more robust and uses fewer batteries for the future.  Hmmm...I will look into my options and we shall see.