One of the oddities of expat life is planning your trips back to your home country, in our case, the US. Truthfully, I am facing the prospect with equal parts anticipation and dread. Our trip back will be long, almost two months, the longest we've ever taken, so I'm a bit nervous about that but also looking forward to seeing everyone and playing with the boys a bunch. However, it appears a lot of those two months will be spent shopping, so we can bring our suitcases back full to the brim of things that are hard to find or prohibitively expensive here, which should fill me with glee but really makes me nervous as well. I think I've already talked about all this on this blog, but the planning for this next trip consumes so much of my thinking these days it's hard to keep track of what I have said, blogged, or thought about obsessively and when. So forgive any repetition!
One way I am saving myself some time on the ground is through online shopping. Presently, my father informs me that there is a room full of packages at his house, the contents of which he doubts we will actually be able to fit in our luggage! This is saying something, given my father's prodigious packing prowess (I learned from the best!), but I'm not worried. One of those boxes contains 4 very large duffle bags from The North Face, our new checked luggage of choice, because they are virtually indestructible and very lightweight, key when you have 50 lb. weight limits. Other boxes contain several items that will be returned once we try them on when we arrive. And, of course, most of the packages are probably much larger than they need to be, given their contents. I'm so not worried there are a few more packages yet to come when we arrive, each of which means one less shopping trip I have to take in person this summer. You should see my current Amazon shopping cart! It's gigantic! But I have to wait to order all that until closer to when I arrive so I am still within the 30 day return window. I already had my long-suffering sister help me with another return window by trying on a bunch of dresses and skirts for me on Skype, and I don't want to have to subject her to that again, fun as it was to do a virtual fashion show!
Another time/weight saver is taking advantage of the husband's business trips. He went to Toronto a while ago and did some shopping for us (braving a snow storm to do so); his second checked bag came back filled with all sorts of medicines and toiletries and made us all very happy. This month, he traveled to Nashville and did the same, although this time his bags were filled with birthday and Christmas gifts for the boys, which can take up so much precious luggage space and are such a load off my mind if I don't have to think about them at all over the summer. The poor husband has had to load up his bags in Walmart parking lots, but he has been a trooper about it all. This last time, he even came back with a Kate Spade iPad cover for me and a new screen protector for my phone, surprises that weren't even on his gigantic list!
In the meantime, right now, I carry a notebook with me everywhere (yes, I am both analog and old school). I have several running lists: Grocery, Clothes, Toiletries/Misc. and Travel Gear. I know, I am so very boring. This is my life, folks, take it or leave it. I do; I'm taking it! So, I write down things as I think of them or wish I had them and cross them off when (and if) I find a suitable equivalent here that doesn't cost an arm and a leg or is so cheaply made it's liable to fall apart if I stare at it for too long. I also have a list of every package I have ordered online and its contents, just so I don't get confused or forget something or double order. So when we get to Utah in July, I'll remember to buy basil couscous and stain remover and white socks (these lists are literary gold, I tell you!).
One way I am saving myself some time on the ground is through online shopping. Presently, my father informs me that there is a room full of packages at his house, the contents of which he doubts we will actually be able to fit in our luggage! This is saying something, given my father's prodigious packing prowess (I learned from the best!), but I'm not worried. One of those boxes contains 4 very large duffle bags from The North Face, our new checked luggage of choice, because they are virtually indestructible and very lightweight, key when you have 50 lb. weight limits. Other boxes contain several items that will be returned once we try them on when we arrive. And, of course, most of the packages are probably much larger than they need to be, given their contents. I'm so not worried there are a few more packages yet to come when we arrive, each of which means one less shopping trip I have to take in person this summer. You should see my current Amazon shopping cart! It's gigantic! But I have to wait to order all that until closer to when I arrive so I am still within the 30 day return window. I already had my long-suffering sister help me with another return window by trying on a bunch of dresses and skirts for me on Skype, and I don't want to have to subject her to that again, fun as it was to do a virtual fashion show!
Another time/weight saver is taking advantage of the husband's business trips. He went to Toronto a while ago and did some shopping for us (braving a snow storm to do so); his second checked bag came back filled with all sorts of medicines and toiletries and made us all very happy. This month, he traveled to Nashville and did the same, although this time his bags were filled with birthday and Christmas gifts for the boys, which can take up so much precious luggage space and are such a load off my mind if I don't have to think about them at all over the summer. The poor husband has had to load up his bags in Walmart parking lots, but he has been a trooper about it all. This last time, he even came back with a Kate Spade iPad cover for me and a new screen protector for my phone, surprises that weren't even on his gigantic list!
In the meantime, right now, I carry a notebook with me everywhere (yes, I am both analog and old school). I have several running lists: Grocery, Clothes, Toiletries/Misc. and Travel Gear. I know, I am so very boring. This is my life, folks, take it or leave it. I do; I'm taking it! So, I write down things as I think of them or wish I had them and cross them off when (and if) I find a suitable equivalent here that doesn't cost an arm and a leg or is so cheaply made it's liable to fall apart if I stare at it for too long. I also have a list of every package I have ordered online and its contents, just so I don't get confused or forget something or double order. So when we get to Utah in July, I'll remember to buy basil couscous and stain remover and white socks (these lists are literary gold, I tell you!).
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