Comfort items for your carry on bag, international flight packing list

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED BY DAISY J ON THE WAYFARER

I just returned from Australia. This is my fourth LONG flight trip in my life and I just can not seem to get it together for the comfort items needed for such a long flight. I have now created a list. So, thought I would share since many of you are about to take a long flight. :)

For more on packing lists and things for kids see the packing list post here.

But, now here is a list for comfort items.

• Empty water bottle, they will fill for you and it is really nice to get a sip whenever you want it. Kids too.
• whisp tooth brushes, these are those little one time use things you can put in your purse or lunch box. make sure everyone has one for there and home again. Invaluable.
• mini travel deodorant *
• body or facial wipes (baby wipes do the same for face, body and personal use)
• mini purell **
• mini lotion **
• mini tissues
• extra pair of underwear for there and home again
• comb or the fold up one with a mirror
• chap stick *
• breath mints or gum -sugar free-, also good for take off and landing
• energy bars for those in between flights with no snacks and the airport delays and lay overs and when the meal time is just off with your body schedule and you just can not wait. DO NOT take nuts, many countries do not allow the transfer of "seeds" and nuts falls into that category.
• pencil and paper for those little notes you just might forget
• u shaped neck pillow or something like that.
• carabeaners (metal clip) to clip pillow to bag during transfers
• your own ear buds the ones on the plane are not great.
• that flimsy cardboard/foam nail file (no clippers or mini pocket knives)

The items with a ** need to be put in a quart sized zip lock bag and scanned through security separately. I have not had any problem with any of these. The items with * are not a required item to be packed separately, but one security person did suggest that I include them in the bag, just in case..... whatever, not hard to do.

Ok anyone else want to add?

Travel Tips: Part 2

Ideas for donations for Sele Enat:

• Generic ibuprofen or Advil for the nannies
• School supplies
• Toddler clothing
• Kids DVDs

Ideas for donations for the care center:

• Baby soap, baby shampoo, lotion and hand sanitizer are used alot and hard to come by in Ethiopia
• Selsun Blue to help control ringworm
• Toddler clothing
• Fresh fruit bought in Ethiopia

Pollution:

• Bring a scarf to cover your nose and mouth while driving when the pollution seems worst.
• Pack over-the-counter allergy medicines to potentially take daily

Over-the-counter medicines:

• Allergy medicine to help with pollution
• Motion sickness medicine (Dramamine) for stop/start, jerky car rides

Please leave other travel tips you think of in the comments. Thank you!

Travel Tips: Part 1

Packing suggestions:

• Lots of packages of baby wipes (what you don't use, you can leave with the care center)
• White noise machine
• Flashlight or headlamp (in case of power outages at the guesthouse)

For the plane ride home:

• Kid's backpack with new toys

For babies:

• Bottles with disposable drop-ins
• Liquid formula for the flights home
• Realize that the guest houses won't have bumbos/swings/high chairs, etc...I think that if you have room fitting some kind of bumboish chair in your luggage would be great advice....especially if you are picking up more than one child or are only one parent
• If switching formula, know that there will be blow-outs and you do not have access
  to laundry like you do in the US. Diapers and formula were the only things we
  bought that were fairly comparable to US prices...so take that into account when
  planning money if you are planning on buying them there

Probiotics:

• Take probiotics before you leave and while you are in Ethiopia. Check Whole Foods or GNC and look for ones that do not need to be refridgerated
• Also consider Grapefruit Seed Extract which is a nutribiotic

Once home:

• Have help ready to stay the night for 2-3 days after you return home. Don't underestimate jet-lag and possible travel stomach bugs that could affect you (and your child's transition) once you are home

Please leave other travel tips you think of in the comments. Thank you!

Communicating from Ethiopia

Since it's not possible to take every loved one with you on your trip to Ethiopia, you'll probably need to figure out a way to communicate with those left in the States while you are meeting your new child. Here are some suggestions from IAN families who have already traveled:

Regarding calling home:

• "I used the cell phone that the Ethiopia Guest Home gave us. We set up an account back home (direction on the EGH website), and we had prearranged times that my husband would call me. It worked fine. It was incredibly expensive for me to call the US, even using the Ethiopian cell phone."

• "I researched getting a loaner/global phone for my Verizon account, but it was also VERY expensive. I think others did that successfully and the service worked pretty well."

• "I had my phone turned on so that I could call and receive calls on my regular cell phone. It was absurdly expensive but I wanted it in case of an emergency. I recommend doing that just in case. You just call your carrier and let them know where you are going and when."

• "Once I was there I used a cell phone that Mittin (Abebe's assistant) provided me - the guesthouse helped me get calling cards. Although what was cheapest was for my family to call me. They got calling cards (from http://www.afrikacard.com/) and called the guesthouse - this way we were only paying one way."

• " We were able to email and skype our family at home. (when the power was not out. -that really only happened our last few days-Addis is on a rotating outage, meaning that it rotates who will be without power) We also called a couple of times on skype just for a few minutes, I can't remember how much it cost for the skype phone call-the video skype is free. We had never skyped before, but it was very easy! When the power was out, we were able to use a cell phone from the front desk at the Yebsabi to make local calls."

• "We took our daughter with us, so the only people we contacted back home was our parents, and we did this through email and texting. We found out that it was VERY expensive to call on our cell phones, but texting was only .50 for outgoing and incoming is free if you have texting on your plan. It worked very well for us!!"

Regarding using a computer:

• "I brought my laptop. I brought a converter. I used the internet at the guesthouse on the guesthouse computer though."

• "WE WERE UNABLE TO USE OUR LAPTOP FOR EMAIL, BUT DID USE IT TO DOWNLOAD PICTURES. WE DID NEED A CONVERTER. WE USED THE GUEST HOUSE COMPUTER AND IT WAS GOOD ENOUGH."

• "We did take our laptop and converter/adapter. It worked well in our room and we were glad we had it to download our pictures and videos to as a back up. The computer in the lobby at the Yebsabi works well too."

• "We took our laptop but was unable to use it at The Yeka. You will need a converter though, if you plan to use it for anything else.

  The computer at The Yeka was sufficient, however there is only one for the entire guest house, so it may not always be available."

Regarding updating blogs:

• "I was able to load blogger without a problem. I updated my blog from there several times. I did set up the email function beforehand because I had heard I would not be able to get into blogger but I never had a single problem."

• "I did set up the publish from email to be able to post on my blog. I just attached pictures to my email and it worked! You can only post one or 2 pictures on each blogpost when you are doing it from email."

• "WE SET UP PUBLISH FROM EMAIL AND IT WORKED GREAT. WE DID NOT SEND PHOTOS UNTIL WE GOT HOME."

If you have any other suggestions or tips feel free to leave them in the comments section. Thank you!