[ncdoppler]

Hello,

We may be leaving in less than 2 weeks I'm told. Today I'm kind of packing to get an idea if it will all fit, what we're forgetting etc. For trip one would you suggest one suitcase and 1 carryon, if we could fit everything? Is it smart to travel with only one suticase? We plan on taking an extra set of clothes just in case in our carry ons.
I bought a red hard sided suitcase, I think we will be able to fit everything. We bought cheap cheap underwear so we can throw them if we need to save space.
For tolietries, I bought and packed:

kleenex
tampons
q-tips
first aid kit
shampoo
deorderant
dial soap and case
razors
shaving gel
lotion
toothpaste
toothbrushes
hand sanitizer (2)
8 packs of antibacterial wipes
travel pack of diaper wipes
tums
pepto
vitamins
excederin

Am I forgetting anything? Packing things like vitamins and tylenol sinus, shouldn't be a problem, should it?

What do you suggest for clothes? Khaki or jean shorts okay for men? Shorts or Capris for women?

Also, my dh has a very well kept and trimmed gote (?sp), should he shave it off?

What should we carry on in our backpacks besides a change of clothes? We are planning on bringing a camcorder, camera and dvd player.

What am I forgetting?

Thanks so much!!

[cici32]

I can't help much with clothes because we travelled on trip one when it was still cold. We are getting ready to travel for trip two so we are trying to figure out what is appropriate to wear without sceaming "American".

Your list looks good and you should be fine with the meds. We took several different ones with us, prescription and non-prescription and didn't have a problem. I would add immodium to your list just in case. Oh and maybe get some of the noxema facial wipes, or whatever they are called, our hotel didn't have washclothes and my face just didn't feel clean without one.

As far as your DH's Goatee, my DH has one too and what he did was trim it shorter than normal the night before we left and then just took his razor for the other stuff. Since we are going to be gone for nearly 3 weeks on trip two he is contemplating shaving it off.

Also carry your travel dossier and other important documents in your backpack.

That's about all I can think about for now. I will post if I think of more items.

Good luck to you.

[PollyG]

Bug Spray!

[cici32]

Yes, I forgot about bug spray. Our agency told us to take it as well as the mosquitos are very bad in the summer. I actually think that Off now makes a wipe or is it a cream that supposedly does not have the strong odor that the spray does.

[Katie63011]

For our trip one, we checked only one suitcase with orphanage donations. We each carried on a knapsack and carry on roller bag that had clothes and gifts in it. I would defnitely do this again as our checked baggage never made it while we were there. It arrived in Moscow two days after us but never made it to our region before we left to travel back to Moscow. I know that this happened with another family as well. We both flew Delta.

This way, if your luggage doesn't make it,your coordinator can get the orphanage donation after you leave and you still have clean clothes for the trip as well as your gifts. It was a bit of pain to have so much when switching planes but well worth it.

I would bring cards or a mini-backgammon set, it helped us kill time.

Katie

Katie

[deere1]

If adopting young child take small blanket. Take a few toys for your child to play with when you visit orphanage. One thing I've packed for our upcoming trip 2 we didn't take on first is some small bubble wrap bags to place souvenirs in.

[jgljrl]

We just returned home on Friday and your list looks pretty good. Make sure to pack good kleenex because there are none to be found. Also I'm assuming you are taking diaper wipes for yourself....if not pack some. The toilet paper in country is less than desirable. There were no wash clothes to be found either. Off makes mosquito wipes now so take those. You have to sleep with the window open and we had plenty of mosquito's buzzing in our ears at night. You will also want to pack some travel size rolls of toilet paper...some public restrooms charge for it. Also some plastic grocery bags...if you go to a market to buy some items they charge you for the bag. Even in the remote region we went to, Siberia, you could buy all of the same toiletries that you buy here, for example, they had Pantene shampoo, kotex, etc. Most of these things are sold at little kiosks on the streets.

As far as clothes go....I did not see one single person in shorts. If we return in the summer time I will take some casual knee length skirts. Most russians were pants, although I did see plenty of people in jeans. Also pink is pretty popular over there this time of year. The thing that sets Americans apart is the shoes. 98% of Russians wear dress shoes with everything. Woman wear very pointed high heels and men wear pointed dress shoes. The few that we saw wearing tennis shoes were wearing the casual type not the athletic type. We did a pretty good job of not standing out in fact I had many Russians approach me and start talking in Russian then they would look at my shoes and realiaze I was not Russian - we wore brownish/gray hiking shoes from LL Bean.