China adoption travel: Make Room for Mom and Dad

Our China adoption travel, of course, included packing Daddy and Mommy's stuff. Although we tried to pack light, we still took a lot. Some of the things we could have done without.

Since this was our first trip to China, not to mention our first adoption trip, we overdid it on the packing. We soon learned there were some items we could do without or just buy when we got to China.

Yes, the labels of the items may be in Chinese, but the guides were great. So we were able to find just about anything we needed except clothing for us. We never had a need to buy clothing for ourselves so this was not a problem.

It was intersting to notice that, of course, the clothing was made for the average Chinese person, not the average American person. A lot of the things would not have fit us perfectly anyway. We were glad we brought enough clothes for our China adoption travel.

We packed the following things for our ourselves and our daugther:

Daddy’s stuff: 1 pair of jeans, 1 pair of khaki pants, 3 pairs of shorts, 4 short sleeve shirts, 2 long sleeve shirts, 5 pairs of socks, 16 pairs of underwear (He felt it was easier for him to throw them away in China than lug them back home.), antiperspirant, 1 pair of running shoes, 1 pair of casual shoes, toothbrush, toothpaste, 1 lightweight flannel jacket.

My husband took a razor in his shaving kit, but it was confiscated during a luggage search. He found a replacement in China.

Mommy’s stuff: 2 pairs of jeans, 4 long sleeve shirts (too hot for the weather in Guanghou even in November—could have done with only 2 long sleeve shirts), 4 short sleeve shirts, 1 denim jumper, 5 pairs of socks, 1 pair of running shoes, 1 pair of dress shoes, 5 changes of underwear (washed out in hotel sink—did not throw away), toothbrush, toothpaste, makeup in small bag, hair brush, nail clippers (buried inside the checked luggage), 1 light weight flannel jacket.

To help us communicate with the Chinese people we took along a set of vocabulary words made specifically for adoptive parents. These cards came in handy especially during shopping trips.

The local Chinese people wanted to talk to us, but we did not know how to speak to them. Showing them the cards explaining that we were there to adopt our beautiful daughter said it all. Many of the Chinese people nodded and smiled once they read these cards.

With all the things we had to keep up with in addition to taking care of and bonding with our daughter, we think our China adoption travel went smoothly. We found we did not really need anything extra.

However, we could have done without a few things. I like my husband's suggestion (a lesson learned after our China adoption travel, of course) of packing what you think you need and then take out at least 25% and leave it at home.

Return home.