China adoption travel: Keeping up with everything

Keeping up with all our belongings during our China adoption travel was quite the undertaking. We planned our packing list. Now we needed a way to get it all there and back in addition to carrying our daughter.

We looked at a few different styles of luggage. Eventually, we decided to take one large Samsonite suitcase with wheels, one large duffel bag filled with orphanage donations and one smaller empty duffel bag packed inside the large one. This was used for gifts we purchased in China for home.

We also each had a backpack. I wore my backpack and put our daughter in the baby carrier after we got her. It was draining to carry her and the backpack, but my arms and hands were free to tend to our new baby. It was worth the extra mobility.

Although we tried to pack conservatively, luggage was often a battle to get through the airports. Moving everything and everyone from point A to point B was tedious. This was compounded by the extra security checks we endured.

My husband’s backpack was searched at least 5 times. My backpack was searched twice. Thankfully, we packed everything in Ziploc plastic bags so repacking them was not a problem.

The reason my backpack was searched the first time was because I ashamedly packed tuna in foil pouches. I read taking American snacks with us was a good thing in case we got stuck in an airport for a very long time or we got hungry in the middle of the night at the hotel. I wish I hadn’t gone to the extreme of taking tuna.

I recommend sticking with crackers, Trail Mix or Nutrigrain bars. Camping stores are also a good place to find food that is packaged for traveling.

Planning our packing list for our China adoption travel was half the battle. Getting everything there and back home was the other half. Packing as light as possible is first on my list of recommendations. However, due to the nature of the trip, numerous pieces of luggage are unavoidable.

Using luggage that could be rolled or carried as backpacks was very helpful to us. They kept us more mobile during our China adoption travel.

Return home.