Packing for overseas...like they have never heard of babies...

We have been traveling now for a year and a half but only the past two months have we been officially on the move. First Spain, now South Africa. We are lucky in that my husband's company ships one box for us wherever we go. Because my husbands sailing team is filled with young families- the big curiosity is: What did everyone put in their box?

Myself, being an overzealous type A personality- put one or more of everything. One Tylenol (paracetamol) and one of every other medicine a baby could ever need for every ailment that could come up. I also put in a few of everything required for our meals- bottles, plates, fork, knifes, spoon, cups, bowl, etc etc. And then the rest- one pair of scissors, one tape, one suntan lotion, one towel, one set of swimming floaters, and more- seriously one of everything.

Currently we are on our 2nd of 9 stops and all of the families pretty much agree- we don't even need what was in the ever so precious box. Reality check for me: other countries have children too! I have pulled out some of the stuff but of the 20+ books, we probably could get by with like 4 and by the way- it is fun to buy books and toys from other countries.

So if you are traveling abroad- first- take a deep breath. Almost everything (including the brands that you like) are found overseas. Economies of scale don't stop at the U.S. border. Unless you are doing some crazy cool trip to an exotic place that doesn't sell anything- then you are probably going to find what you need when you arrive. Of course we don't want to buy everything twice so we use our reusables- bottles and plates etc etc. But it is the "just in case" stuff that you may want to go without. Fortunately or unfortunately- Babies R Us has spread it's wings.

So tonight I am packing my box for Singapore and leaving it half empty. The local homeless shelter can use my "just in case" stuff today!