I've been told to pack light. As light as possible. On our last adoption trip, we packed way to much and had way to many suitcases to pull and carry. I don't want to repeat that nightmare.
So, I am going to take my agency's advice.
Yesterday, I took my oldest son Adam shopping for new pants. I also found a nice outfit for court. I plan to wear dark brown pin-striped slacks with a brown cable sweater with a white collar shirt underneath. I also bought some nice brown boots on clearance to match. Does this sound dressy enough? Please, please share your opinion. I am counting on you guys. ;)
My plan is to wear this same outfit to our SDA appointment and our first visit to the orphanage. One outfit for three different occasions seems like a good idea. Did anybody else do this? What did your husband wear to court? Last time, my husband wore a suit, but would slacks and a nice shirt suffice?
How many everyday outfits should I pack for each of us? Since we are planning on doing two trips, I hope we will be over there only two weeks this first time. Would three outfits in addition to my court outfit be enough? How about just two pairs of shoes?
Ahhhh, let the planning begin.
BTW, our dossier package left from the UK early this morning. :)
Forever Changed
16 years ago
12 comments:
Two pairs of shoes for two weeks would be fine I would think. I did 2 pairs of jeans and one pair of khaki's with about 5 shirts for our three weeks in Russia. Helped that it was winter and we could bring 2 sweaters and wear them a lot. :-)
Jeans for everyday, 1 or 2 nice pants, lots of shirts that match them all.
Getting over there with extra bags isn't the problem usually. Coming back with what (and WHO!) you accumulate is. You might consider taking nice, but donate-able clothing to wear while you are there. Maybe even packed in a functional but 'can be left behind' extra suitcase. Bring what you need to handle events while you are there, then leave behind all but your travel outfit and a couple shirts, clean undies, etc. (ie. what you need to make it home, allowing for an unplanned stopover or two). The hotels I've done this in said to just leave unwanted items bagged up with a note to leave the items to charity - I usually leave a note: "To whoever wants or please pass on to charity"
Go in heavy, leave light, AND make a donation to charity!
Sounds good to me. I took one outfit for all three ocassions and ended up wearing them three times during the first trip. (SDA, first visit, first visit). I also took two pairs of shoes...one that I wore on the plane, the other in the suitcase. Make sure the ones you wear on the plane are easy to remove and put back on for all of those security checks.
I didn't have the same appointments (I don't even know what SDA is), but in Kaz I had guardianship council and then court. I wore the same outfit to both. It's a different panel, so nobody knew.
If you're only going to be there 2 weeks, I would only take 2 pairs of jeans, maybe track/yoga pants and one other bottom. As far as tops, I would take about 5 short sleeve and a few sweaters to layer if you have to. It depends the time of year you travel. If it's going to be hot, then you can take out the sweaters and pack even lighter.
Oh and shoes, the ones you wear to court, sneakers and perhaps, one other pair.
Holy cow, do you have your hands full!!! Congratulations on your new addition, and I hope all goes well. Whatever you wear, I'm sure your good intentions will shine through.
That sounds very appropriate for court. My husband wore slacks and a button up shirt. We each took 2 pairs of shoes. For outfits, we took 2 additional pairs of pants and 4 additional shirts(but we went in the summer so we carried extra shirts in case we stunk after walking in the hot sun...lol). Everything I took would interchange. We took a small suitcase full of snacks and stuff and that held all the stuff we bought while we were there. So, we had one large suitcase, one small suitcase and 2 backpacks that were also our carryons. We didn't have any issues in cars or on the train with our luggage.
IT'S SO EXCITING TO START PACKING, IT'S HARD TO KNOW WHAT TO LEAVE HOME. HOW DO YOU FIND SOMEONE TO TAKE CARE OF YOUR CHILDEN. WE ONLY HAVE 4 AT HOME RIGHT NOW, AND I AM WORRYING ABOUT LEAVING THEM. YOUR FAMILY IS BEAUTIFUL,GOOD LUCK TO YOU AND YOUR HUBBY. GARY & JODY
Wearing the same thing for all 3 events is definitely acceptable, especially since you'll be seeing different people each time. I wore the same thing to SDA and court, and also when we attended church with our missionary friends. I wore something more comfortable for first meeting at orphanage because we left at 2:30 that morning from Kyiv and drove straight to the orphanage, so I wanted to be comfortable for teh 9+ hours in a car!
Hubby wore a nice button up shirt and khakis to SDA, and added a tie for court.
Jeans are a MUST. I took 2 pairs of jeans, 1 pair of black pants, plus court clothes. Also took several shirts and sweaters that I could switch around/layer/etc. I took 2 pairs of shoes: waterproof boots, comfy Skechers, and black flats for court.
The outfit will be fine. I made sure my "good outfit" was interchangeable to wear with other clothes. I always always overpack! I personally couldn't stand having only three outfits so I packed enough for one week. The clothes can get so yucky- no whites!!!
Casual dress pants for men is fine too and a button down. Nothing fancy was ever needed. No ties either.
Your outfit sounds fine for court. We never took our coats off!!!! You might not have time to change before going to the orphanage for the first time. we went straight there after getting off the train. I took clothes to hang around the house in (make sure they wash and dry easily) and changed immediately. It saved the clothes that I wore when we went anywhere.
Oh, we never wore jeans, too difficult to wash & dry...
If I can recommend some tops - I went to the Chico's store and there is a clearance section at the back. I got two tops from there that were on sale with an additional 50% off...and they were my favorite tops while in UA. We were at an apartment with no washing machine for 4 weeks and those tops hand washed up so well - and the best thing was they are so thin you can wring them out easily without ruining them...and no ironing! I got 2 tops made from a similar material from Kohl's and some man-made material pants (some material I'd never heard of before)....I know that sounds horrible - but I loved them as I could wash them and hang them to dry and wear them the next day. They looked like nice dress pants. I took a pair of jeans (which I live in normally) and NEVER wore them - I couldn't believe it myself - but after washing hubby's jeans and trying to hand wring out the water - I couldn't see the point in wearing mine! :o) I did donate a lot of things to the orphanage before we left....I had to get all the souvenirs in the bag! :o)
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