We have arrived in China! After a 13-hour flight we arrived in Beijing. I figured we would all be rather tired and cranky after flying all night and that we might need some time to adjust before immersing ourselves in Chinese culture; so I booked 2 nights at an airport hotel in Beijing to help us settle in with something a little more familiar and easier to navigate. As an added bonus, the hotel had a swimming pool and I thought that would help the boys (plus Clay and I) to keep busy and get over jet lag, without having to venture too far.

Getting to our hotel proved to be very simple. I had reserved the airport shuttle ahead of time and they sent very clear directions explaining how to access it. The hotel was very nice, with our room being a little small (which we expected!): 3 small twin beds just fitting side-by-side. The pool was a real hit with the boys and was beautiful –you could swim from the inside pool to the outside one. There was also a pool table and ping pong table. The hotel served a breakfast buffet with a mix of Chinese and some American-style food. We did head out and walk around the area and tried to find some lunch but we had not yet withdrawn any local money (mistake: we should have taken money out and purchased a SIM card at the airport) and no one accepted credit cards, nor could they even understand what we were asking! We could tell the boys were getting a bit overwhelmed with their new environment and they were starving, so we ended up heading back to the hotel and having lunch at the café. The next morning we were off, ready to experience “the real China”!

One of the most frequently asked questions I get, is “What do you take when you are traveling the world for a year?” My short answer is that you pack about the same as you would for a week. Of course, there are a few other considerations that must be made such as medication, climate, and safety. We are just beginning to embark on our world trip, and have read many well-written blogs with packing lists and advice, but here is what we have started out with and how we packed it:

The packing really began a year ago! I read various travel blogs and packing lists and started to collect things that we thought we might need. We went to the Tilley end of year sale last summer and purchased a few quick dry pieces of clothing for Clay and I. A week or so before the trip, I began to lay out everything we thought we might need in the basement. I put it in little bins to keep it organized and categorized each of them. As the departure date drew closer we would look at what was in each bin and see if we could eliminate anything.

Our goal was for each person to have a day pack. We didn’t want those giant 60 L packs because we felt they would be difficult to manage (there was no way the boys could carry them!) and we certainly wouldn’t want to be walking around with them on a daily basis. So, we each have a day pack but we tucked the boys’ day packs inside a roller backpack so that they wouldn’t have to carry them through airports, trains, and such. We also had a small duffle that we really liked. It had wheels, was slim and easy to maneuver. We decide to purchase another, even smaller one to put in extra items that we would need.

The first 2 bins were filled with the clothes we would be wearing on the plane:

• long pants,
• long sleeved shirts,
• fleece,
• socks,
• underwear,
• hiking shoes

Then we had a bin for each of us with the clothes we would be taking:

•  3-5 t-shirts each
• 2 long sleeve shirts
• 1 long pants (in addition to those we are wearing on plane)
• 3-5 shorts
• 5 underwear
• 5 socks
• 1 thermal underwear
• 1 flip flops (for showers)
• 1 hiking sandals
• swim suit
• pajamas

The next bin had sun and rain gear:

• sun hats
• rain jackets

The clothes were the easy part! It’s all of the other bits and pieces that really add up. We had:

Eye Wear: extra glasses for Caleb and I; contact solution; disposable contacts (12 month supply)

Gifts: some Canada pencils, Canada pins to hand out if we need some Canadian gifts for kids

School and Games: a couple of notebooks for the boys to do their math work; some cards and a puzzle; writing implements (pen, pencil, eraser, ruler, scissors, tape)

Health: malaria medication, travel medical kit, mosquito repellant for clothes and skin, sunscreen, Motrin, antibiotics

Electronics: 3 iphones, 2 iPad minis, 1 MacBook Air, headphones, chargers, hard drive, and bunch of other chords that Clay says we need!

Safety: whistles on lanyards, money belt, locks for suitcases,ear plugs, sleep masks

Warm Gear: gloves, warm hats

Toiletries: toothbrushes and toothpaste, small makeup kit, travel shampoo, travel contact solution, hair clips (3), brush and comb, deodorant, razor, soap, Diva cup

Other Bits: swim goggles, clothesline, Sporks, Swiss Army knife, 2 travel towels, 4 sleep sacks, laundry detergent

The final result: yes, it all fit into our backpacks and 2 roller duffels! Yahoo!

So for the past month or so (since school finished) Clay and I have been spending most of our time getting ready for the trip (when we were not kicked out of our house so it could be shown). While we tried to include the boys in the packing and prepping as much as possible, the reality was that a lot of it had to be done by us. This meant they had to find things to do on their own – which required lots of imagination since the house had been emptied of  toys and each day the furniture was being pulled away from under them! I was really impressed with how well they handled the whole situation. Yes, there were some days when I had to offer some suggestions and come up with plans to help keep them busy but a lot of the time they came up with their own ideas. Here you see them spending several hours under the tree using an overturned bucket as a table on which they played cards.

Compare the toilet from at home in Canada to the one in the hotel here in China. They are very different. The toilet bowl is really small and it has a “mondo” flusher. That huge rectangle above the toilet bowl is the flusher!

Since we are renting our house while we are away it was necessary to put all of its contents (including furniture) into a room Clay and his Dad built, for that purpose, in the basement. For those of you who know me, I enjoy organizing things so I didn’t see this as a daunting task, and I also loved the idea of getting rid of some of our “stuff”. I believe that our “stuff” complicates our lives – we spend more time organizing it, taking care of it, making sure it is looked after while we are away – and it was time to get rid of a lot of it. So, the thought of having only our necessary belongings housed in a small room in the basement was quite appealing. As the trip departure date drew closer, however, the job of packing the room started to become less and less exciting and rather exhausting. I am so happy it is done but I’m not sure I’d want to go through these steps ever again!! Here you have it – the steps we took to downsize into a 600 square foot room!

1 Garage Sale – got rid of a couple things but the seniors who dropped by weren’t interested in the the kids’ stuff!

3 Mom and Tot Sales – these are much better for getting rid of young kids’ items

18 trips to Goodwill

4 trips to the dump

12 trips to family and friends who agreed to store some things for us!

74 bags of garbage and recycling put out at the curb

30 items sold on Kijiji – thank heavens for kijiji!

3,400 steps up and down the stairs delivering all of the essential items to the room

The results:  our house in 600 square feet!