Adios, Republica Dominicana!

Well, we made it back to the States. That statement doesn't exactly have the same excitement factor as "We made it to China!", but it feels pretty darn good. It is great to be home.

I don't know how, but we fit nearly everything into our 8 suitcases (well, 5 L.L. Bean duffle bags, and 3 suitcases) and 8 carry-ons. The kids pulled their rolling backpacks easily and Mama and Daddy were left with 6 other bags. One for each hand and one on each back. It is not a travel strategy I recommend, but when we traveled to post we felt like we needed stuff in case our luggage was lost, and this time, we just couldn't fit it all into fewer bags. Anyway, the porter at National Airport was happy to see us.

My goal is to become better at organizing and estimating the stuff that's left AFTER packout is over. This time, we packed our suitcases in advance, but there is still so much stuff you don't think about until the movers leave. Or something.

I think that over the last two years, we shed almost a thousand pounds of stuff. I feel pretty good about that- we gave it all away to our Dominican housekeeper, driver, and doorman, who will sell, use, or distribute the stuff to others. I think I'm pretty good at evaluating whether we use/need stuff and giving it away, and I'm getting better...but there is still room to go. My husband and I are in agreement that we are going to try to buy less stuff over the next year, and commit to giving something away when something new comes into the house. I also want to buy the right stuff- when you have the right thing, you don't need 3 more substitutes. I gave away a bunch of old towels and sheet sets that we kept even though we didn't like them- what for?

Anyway, a few highlights from our trip:

Lots of bags.

I took the quintessential Dominican picture on our way to the airport. Avocado truck, in case you can't tell. Yes, that's the beautiful road to/from the airport. Every time I drove it, I felt at peace...

The kids pretended to fall asleep during the long time it took to check our millions of bags.

Goodbye Dominican Republic! Thanks for two amazing years! We'll be back!

The kids are getting to be good travelers. They were quite enamored with Jet Blue and its screens on every seat. Um, me too. Can't we fly Jet Blue to China???

Ah, back in the land of fast food...although we ate plenty of it in the DR, so I really can't blame that on the U.S....

A few thoughts/observations on reentry:

• Our first morning here, L kept asking to walk around, something she never did in the DR. It felt so great to just walk on the sidewalk, knowing we were safe. Sadly, the high crime rate in the DR means that we didn't do a lot of walking- we drove everywhere. 
• M kept putting his fleece jacket on and off. It was probably 75 degrees on our first day back. This is a kid who used to hate warm clothes and was always hot. He's apparently acclimated to the Caribbean now. 
• As we drove by the Washington Monument on our way home from the airport, I felt that familiar twinge of sadness that it will be just a short visit. And then D and I looked at each other and realized- we're staying a while! We hope to enjoy D.C. to the fullest.

Today we fly to Oregon for a few weeks of vacation with the family, and then Rehobeth Beach for one last week of fun. Then we move into Oakwood and the Chinese training will begin! Looking forward to everything.

Travel recap

We still don't have our own internet connection, but my husband has rigged something with VPN and someone else's connection and I'm not asking questions. I wanted to recap our trip before I get into life here. The following post was written in San Juan when Blogger was down.

August 10, 2011
Hello from San Juan! Well, we're halfway there. I'm not exactly sure how we managed to cram all our final stuff into our bags, but somehow we did. There was SO much last minute stuff- I completely underestimated it. After packout, I checked out for about 2 days and then snapped to on the last day. I don't recommend this strategy!

In total, we had 8 suitcases/duffels, 2 car seats (so 10 checked bags), 8 carry-ons, plus 2 purse type things that were frantically crammed into too-full backpacks when it was time to board.

The colorful LL Bean duffles make me so happy! They were fabulous on the trip.

 Too much stuff! We tried to separate the things we'd need for our Pto Rico stay into our carry-ons, so I wouldn't have to wear something embarrassing if our luggage was lost, and so we wouldn't have to open every bag in the hotel, but I'm afraid our strategy failed. There were just too many things that wouldn't fit or weren't allowed- toiletries, sunscreen, shoes, stuffed animals, etc.

We had one last snack on the balcony while waiting for Super Shuttle. We took a moment to say goodbye to Oakwood, and especially the pool, where M learned to swim not long ago!

Finally, it was time to get this B show on the road.

The kids got a kick out of the blue van.

 The first flight was fine. The highlight was M falling asleep randomly around 1pm with his ginky on his head. I thought he was just playing around until I peeked under the blanket. Poor little guy was just worn out.

It was pouring in Miami as we arrived, so our flight ended up being delayed 3 hours. We didn't take off until 9pm and arrived around midnight. I must say that as I struggled to keep the kids tranquil and fed during the layover, I thought about my mom colleagues traveling to far-away places like India or the Philippines...I don't know how you do it!

This little imp kept whining every 10 min that she was hungry, but wouldn't eat what I gave her.

The kids fell asleep mid-flight, and L didn't wake at all- we transferred her from plane to stroller to van to bed (we traveled with a kid-sized aerobed- great idea and it will be her bed until her own toddler bed arrives in HHE).

We're staying in a lovely hotel, the San Juan Marriott. The two pools are perfect for kids as they are both quite shallow and even L can walk easily in certain areas. The beach is large and beautiful with soft sand. It was a good choice.

I was up early to travel to the DHS office here. I was able to observe some interviews, which were fascinating. Tomorrow we head to Santo Domingo- we are all very eager to get there!

August 14, 2011
Ok, back to present time. I will blog about our arrival and first few days, along with photos of the apartment, in the next day or two. Thanks to everyone for the kind emails and good wishes. We are so happy to be 'home.'

also, this.

We got a big suitcase.

Sales everywhere

I just need to report that Macy's is having a massive sale through Monday and luggage is like 50% off, plus 25% off, plus perhaps 10% if you use your Macy's card or jump up and down and blog about Macy's while standing on your head...you get the picture.

What I'm trying to say is: the B household is getting new luggage! Whohoo! I love luggage. We only have like 3 large bags which means we need like 5 more!! I think we'll buy 2 lightweight suitcases and 2 duffles (yes, I know this does not add up to 5 but I don't think I can convince the B husband to go for 5 in one fell swoop) but I haven't decided quite yet.

I also want to say that I may be getting a little too excited about the prospect of needing hot weather clothes for 2 whole years. I love summer clothes. Thinking about buying lots of them is so much fun. Of course, I tried on like 50 pretty spring color tops today and only bought 3, 2 of which were black. So I have some work to do. Do you think I need a summer cocktail dress? Never needed one before, but hey, this is a whole new life....

I always seem to end up shopping on my Administrative days...

Carry-on luggage

The Lands End catalog brought a treat yesterday: their new Carry-on luggage collection.
I especially like the FlightWise Carry-on Trip Tote, which opens at the top and might be the perfect replacement for M's diaper bag. I still use his diaper bag on flights because it opens at the top in the same way, but it is a little too heavy and small.

I also like the FlightWise Carry-on Softsided bag, which holds a lot but is cheaper and more malleable than a hard-sided small suitcase. It converts to a backpack, another key trait when you're traveling with a lot of gear.

Hopefully, within the next 6-8 months, some of these pieces will join our family...

Is there anything you love as carry-on luggage?

more luggage fun

So in case there are other luggage/packing fanatics like me out there (hello? anyone?), I thought I'd give some quick feedback about the packing cubes I bought from ebags.com. I took them to MD last week in my LL Bean duffle bag and they were perfect. I used the large for pants/shorts/skirts and the medium for tops. They kept everything together neatly in one place, and I found it much easier to pack up and leave.

Ebags is fast becoming a favorite website. Like my most beloved site, Lands End, it constantly sends me promotion codes for free shipping and 20% off. Apparently they know a promotion sucker when they see one.

So when I received a 20% off coupon and saw that they are discontinuing two pretty colors that were not options the first time I purchased, well, I just had to buy some more.

More medium and large packing cubes will be arriving soon. Yes, I'm a luggage geek and I'm proud of it. But really, how could you resist these?

fun stuff

So I ordered these fun packing cubes from Ebags and they arrived yesterday. I've been coveting the Eagle Creek cubes for a while but couldn't justify the expenditure. Somehow, the fact that these came in a set of three, plus a toiletry bag I've been wanting, and included free shipping, made me bite the bullet. I think they are cheaper, anyway, than Eagle Creek. Now they are on sale, which is a bummer, but what can you do (well, buy more, I think?)?

I think these are going to be awesome on my next trip. I usually use duffle bags, so that by the end of the trip, my clothes are a complete mess. I often separate my clothes into plastic bags anyway, so this will be more handy and aesthetically pleasing.

The toiletry bag (aka Portage Jr.) is awesome. Perfect size- not too big, not too small.

My only regret is that I had to buy black. I love bright colors, but I plan to buy duffle bags in royal blue and plum, and the other colors would have clashed terribly. And that just would've bothered me every time I looked at them. I might get some more in grey for me and give these to my husband.

Today is the last day of Ebags 20% off sale. Just FYI.

talk to me about luggage

This post is just itching to be written. I can't hold it back anymore!

I confess; I love luggage and bags. And we have needed new ones for years. And even if I don't get "the call," we still need new luggage.

When I passed the OA and was allowed into FS Livelines (a yahoo group for people who are in the FS), one of the first searches I did was for packout and luggage. So I've done my research. I have a problem, ok? Will you indulge me? If you have great luggage strategies, philosophies, or just plain bags to tell me about, please do.

This is my tentative plan: I want to buy 2-4 LL Bean rolling adventure duffles . I'm not sure if I should buy medium or large, and not sure how many we should get. If we do begin this crazy lifestyle, I also want to buy 1-2 large or XL Adventure duffles for our bedding - pillows, mattress toppers, sheets- and perhaps other soft things to take with us as accompanied baggage.

Here are my questions:
1) is it worth buying good duffle bags rather than cheaper ones? LL Bean's are cheaper than others, probably because they don't have compartments (I plan to solve that with packing cubes, what fun!), but they are still more $$ than something I might buy at Marshall's or somewhere like that. I do like LL Bean's guarantee.

2) We have one super-large hard suitcase, and 2 smaller ones (carry-on size). Should we buy another hard suitcase or two to protect things en route? We will be bringing toys, household goods, etc if we move abroad, not just clothes.

3) If you have the adventure rolling duffles, what size do you recommend? Since we only have 4 arms between my husband and I, should we get some rolling and some larger ones with no wheels, or are those big ones too heavy?

4) Why did I not buy these when they were on sale last week? Because I was scared to jinx myself after my Spanish test! But we still needed them, even if I didn't pass the test! Darn it.

Ok, I'm done. Please, tell me about your luggage!! Even if you've never commented before, now's your chance!!