travel

What’s in YOUR Carry-On?

March 13, 2012 by Carey Jane Clark

The big day has come and gone. If you’re reading this shortly after it posts, we are already in the air, making our way toward our new home. The packing is done. What made it in the final round made it. The rest is sitting in a drawer awaiting the next trip this way over the ocean or a compassionate friend who feels like carrying a little extra luggage when they visit.

In the end, we left what went into our kids’ carry-ons mostly up to them. It was our way of limiting the toys they brought along, and giving them some control over the process. Whatever fit in the carry-on was fair game. The only stipulation, aside from those placed by the airlines, was that I wanted a little room in the front pocket to stuff some of the surprises I like to give them for the trip.

We’ll be in the air for 15 hours, and then have a 12-hour layover in the Hong Kong airport before journey’s end. Some friends in Hong Kong may take us out for a few hours, so that should help with the boredom factor, but we’re hoping some of the items in our personal luggage will keep us busy as well.

So here are the contents of our carry-ons.

This is Pumpkin’s:

Pumpkin's Carry-on

And here are the things I snuck in the front pocket:

Here is Sweetpea’s carry-on (only essential items, of course):

Here’s what I snuck in:

Sprout’s case started out the lightest when we moved into Grandma’s a few weeks ago. Somehow over the last few weeks, we’ve managed to discover more items that just had to be crammed in:

And here’s what I’ve stashed away for her:

So what’s in Mommy’s carry-on?

Some games; crayons; vitamins for the kids; my knitting (dolly underwear) on bamboo circular needles, which I’m assured won’t be confiscated for their potential deadly properties; a homeopathic for jetlag and my neck pillow. I’ll tuck my eReader and some books into my laptop case, and the remaining room in the carry-on may have to be reserved for Sprout’s shrink-wrapped quilt, which I almost forgot had to be packed!

No surprises for me. I’m just hoping to stay on top of things for the flight and layover. Can’t wait to see JavaMan Wednesday night!

- Carey Clark

Relinquishing Control

February 4, 2012 by Carey Jane Clark

I have a recurring dream. I had it again last night. In this particular version of it, our family was driving north. I looked around and suddenly became aware of the fact that we were headed near my inlaws’ home. I had the sense, somehow, that the family was along for the ride while my husband was doing business in the area.

I suddenly came up with the idea that after we dropped my husband off (where, I don’t know) that we should continue on to my inlaws’ and drop in for a surprise visit. I no sooner had this brainwave than I received a call from my own mother (at whose house we are currently staying) who announced that we should come back to her place to eat because she had prepared fruit for us.

I began to kick myself, “Why on earth didn’t I realize this was where we were headed so I could let my mom know there was no need to prepare a meal?” “How could I gracefully bow out of the fruit meal without upsetting my mother?” (Isn’t it great how logical and rational this all is?)

Suddenly, an even greater concern gripped me. I realized the car had no driver. I was in the back seat, and we were approaching an intersection.

Then I woke up.

The me-in-the-backseat-car-has-no-driver part is the part that recurs for me. Seriously, I have this dream a lot. The best thing I could conclude when I woke up, is I’m probably trying to work out some of the lack of control I have over several major aspects of my life right now.

Up until yesterday, because of some complications with figuring out the correct visas we need to apply for, and some fenagling we had to do to work around a national holiday and higher airfares, we didn’t even have flight dates.

But now we do.

JavaMan plans to go ahead of us to locate a suitable apartment and arrange for our things to be moved. The kids and I will follow three weeks later, in the hopes we have allowed him enough time to work out all the details so we have beds to sleep in and utensils to cook and eat with once we arrive.

This means the kids and I are leaving in: [sct date=”3/13/2012 12:18″ align=”none” size=”1″]

Hurray!!!

- Carey Clark

The Practice of Preparing and Advent

December 12, 2011 by Carey Jane Clark

This year, it seems like everything has been different for advent. We weren’t even home at the beginning of the official start to advent, we’ve been playing catch-up with our Truth in the Tinsel ornaments, and it’s been unusually busy–all for very good reasons–but all events that came up last-minute to change our December. We didn’t even get a real tree this year–breaking a holiday tradition we’ve held since Pumpkin was tiny.

In the midst of the chaos, how do we prepare our hearts for the season? We dispensed with our traditional ornaments this year. They are all packed in a box at my parents’ home. We borrowed a small artificial tree from them, and have been putting up only the ornaments we’ve made with Truth in the Tinsel.

It’s been a nice process of simplifying. We’ll head up to my inlaws’ place this week to spend a longer time with them than we usually do over the holidays, since we know our time in Canada is short now. We’ll take our homeschool with us because three children at loose ends at Grandma and Grandpa’s house are only a novelty for so long (and then they’re obnoxious).

But we’ll get to go out in the bush behind their house and help them pick out their tree–one of the ones they planted themselves–and enjoy family and new traditions, and a pause to remember what the season is really all about.