General

It feels so good to be back in America!  There were so many things we missed during our time abroad so now that I’m home, I feel like a kid in a candy store.  I am positively giddy about having the following things at my fingertips again.

Top 10 Things I’m Happy to Have Now That We’re Home

1. Clothes Dryer.  Nobody knows how to dry clothes like us Americans.  Sure we had a tiny clothes dryer in Thailand (in the kitchen which vented into the kitchen) but in Spain, Turkey and the rest of Europe, we had to line dry everything.  This meant planning around the weather to get laundry done and only being able to do 1 (small) load a day because it’d take all day (and sometimes overnight) to dry plus there wasn’t enough clothesline to dry more than that.  I was astounded to return to the US, put in a monster load of laundry and have the entire thing washed, dried and folded in 2 hours!
2. Fast casual food (i.e. Pei Wei, Chipotle, Panera).  This is one thing we never really found anywhere abroad.  There are fast food places (usually American brands like McDonald’s) or street food stalls and there are sit down restaurants, but we didn’t find many fast casual type places where you order from a counter, get your food within minutes, it’s well priced, tastes good and is overall a fast meal.
3. Huge grocery stores.  I miss my big grocery stores.  I’m always in awe when I visit a Wegman’s near my old house in Virginia.  We didn’t even have anything that big, good and comprehensive in Hawaii so it’s always a treat to visit my old shopping grounds and to be able to get everything I could want under 1 roof.
4. Food variety.  We love variety in our food choices and were very spoiled in Virginia with having every cuisine nearby.  This was actually the biggest issue in Spain and Turkey where the variety was pretty much the local food, pizza or McDonald’s.  Our first week back was spent eating Thai, Indian, American, Mexican, and pretty much every other genre of cuisine.  Yum!
5. Showers.  Oh how we missed the American showers.  They’re big, have great water pressure, there is enough hot water that all 4 of us can shower back to back and not run out!  Simply divine.  Neither Chuck nor I wanted to get out of the shower our first week back.
6. Drinkable tap water that also tastes good.  I drink probably close to a gallon of water a day which is a pain in the rear when you can only drink bottled water.  In Turkey, we used to walk to the local corner store, and carry home 5 gallon bottles every other day.  In Thailand, we couldn’t even use the local tap water to cook so that meant bottles of water for all cooking.  At least there it was delivered and cheap.  And of course, this also meant paying for bottled water at every meal we ate out.  In the US they bring water and refill it for free!
7. Free Refills – especially of coffee!  To follow on from the water item, it’s nice here that not only is the water free, but you get free refills of it, coffee, and other drinks.
8. Decent coffee.  I think we got spoiled by living in Kona and drinking so much Kona coffee, but nobody does a morning cup of coffee like us Americans.
9. American breakfast.  I love American breakfast.  Eggs, bacon, pancakes and waffles.  That’s what I want when I wake up.  However, many places serve something entirely different and I just could never get into bread, lunch meats, smoked salmon and tea for breakfast.
10. Toilets.  Probably one of the best things about being home: Western toilets.  You can sit on them, there is toilet paper, and you can actually flush the toilet paper instead of putting it in a little trash bin.  There is no longer a need to carry TP around because you never know when you’ll come across a squat toilet and need some TP.  The little things.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved the diversity of traveling and doing things a different way.  But since I grew up in America, there are some strong American things I’m used to that I missed.

It’s definitely good to be home!

 

Q: Describe your typical day:
Beckett: My typical day is: I wake up around 7 or 8am. Then I eat breakfast. Second thing I do is play on the iPad and Tablet. Then I play with my stuffies and then eat lunch. Play more iPad and Tablet. Then I play with stuffies, go in the pool, eat dinner then maybe watch a movie after I brush my teeth.

Q: What did you bring with you?
Beckett: Stuffies: Meerkat, Otter, Hearty, Furby, Dina, Beaver, Mango Monkey, Monkoo & Monkey, Minion, and Coco.  Balls, cars, and Bingo.

Q: What are your favorite games on the iPad/Tablet?
Beckett: SIMs, Minion Rush, and My Singing Monsters.

Q: What are your favorite things to do when you’re not busy?
Beckett: Play with stuffies. Play on the iPad & Tablet. Have a snack. Play in the pool.

Q: What books have you read lately?
Beckett: None.

Q: Favorite color?
Beckett: Red.

Q: Favorite movie?
Beckett: Frozen and Planes.

Q: Describe your typical day:
Mara: My typical day is: I wake up around 7-7:30am. I play a few games on the Tablet. I have some breakfast: banana, bread & cereal. Then around 10:30am, time for homeschool. Then we homeschool till around 2:30pm and then we usually we go to the pool or go out or play. We get ready for bed around 9pm and then we read or sometimes watch a movie and we go to bed around 9:30-10pm.

Q: What did you bring with you on our trip?
Mara: I brought my 4 Barbies. Their names are Anna and Elsa (from Frozen), Queen of Thailand (from Thailand), and Merida (from Brave). And I brought my stuffies: Horsey, Bunny, Hippo, Froggy, Kissy (Kissy Kissy Bunny), Caramel, and the cuties. I did bring Mad Libs but I don’t use them much.

Q: What are your favorite games on the iPad/Tablet?
Mara: They are SIMs, Restaurant Story, Fashion Story, and Smurfs. I also like to play Frozen Freefall, Bejeweled Blitz, My Singing Monsters, and Ice Age Village.

Q: What are your favorite things to do when you’re not busy?
Mara: I like to play on the iPad and Tablet, and read. I like to play with Stuffies and Barbies. And go swimming and cook. I like to walk on the promenade here in Turkey. And I like to draw.

Q: What books have you read lately?
Mara: I have read Harry Potter (Books 1-5). I’ve read Chronicles of Narnia 1 & 2.

Q: Favorite color?
Mara: Lavender.

Q: Favorite movie?
Mara: Frozen. And also Barbie and the Mermaid Tale (1 and 2).

When we went to Thailand for 6 months and when we went to Spain/Europe for 3 months, we took 4 suitcases and 4 carry-ons along.  That was it.  Basically we each had 1 suitcase to hold all our essentials for many months.

After our time in Spain, we shipped a box back to the US and traveled with 3 suitcases.  Mostly the winter items were shipped back as well as a few things we weren’t using.

So what did we take?

I’ll cover what we took to Spain as what we took to Thailand was essentially the same minus the winter clothes.

Electronics (the most important category)

1. Two (2) Laptops.  One is for Chuck’s work and one is our home computer.  These are our essential items!
2. iPad mini.  We just bought this a year ago and its been invaluable for each of us.  We use this for email, looking things up, reading, games for the kids, great to take on road trips so we can connect to WiFi and look things up/check maps/etc.
3. Galaxy Tablet.
4. Small digital camera
5. DSLR.  I’m loving my new Canon Rebel T3i.  I have 2 filters for it as well.
6. Kir’s iPod and Bose headphones.  I will not, can not travel without these.  I need about 5 things when I travel and this is 1 of those top 5!
7. Two (2) Travel adapters.  The ones we bought can be used in any country in the world
8. Two (2) 110v-220v Travel Power Strips.  These have come in handy because we can use an adapter to plug it into a wall then plug in 3 of our electronics at once.  It has surge protection as well and works in the US and abroad.
9. Wireless mini speaker.  This is a new purchase for our Spain trip and made because I really missed being able to listen music without headphones and the speaker on my laptop doesn’t get very loud.  We can use it with either laptop, the iPod, iPad and more.
10. Headphones with a mic for calls via the laptop.
11. External hard drive.  Nice to backup the laptops and have in case a laptop dies while on the road.
12. Chuck’s cell phone.  Even though we don’t use it abroad, its nice to have in case we need it and for when we get back to the States.

Travel Essentials

1. Passports
2. International Driver’s License for each adult.  They were starting to fine foreigners in Thailand that didn’t have one and I’ve heard they’re necessary for Spain as well.  For $15 each, its nice to err on the side of caution.  And no, you don’t have to be a member of AAA to get one.
3. Chase credit cards.  Our United Chase and Chase Sapphire cards have been awesome to have.  Not only do we get a large frequent flyer mile bonus, but there are no foreign transaction fees.
4. Debit card
5. PADI Dive card.  I plan to dive so its best to keep this with me!

Homeschool

1. Homeschool curriculum books: What Your 2nd Grader Needs to Know and What Your 3rd Grader Needs to Know.
2. Complete Curriculum: Grade 2 and Complete Curriculum: Grade 3.  These are proving to be great workbooks for English and Math as well as tests.
3. Some basic school supplies such as crayons, pencils, pens, scissors, etc.  I bought all of these in Thailand and then brought the stash with me to Spain.

Toys/Games/Kids stuff

1. Stuffed animals.  Each kid brought quite a few.
2. Beckett’s fuzzy (i.e. blanket).  He gets cold like his mama so he needs a blanket so we bring his from home.
3. Bingo
4. Other kid toys: each kid gets to pick a few packable, small toys to bring on each trip.  Each one usually brings a couple of books as well.

Toiletries

1. Razor for Kir plus razor blade replacements.
2. Electronic razor for Chuck.
3. Electric toothbrush for Chuck with replacement heads.
4. Glide Floss.  Not taking my chances we can find this stuff when we arrive and anything else gets stuck in my teeth.
5. Enough toiletries for a week or two while we’re getting set up: shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, sunscreen, etc.
6. Basic medicines: Acetaminophen, Ibuprofen, Dramamine for the kids, Ibuprofen for the kids, Nyquil (if I’m sick, I need this stuff!), etc.
7. Basic healthcare items: nail clipper, brush, hair pic, hair brush, etc.
8. Make up basics.  And I mean basics such as a few lip glosses/sticks, 1 packet of eye shadow and not much else.  Not sure why I bother since I pretty much haven’t worn makeup in 3 years!

Clothes

1. Shoes.  Each of us brought 3 pairs of shoes: 1 pair of sneakers, 1 pair of flip flops and 1 pair of casual shoes.  That’s it.
2. Swim suit including a rash guard and swim goggles for each of us.
3. Sunglasses.
4. Reading glasses for Chuck.
5. Pants/Jeans and shorts.
6. Shirts (long and short sleeved).
7. Fleece and/or Sweatshirt.
8. PJs for the kids and I.
9. Winter coat.
10. Gloves and Hat.
11. 1 sort of nice outfit for Chuck and I in case we want to go out.

Other Items

1. Heat safe spatula.  It’s so nice to have at least 1 spatula in the kitchen.
2. Travel books.  For Thailand, we had 1 travel book.  For Spain, we actually brought 4 as two books were for all of Europe and we still had a lot of planning to do.
3. Reusable Water bottles.

Save

Save