Fanny Pack or Bust

 With every trip you go on whether short or long (or more permanent such as ours), you get down to the nitty gritty of the last minute details. The dreaded last minute packing of the things you still kinda need, but need to know if you have room to pack them as well. 

I have recently been a lot more interested in this idea of minimalism. I follow posts on Instagram and watch documentaries about it. In a way, our move to the UK is quite a minimalist step. We are going from having a 2000 sq ft home to packing everything we need in 6 suitcases. (We are leaving behind a 8x10 storage unit). You may think that sounds like a lot but we are 3 people, one of us being 2 years old and attached to things already. 

I have no tips for you on how to do this as I am still in the midst of doing it myself. My biggest advice is if you even have an inkling of "well I may use this or wear this if I...." get rid of it. If you continuously use or wear something every season when it comes back around, keep it. If you think your child is really attached to an item or piece of clothing, remove it from their sight for awhile, do they ever ask for it? If they don't, its probably safe to donate/discard. 

Our hardest thing to get rid of and therefore we have packed with us are our special Xmas ornaments. We tend to buy them when we have traveled or wherever we were for that Xmas. We have special ones from the year of our marriage or when our daughter was born. We have a very small box with those tucked inside, they are going to hang on what ever symbol we use to celebrate Xmas this year (be it a fake or real tree, plant, mantle, ladder, etc.).

For Emme, it was her books. Another example of specials moments in her childhood, when she was born, 1st birthday, 1st Xmas, 1st Valentine's, etc. We have done our best to keep those special books, and some we did decide to store for our next visit back. Awaiting her, when we arrive at my MIL house, is a stack of new books purchased off Marketplace as well as toys. She will likely be so excited and won't notice that we didn't pack the first book she was ever read at 2 months of age. (I call this a ME problem, not an EMME problem).

I'll end this with a travel tip that I have learned from over the years, especially since having a child... **Wear a fanny pack in the airport and on the plane.**

 I am so glad they are in fashion now. Mine was like $6 from Walmart years ago when I used it for a Halloween costume. They don't ever say anything about it being your "personal item" on the plane and I keep the essential things in there that I need to grab without ever having to set my toddler down. I am sure to include the follow things always:

-Passports (I carry them for all of us, never want the he said/she said at the ticket counter when one is missing)

-Gum/mints (Are you that person that panics as you are about to take off that you can't find it at the bottom of your purse? Worried your ears will explode without it? Is that just me?)

-Pen (Especially for international flights, they will hand out a customs form about an hour before you land and you inevitably will not have brought one in your carry on and if you did you will have shuffled through it an average of 15 times on that 8 hour flight. In light of COVID, it's also more sanitary to use a pen that is your own--My mom taught me that at the ripe age of about 6, child of a nurse here)

-Chapstick/lip balm (It's dry up in the there, the end)

-Mini hand sanitizer (Did this even prior to COVID. I may include a pack of travel sanitizing wipes as well, but I usually have these in my diaper bag, do a good wipe down when we get on and then I settle down about it.)

-Phone (my phone has a slide on it where I put my ID and credit card, serves a double purpose to have it right on me)

-Comfort item for your child (Emme's is her paci, yes she is 2 and still uses it to sleep, no I'm not ashamed in my game. We are doing an international move with a 6 hour time change and she NEEDS IT. We can worry about the paci fairy at a later date--preferably when she's used to the time change and her new environment )

Thats all I put in there and it leaves plenty of room for when they hand you your boarding passes and customs forms. My husband and I have traveled together enough times we just know our roles. Mine is the keeper of the fanny, I don't take it off, even when sleeping on the plane or peeing. (sorry TMI?) His is the keeper of the child items and snacks (could argue this is equally important), we take turns as to who is the keeper of Emme, haha. 

I promise I got more done today than just packing my fanny. Happy Sunday Everyone :)