Traveling for your adoption and packing

Unless you are adopting through your local foster care agency or are having a child escorted, you will be doing some sort of traveling for your adoption. Most international adoptions involve international travel, and domestic adoption can involve travel to the next state or to the other side of the country. While most people think of adoption travel in regards to international adoption, our longest adoption trip was that to South Carolina to get our son, Marcus.

Since travel is one of the exciting parts of adoption, and the part that many adoptive parents look forward to, I am going to write about it today, and I will share some of my thoughts and strategies on packing (since we have now traveled on quite a few adoption trips). If you want to check out my very detailed packing lists, you can find those here.

I have written quite a bit on adoption travel and have shared lots of packing tips in these posts, so in this post I am going to share my two biggest tips for packing.

- Bring what you need. I am all for packing light (see my next tip) and yet especially when you traveling to adopt a child, I think you should bring everything that you need. While it is true (especially if you are adopting domestically) that you can often find what you need when you arrive, you don't want to have to spend your first few hours or days with your child in a store in a new place trying to find diapers, formula, lotion or dish soap.

I have always found it very comforting and settling to have our child placed with us and to be able to go back to our hotel room and know that we have everything we need.

Find good packing lists (check mine out above) and list all that you need for your trip. If you are traveling internationally, it is especially important that you bring things like a fully stocked first aid kit, medications and treatments for things like lice, that you may not be able to find easily overseas.

If you travel with things that you end up not needing, you can always donate them to an orphanage or leave them behind at a guest house for the families traveling after you.

When it comes to adoption travel, I suggest that you travel prepared.

- On the flip side, my other piece of advice is don't over pack. Don't bring too many clothes. Don't bring four pairs of shoes. Don't bring piles of toys. Bring everything that you need, but don't bring tons of it, and go easy on the things that you don't need lots of.

There are several reasons why you don't want to over pack for your adoption trip. First off, traveling lighter is traveling easier. Lugging huge heavy bags in international airports can be quite a hassle, plus if your bags are overweight, you will have to pay fees, sometimes heavy ones. And remember, on your way home you will be carrying a child as well, so you want to make life as easy as possible on yourself.

Other reasons for traveling as light as possible are donations and shopping. If you are adopting internationally, your agency very well ask you to carry over donations for the orphanage. And, traveling for your child is a wonderful opportunity to shop and bring home cultural items for your home and gifts for your child from his culture as he grows.

So, as you are preparing your own packing list, remember your goals are to travel prepared and to travel as light as possible.

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