Reflections regarding Sunday July 28, 2024 in Home
Embarking on a yearlong journey with four kids aged seven to eleven is no small feat, especially when trying to pack our family of six with a one carry-on and one backpack per person. The executive functioning required just to think through the logistics of packing is intense. On the one hand, the idea of carrying 12 pieces of luggage was (and at times still can be) overwhelming. On the other hand, the idea of losing a checked bag in a place we are staying for only a couple of days was far less appealing. Let’s just say my executive functioning is okay at best. The first step was to figure out what kind of carry-on would work best for our children and us. We already had a couple of Eagle Creeks Cargo Hauler XT Rolling Duffle Bags and really liked their durability, functionality, and that our kids could lift and roll them easily. One decision down, about a thousand more to go. I packed the boys clothing in cubes to help keep all of us organized throughout the year. So far this seems to have been a good choice because it prevents them from unpacking their clothing like hungry raccoons.
After packing, unpacking, repacking, unpacking, and repacking again (and again and again), I was able to pack each boy and myself enough clothing for about 7-10 days with some extra options thrown in for our younger ones. You never know when an extra set of clothes might be needed! and then stuffed as many other items as I could in and around the cubes that made sense at the time. For instance, who doesn’t need multiple travel sized bottles of shampoo, conditioner, moisturizer, each boy’s favorite toothpaste, med supplies, and so on? These could be found in every nook and cranny available in their packs. After a week of traveling like this, I am both proud of myself for my advanced planning and wondering if I might have overdone it.
The boys’ brought backpacks that we had received as gifts about a year ago. They are the Eddy Bauer light packs. It’s amazing how much one can stuff in that pack. Each of the kids’ backpacks includes an iPad for school work and screen time (amount determined based on how much parental patience is left or expected travel times) so that they wouldn’t steal our devices, a personalized travel journal that I created and published for them to use this year to capture their memories and as part of their education, a tech case to carry necessary plugs, earphones, and a small kindle, a pencil case with colored pencils, pencils, a pen, eraser, sharpener and small notepad, a small stuff toy from home, a toiletry case with a few of the above mentioned toiletries, a collapsible water bottle with filtration system built in, and games we could play on Shabbat or when we had had too much screen time on long travels. Oh, and they also had a neck pillow stuff inside or attached to the outside. Packing these bags was incredible. Then I weighed them. When I realized they were just under 10lbs each I started Googling “backpack optimal percentage of bodyweight.” Google said it should weigh 10-20%. Houston, we have a problem. Our littlest guy weighs in at 36lbs on a good day and our biggest only weighs in at 65lbs, also on a good day. So, we got straps and decided to strap each backpack to our carry-ons. While this worked fine, we quickly realized that it was easier for Chaim and me to carry multiple backpacks so that our boys could roll their carry-ons without additional weight. Turns out all of my working out this past year paid off. As of this writing, I have now carried four 10lb bags and one 15lb backpack (my own) while lugging two carry-ons through the airport or along city streets for up to 30 minutes at a time, multiple times.
Though we showed up early to the airport thanks to my amazing sister and brother-in-law, we did not have that much time to sit before getting on the plane. Our plan had been to buy some food at along the way to the gate, but it wasn’t far and there weren’t many food options that met our dietary restrictions that we could purchase. So, I ran to the kiosk, bought random options that our children did not appreciate, and then boarded the plane.
