We just celebrated Halloween with trick-or-treating at the zoo and pumpkin carving with my sister and niece (see blog post: Autumn in the Midwest on my other blog). The one single thing I will really miss about our life in Michigan? Having my sister nearby. Not only is she my best friend these days, but M and my niece are obsessed with being together, and oh the crying and wailing and carrying on when we force them to part! I hope they can visit us and we can stay with them often throughout the year, to make up for less regular visits.
Ok can you believe it… in four days we are off to Kathmandu! I’ve had a few ‘am-I -crazy-for-taking-a-3-year-old-to-Nepal-and-ohmygod-it’s-a-16-hour flight-I’m-seriously-crazy” moments, I’ll admit. My grandmother would’ve been packed 2 weeks ago, but I’m more of a last-minute packer myself. So far I’ve done the following prep:
- Bought our tickets in May and bought day rooms in the Hong Kong airport hotel
- Adjusted day room reservation to all night reservation in the Hong Kong airport hotel because our flight was changed to one day earlier
- Purchased little surprise goodies for M on the flight, a charger for the portable DVD player, new kid headphones, and a portable charger for devices
- Bought almost everything on the list my friends in Nepal have given me… backpacks, clothes, make-up, baby wipes, baby food, and tylenol were some of the requested (hard-to-find in Nepal) items
- Bought gifts for everyone’s kids
- Procured two new (to me) suitcases… one from a thrift shop and one from my grandma’s house. My old ones are officially busted up.
- Tried to prepare M for the trip by talking about foreign languages, showing her pictures of our family there (she hasn’t seen them since she was 5 months old), and getting her excited for the airplane
What’s left to do?
- Buy snacks and drinks (they always let me through security with small children’s drinks as long as they are still sealed)
- Still have some items to buy for our friends there, from their list
- Figure out how to use the portable charger before using it
- Find the charger I bought for the dvd player cause I lost it and it has to be somewhere
- Pack two suitcases and two backpacks, and do it without M seeing the surprise toys for the airplane
- Get out cash for the trip
- Buy trip insurance
- Put our money and passports in a separate carrier (I keep it under my clothes)
- Notify embassy and credit card companies of impending travel
Did I mention I’m working three more shifts in a row and have just one day off before we leave? Also, my dad will be in town so we’ll be trying to get some visiting in there, too.
Mother of All Things 
Have fun in KTM. It’s a crazy city! Best of luck with the kid on the flight
It’s a crazy city, for sure! But I always love it and I hope my daughter will, too 🙂
Hope your flights are good and M is a great traveller.
Enjoy your trip.