Essential and/or odd things that you pack?

[Caroline NZ]

I would love to know what essential things you take, also anything that you consider odd but still important, and we may find that it is not so odd after all if others do similar

We take crockery mugs ( I buy special cheap ones just for the trip) , much more comforting to drink our tea/coffee out of, rather than plastic or polystyrene.

I take pegs (not for washing, but for closing half eaten chips/biscuit bags etc).

We use a round the neck security pouch for any Disneyland pouches. Too worried about losing them to leave in our wallet, and it means they are easier to get to for collecting Fastpasses.

All my bags/pouches/wallets etc must have zips on them, I don't trust Velcro or poppas etc


Thinking of taking Vegemite and tea bags with us this time....


What do you take?

 

[alicia1506]

my sister travels with hot chocolate packets... american hot chocolate was a bit bitter for her tastes, so she takes some cadbury mix and just asks for a cup of hot water in the parks or boils hot water in the coffee maker in room. she also has super fine hair that tangles easily, so always travels with her own satin or silk pillowcase.

i always take duct tape, envelopes and a small sewing kit with spare buttons & thread. the duct tape is for rips/tears in luggage and/or keeping boxes/packaging closed up tight in the luggage, the sewing kit to fix any minor clothing mishaps and the envelopes i use for housekeeping. i find it's a lot more clear which money you may be leaving out for housekeeping if it's in an envelope with housekeeping clearly written on it, rather than just leaving a few $ on a dresser or bedside table etc

i always take laundry bags, you know the ones for your delicates/bras? i prefer to handwash, but if in a hurry or if it's in a particularly humid climate, i use those to ensure that those big industrial mean machines don't damage my delicates

 

[BecBennett]

I take a power board so I only need one power point adapter.

I also always mean to take an empty pillowcase for taking dirty clothes to the laundry, but I always forget...

 

[battymum]

Pop up laundry hamper - makes it easy to keep all the dirties in one place and easy to carry to the laundry!

 

[australiankaren]

best thing ever...

also our own pillows, take them on the plane and use them in the hotels....

medication stuff...did you know in the usa they dont have stuff like ural???and there tampons are weird.....just saying, also they dont use/sell aerosol deodorant, just that yucky roll on stuff.....

we also take our own dive gear, beach towels (unless buying them at Disney), undies laundry bag,clothes peg to pin the blinds closed as there is always a tiny gap, power adapter to charge more than one thing.

zip lock bags, tape, highlighters, magnets, bubble wrap

space bags,luggage scales

mini cereal boxes, muesli bars, equal tablets,

 

[WanderlustNZ]

I try to pack as lightly as possible so I have room to bring things back. So I rarely have anything out of the ordinary.

My medicine and toiletries bag is usually the thing I put most thought in to. I always have plasters (including some specialty blister ones), paw paw ointment, and tablets for stomach upsets/diarrhea.
Also, small packets of wet wipes tend to come in really handy for sticky hands or dirty surfaces.

 

[kylieh]

Australian Powerboard so I don't need so many adapters - don't worry, I don't overload. I got that hint from someone on the Aus/Kiwi forum. Can't remember who.

Cheap and light plastic coathangers. They are light and there is never enough hangers in a room.

Twinnings English Breakfast Tea. I can get, but it can be hit and miss.

 

[Franrose]

Not terribly strange, but after my youngest having a really bad reaction (hives keeping her awake all night with intense itching) to something - who knows what - last trip, this time we'll be taking children's antihistamines. We were able to buy some generic ones at Disney in the morning, but that was no help at midnight while she was a big itchy mess. It happened twice at Disney last visit, has never happened at home.

As for odd, I'll have to have a good think!

 

[Minniemum]

The powerboard is our best friend.

Ziploc bags are the best thing ever invented. We take them in all different sizes to store things like wet togs/swimmers/bathers and exploding toiletries.

I always take paracetamol for both the kids and adults.

If you love shopping, pack suitcases in suitcases. We check in 4 suitcases and each have at least 1 suitcase inside. Voila 9 suitcases! It's also much easier to manage 4 suitcases after an 18 hour flight with 2 tired and grumpy children.

 

[Toy Story]

I take a power board so I only need one power point adapter.

Australian Powerboard so I don't need so many adapters - don't worry, I don't overload. I got that hint from someone on the Aus/Kiwi forum. Can't remember who.

Twinnings English Breakfast Tea. I can get, but it can be hit and miss.

The powerboard is our best friend.

Ziploc bags are the best thing ever invented. We take them in all different sizes to store things like wet togs/swimmers/bathers and exploding toiletries.

Ditto the power board.

Ditto Twinnings English tea-bags.

Ditto zip-lock bags.

I also pack a teeny tiny role of sticky tape (we always seem to be away for someones birthday), I have a heavy cardboard box to pack breakables in. We also pack a small cutting board, a sharp knife and one set of cutlery. DD takes cereal in a container to get her through the first few days - but some US hotels provided stirring sticks - not spoons, so the cutlery now gets packed.

 

[ky71]

Glowsticks (not needed anymore as our youngest is almost 8yrs but still fun)
Several adaptor plugs and a powerboard with USB outlets
Gaffer tape and Ziplock bags can fix anything!
Over door shoe hanging organizer for keeping toiletries organized (and sometimes we hang it in the wardrobe to put underwear and accessories in)
Single serve TimTams for Mousekeeping (we also leave cash)
Keyring Sharpie pens
Business size cards with our name, email and postal addresses (handy for new friends, writing a message to CMs or putting in your young child's pocket)!
We also do the smaller suitcase inside a suitcase 'trick' plus we pack extra backpacks if we really intend to shop up a storm.
Children's Panadol, Benadine, Stingose and SM33 have all been used more than once and I have no idea what similar products would be called.
Old trainers so we can buy new ones and bin the old ones. Same with sleepwear too.

 

[sarefromoz]

This thread is great. We leave in less than a month and I'm starting to get things organised...what we need to buy, what we shouldn't bother with. I have no idea, so your tips are helping.

I was told by a colleague that we should pack some cereal to take because all the breakfast cereals over there are full of sugar and preservatives, so we may pack a box of week bix and some cornflakes.

 

[Marlea98]

I would love to know what essential things you take, also anything that you consider odd but still important, and we may find that it is not so odd after all if others do similar

We take crockery mugs ( I buy special cheap ones just for the trip) , much more comforting to drink our tea/coffee out of, rather than plastic or polystyrene.

I take pegs (not for washing, but for closing half eaten chips/biscuit bags etc).

We use a round the neck security pouch for any Disneyland pouches. Too worried about losing them to leave in our wallet, and it means they are easier to get to for collecting Fastpasses.

All my bags/pouches/wallets etc must have zips on them, I don't trust Velcro or poppas etc


Thinking of taking Vegemite and tea bags with us this time....



What do you take?

We took vegemite last time. We bought the squeezy tube one.

my sister travels with hot chocolate packets... american hot chocolate was a bit bitter for her tastes, so she takes some cadbury mix and just asks for a cup of hot water in the parks or boils hot water in the coffee maker in room. she also has super fine hair that tangles easily, so always travels with her own satin or silk pillowcase.

i always take duct tape, envelopes and a small sewing kit with spare buttons & thread. the duct tape is for rips/tears in luggage and/or keeping boxes/packaging closed up tight in the luggage, the sewing kit to fix any minor clothing mishaps and the envelopes i use for housekeeping. i find it's a lot more clear which money you may be leaving out for housekeeping if it's in an envelope with housekeeping clearly written on it, rather than just leaving a few $ on a dresser or bedside table etc

i always take laundry bags, you know the ones for your delicates/bras? i prefer to handwash, but if in a hurry or if it's in a particularly humid climate, i use those to ensure that those big industrial mean machines don't damage my delicates

I should do that. I just left notes on the end of the bed or on the bench and was always worried they'd blow off when we closed the door.

I take a power board so I only need one power point adapter.

I also always mean to take an empty pillowcase for taking dirty clothes to the laundry, but I always forget...

That's what we're doing next trip. We've got two adaptors but this trip we'll be taking 4 cameras, 2 phones, an ipad, my laptop and probably the kids' laptops if I end up buying them before we go.

Pop up laundry hamper - makes it easy to keep all the dirties in one place and easy to carry to the laundry!

I bought ours from the dollar store so we could ditch it before we left but I ended up bringing it home

Not terribly strange, but after my youngest having a really bad reaction (hives keeping her awake all night with intense itching) to something - who knows what - last trip, this time we'll be taking children's antihistamines. We were able to buy some generic ones at Disney in the morning, but that was no help at midnight while she was a big itchy mess. It happened twice at Disney last visit, has never happened at home.

As for odd, I'll have to have a good think!

Yes, phenergan! Great for sinus, motion sickness, allergies and more. I had to take antihistamines every day when we were in Vegas because I'm allergic to cigarette smoke.

 

[Marlea98]

The powerboard is our best friend.

Ziploc bags are the best thing ever invented. We take them in all different sizes to store things like wet togs/swimmers/bathers and exploding toiletries.

I always take paracetamol for both the kids and adults.

If you love shopping, pack suitcases in suitcases. We check in 4 suitcases and each have at least 1 suitcase inside. Voila 9 suitcases! It's also much easier to manage 4 suitcases after an 18 hour flight with 2 tired and grumpy children.

We ended up buying cheap duffle bags from Walmart before we left and packed all of our extra purchases in them.

 

[Marlea98]

This thread is great. We leave in less than a month and I'm starting to get things organised...what we need to buy, what we shouldn't bother with. I have no idea, so your tips are helping.

I was told by a colleague that we should pack some cereal to take because all the breakfast cereals over there are full of sugar and preservatives, so we may pack a box of week bix and some cornflakes.

The cereal is awful. We bought the kids Lucky Charms and they couldn't eat them, they were way too sweet. I'm taking over Weetbix for breakfast. I find it is filling for a big day out. I have it before school when I know I'm going to have playground duty for first break because I don't often get to eat until lunchtime if that is the case.

 

[Franrose]

I'd be tempted to bring some Weetbix I think! I'm more of a toast girl but at least 2/4 in our family could live on Weetbix, lol.

 

[AussieCaribou]

Gotta be careful with foods in the US as a general rule. Most of it is very sweat and hyper-colored - especially so if its marketed at kids. You can find breakfast cereals that aren't going to instantly send you into sugar shock (corn flakes, wheaties, raisin bran - all of which are less sugar sweet than kids cereals like lucky charms - which is marshmallow and sugared cereal!!! For breakfast?!?!) My rule, if its got a cartoon character on the box, it's not for main meals. lol.

We took DD to the states for her second birthday. She refused to eat most of the prepared foods we tried (she even refused mcd!). The only things she would eat where Kraft mac and chez but it was ORANGE and an ice cream that had Disney characters on the tub. The ice cream was rainbow colored and VERY bright. Once processed through her there were still pigment
(Blue to be exact).

 

[AussieCaribou]

Most of the special things that I bring have already been mentioned.

We also bring travel games for the plane, the cards from Disney trivial pursuit for the lines, and small exercise books and colored pens for writing up a travel journal. We only use one side of each page so that I can remove them and add them in to the scrap book (often on hidden, pull out areas) so we have a way of remembering what we did and didn't like. It's great to read through years later.

 

[MsMinne]

Some great ideas - keep them coming.

I pack a little bag of laundry powder. Enough for a few washes
Plastic bags for dirty laundry, shoes.
I also like to take old shoes to then throw out when we buy new ones!
Pack less clothes so we have more room for new ones!

My boys are one size different so I pack the same style socks so I'm not wasting time trying to work out who's are who's once they are washed and packed. i do the opp. With undies - make them distinctly different.
I make sure they bring Velcro shoes. Much easier for them to put on them self when we are ins hurry.

A plastic folder/sleeve with all of my confirmations printed out in the order that ill need them.

Everyone is mentioning housekeeping. This is my first trip to the US and it hadnt occurred to me to leave a tip for them :O. How much are you supposed to leave? I thought the general rule was 15-20% based on the amount you pay, like for your meal. But what do you give for housekeeping?

 

[Marlea98]

I'd be tempted to bring some Weetbix I think! I'm more of a toast girl but at least 2/4 in our family could live on Weetbix, lol.

I'm a toast or weetbix girl but I didn't like the sweetness of American bread.

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