Moving to Barbados: Let's Get Packing

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Getting ready for Barbados, probably the easiest thing about it, I thought, was going to be packing.

A moving company would be coming in to do the boxing up of all of our things.  So I figured my job would be throwing some stuff in suitcases, labeling some stuff for packing. Bam. Done.

So I quickly organized our belongings into 4 main categories of items (because we can't just throw stuff around willy nilly now can we?): 

1) Donate- I had to put a big orange sign on these things that said DONATE but it felt good to shed some old stuff.

2) Denver - at the end of our Barbados expedition our plan is still to wind up in Denver, so I put a big green sign on these items that would be put in long term storage in Denver labeled of course - DENVER.

3) Barbados Ship- not everything can fit in suitcases so I even designated a room that I labeled with one big blue sign BARBADOS!!!

4) Barbados Pack- we would schlep this stuff on our flight/road trip so no labels for this stuff. I just started throwing this into suitcases. Living crazy I know.

This all started off Great. I even jokingly put a DONATE sign on the dog. He didn't find it that funny but he's a shiba and they are not known for their sense of humor.

"Barbados Ship" got a little out of control I will admit. I started to hoard a little and worried that I wouldn't be able to find things which in hindsight seem a little ridiculous now. 

"Barbados Pack" also started out easy (mostly clothes) but this also quickly started to unravel. I had mosquito nets, rain boots, a whole suitcase labeled OFFICE, a suitcase for Naomi's school supplies she started an online program), and an activity/craft suitcase for Naomi. 

I think I started to panic that we wouldn't be in a position to really buy anything (keeping it lean for the road) nor would we see our shipped stuff for some time. So this stuff needed to last us even into Barbados for a few months.

We also agreed that after Closing Day on the house we would head to see my parents in South Carolina for a little while and then head down to Florida to see my father in law. The main reason was to get to Miami where we would fly out to Barbados. We calculated this to be the shortest flight for the dog so that became part of the plan.

With the now planned short road trip, this added a few items to the "Barbados Pack" contents. There were some boxes and things I needed to return to my parents but our suitcases now already equaled about 10. So no matter what kind of car I told you I had, you can do the math -this all was not going to fit.

So we rented a trailer, at least to get us to South Carolina. Problem solved.

Oh wait. No. Because even after South Carolina, my SUV could not hold 10 hard suitcases. So Shawn came up with an idea that we buy soft duffle bags to shift our stuff into and he would get a collapsable cargo carrier for the top of the car. 

So we unpacked everything except the Office and one other suitcase and moved only the things we needed to the duffles. I put the empty suitcases to Barbados Ship along with the extra items.

Along the way we would argue a tiny bit about what I was packing (Do I really need rain boots? At one point I was hoarding ketchup packets) but little by little I would let some things go.

We succeeded to get down to 4 duffle bags and 2 suitcases. Problem solved.

Oh wait- not quite. Since we got rid of the trailer in South Carolina we were now reliant on the new collapsable cargo carrier to haul the duffles.  After opening and assessing the carrier at my parents house, it seemed to be quite adequate and would hold everything. However, looking at it opened in my parents warm house and on the flat expansive living room floor, versus installing it in the chilly morning hours before the sun is up and on an SUV with rails, were two different stories. At one point I literally crawled on top of my car while Shawn chose some special words to zip up the now inflexible giant suitcase.

We finally got it all in there and made it down to Florida.  As we unloaded in Florida however, we found a new issue.  Hauling duffle bags is quite a bit more of a headache than rolling suitcases. 

Visions of us shouldering two duffle bags each, while rolling suitcases through the Miami and Barbados parking lot until we located a cart with dog and child in tow began swirling in our heads. So we went back to the suitcase idea and picked up some cheap suitcases. My father in law was kind enough to donate one as well. He still didn't understand why we had so much stuff. I was also beginning to question some of my items.

Upon arrival in Barbados, I thought it was funny that the company sent a service to help us through customs which also helped us get our luggage. I apologized to the luggage guy that we had so much and his response was 'It's okay, this is nothing, and I am very strong". I felt better. I think it was his Bajan accent too, it felt calming. 

So- we made it. Unpacking the luggage was amazingly freeing. Hauling our lives around for 4 weeks in bags started to feel a little heavy. Both literally and figuratively. We did still wind up bringing stuff that we haven't used- long sleeve shirts and socks to name a few.

But the entire exercise did teach us what we really could live without and made us appreciate things that are now packed away for storage. 

It's raining out right now and I don't have those rain boots. I put them in the Barbados Ship. Oddly I don't miss them and honestly am not sure where I will be walking right now, lol. Not sure if I am getting more relaxed or perhaps it's the rum punch talking, either way, we made it. 


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