This coming summer will mark seven years that I’ve been living abroad as an expat. In those seven years I’ve traveled home to the U.S. five times: for Christmas in 2016, the summers of 2017, 2019, 2020, and then this last holiday gathering, Christmas 2021. My longest break was from the summers of 2017 to 2019 as I moved from Mongolia to Turkey in the summer of 2018. While my employer does fund a ticket home each summer, I tend to travel home for a purpose or reason such as the Caveney Clan Christmas. In 2017 I attended Advanced Placement training and in 2020 I had to get a new drivers license and be registered to vote before the election. That means that 2019 marks the only year I traveled purely to visit and spend time with people–which I did that summer to visit all my friends in Colorado, my last home in the U.S. Thankfully my mother, sister, and niece were also able to travel to spend time with me as well. As I was just home for the holidays, I don’t have plans to visit the U.S. again until the summer of 2023 when we have decided to have a Caveney Clan 4th of July gathering in Texas at my brother’s place. Yee Haw!
One of the side effects of being an expat is that whenever one travels home you gather your special collection of favorite items and bring them back with you. In Mongolia it was easy and convenient to have care packages shipped to oneself. Turkey is very much the opposite with strict import rules and high import taxes on items. I have learned that the only things to be sent to me are cards and letters!
Each time I travel home to the U.S. I take “Oscar”–a large, teal green hard-shelled suitcase–which I inherited from other expats (thanks Kneale and Josh!). Inside of Oscar I pack a large, empty North Face duffel bag. I travel with one bag to the U.S., but return with two large bags filled to their 50 lb allowance (if not over). In the summer of 2020 it was yet the start of “COVID travel” and Turkish Airlines couldn’t be bothered to charge me (and I thank them). This winter I had one bag at 49.5 lbs and the second one was 65 lbs. I paid $135 for the overage–but hey, I won’t be home till 2023 and if I split that across the last two trips….it’s not SO bad. This is one of the “extra” things we choose to pay for as an expat. Some of the haul I bring will be used up in a finite time, other items will be used for a long time to come.
So what, you may wonder, does an expat bring from home?
I thought I’d share what I brought back from my most recent trip as an example. Knowing that I did NOT want to spend too much time apart from my family, I shopped like a maniac on one morning to collect items–going to Kohl’s, Walmart, and the Shoe Department. I was greatly disappointed to discover that Kohl’s has eliminated two of my favorite clothes lines–Dana Buchman and Chaps–I loved their attire for my professional life. I did the best I could and still selected an assortment of clothing: a new coat, socks, underwear, three bras, two sets of workout clothes, and an assortment of sweaters, shirts, and pants. I was able to get two pair of boots at the Shoe Dept, and had previously had my favorite sneakers, sandals, and flip flops shipped to my mother’s for her to bring. It can be challenging to find shoes that fit here in Turkey–I guess my feet are larger than the average OR there are too many of us with my size and I miss them when they arrive. And two years ago I discovered the PERFECT purse and decided to stock up so that I don’t not have it. It has a pocket for each item I carry, is secure, and converts from an over-the-shoulder bag to a backpack, as needed.
The next larger category would be: Things I Consume. This can be challenging because jars and cans are heavy and can easily put one’s luggage overweight. Considering I brought two large bottles of Screwball whiskey in addition to a half gallon of liquid gold–my father’s homemade Maple Syrup–I already knew I would be overweight. Yes, Oscar was heavy!
Additionally added to this group was one of my favorite wintertime drinks–Mongolian Milk Tea. Yes, that is a taste I acquired in my three years in Mongolia and I do crave it in the winter. I was running low from the stash a friend had brought me in September of 2018. It was just my luck that she was visiting the U.S. for over a month (from Mongolia) and was able to bring me three bags of my favorite brand of Mongolian milk tea (Thank you, Tricia!). You can see in these pictures the random selection of items that are of importance to me. Yes–I can get mayonnaise here, but it does not taste the same! That is something you learn abroad–name brand items are made with different ingredients in different places and the taste is NOT the same. And while I can find TONS of pickles here–there are NOT sweet pickles, which I bring mostly for the juice which is the special ingredient for my tuna-egg salad.
Also in that Consumption category is makeup, reader glasses (which are strangely hard to find AND expensive here), Goo Gone, pump hairspray (also hard to find here), and my supply of Shaklee vitamins. And let’s not forget my favorite squares of Ghiradelli chocolate–Dark chocolate peppermint bark. I’m lucky to have a sister employed by the company and she hooks us all up with chocolate (Thanks, Robin!). Also in this category but not pictured aree Tampax tampons! I have discovered that Asia tends to offer a very minimal amount of tampons, in general–in Mongolia as well as in Turkey, only about 10% of the feminine hygiene product offering in any store is tampons. And usually my preferred make and model is NOT offered. Therefore, I bring these back every time–and thankfully they are light!
Last but not least would be reading materials! I had an additional four books that I had to weed out–I gave them to my sister (HUGE reader) who was only going home to California and had the space. But I did purchase a magazine and, at the Chicago airport, was able to purchase the latest Brene Brown book which had just come out in late November–“Atlas of the Heart.” I was thrilled to get this, though NOT thrilled at the heft of it–it is a HEAVY book, both in physical weight and in the depths of what it shares. I’m reading it bit by bit, allowing myself to digest and internalize what it shares. It is beautiful and works to remind us that there are so very many emotions. We are not simply happy, mad, or sad. Brown starts by sharing there are over 80 unique emotions–we should be specific in identifying and sharing what we are feeling. (I love her work!)
A final category would be gifts and those things which you collect and bring home for friends. That was a small amount this trip–Twizzlers for one friend, and a tube of Neosporin for two others. Oh, and makeup foundation for one more. This is a courtesy we offer fellow expat colleagues and friends, though I have also brought items back for Turkish colleagues/friends.
The categories will vary by expat–I have no doubt. One of my former colleagues was rumored to have filled a suitcase (or two!) with preferred cooking and baking items. With a spouse and two children, her suitcase allowance was far more than mine. My haul has varied from time to time. In February of 2020 I brought home some electronics–a JBL speaker and a massage gun–as electronic items are significantly more costly here in Turkey. You may recall a previous post about my having a new phone brought from the U.S. The only electronic item I brought on this recent trip was a FitBit Charge 5–in preparation for when my current FitBit dies. They seem to have 2-2.5 year lifespan and I want to be prepared.
I WISH I could bring home the foods I miss the most–like Mexican! Instead I filled up as much as I could while I was there. I did have an awesome last Breakfast–McDonald’s–which I brought home in my stomach, I guess you could say. LOL
I’ll wrap things up with a question: If you live abroad, what are the items you bring back? If you don’t live abroad, what might be the items you predict you would miss the most and make room for in your luggage?
That’s it for now, fellow travelers. I hope this post finds you healthy and happy!