Luggage Charge #2

I just got an email from Susan at Smartpacking.com and wanted to share with you all...

Well, I have been warning…

American Airlines announced this morning (according to the Associated Press) that they will begin to charge $15 for the first checked bag for domestic tickets purchased on or after June 15. They will continue to charge $25 for a second checked bag.

Some undiscounted tickets and high level frequent flyers are exempt from these charges, as are international travelers.

What this means for you:

Most likely there will be many more travelers who will carry on bags to avoid the added fee, which will swamp the Transportation Security Administration screening process and create much longer passing times at all security checkpoints. Once past security, aircraft have limited storage areas so this will overload the carry on bin capacity and produce major “bin rage” as competition accelerates for this space. Anticipate delays as more bags must be gate-checked.

Oh, and did I mention that it’s likely that other cash-strapped airlines will think this is a great idea and adopt this policy as soon as they possibly can?

Solution:

From now on, it is essential to check with each airline that you intend to fly to learn what their checked and carry-on luggage policy is for the date you plan to travel. Be prepared for this to change and check before each flight.

Before you travel, make the decision to pay the fee and avoid the carry-on hassles, or learn to pack light into the smallest carry-on bag possible for the trip with only the 3-1-1 bag for lotions and potions. For help with packing less, go to www.smartpacking.com for traveling light ideas.

Simply booking away from American Airlines may work for a few days but when the other airlines jump on this new-fee bandwagon that advantage will disappear. Note to self: it is becoming more costly to fly. Perhaps the direct ticket cost will not increase, but now we must carefully add up the fees as well.

Many thanks to Joe Brancatelli of www.joesentme.com for alerting me early today.

Pack smart and travel easy!

-:¦:- Stephe -:¦:-
http://www.giorgiadanette.blogspot.com

Stephe's Care Package

Okay, I'm almost done!

Lime Green Froggie for Giorgi,

Lime Green Blanket,

1 pair socks,

Bunch of Misc Candy

Who Loves Baby Album

Working on getting the photos

2 Cameras

Orphanage Question

etc.

I'll update this when I get the rest. I'm finished next month's challege (SWI gifts so I'll continue to work on this one!!!)

-:¦:- Stephe -:¦:-http://www.giorgiadanette.blogspot.com/

SWI gifts

Here are the Nanny gift that I purchased. I have some other stuff. Must take a photo of

Care Package

TRANSLATED LETTER

Be sure to ask the staff/nannies to bring any mementos that were on your child the day of her find. One family was told that because they asked before hand; they brought the clothes and bottle that were found on the child the day of her abandonment. Priceless.

GIFTS FOR DAUGHTER

Socks and Jammies

Soft-bodied Doll that can be thrown into the washing machine
Small Photo Album - referral photo on outside, photos of us, home, her room
Small, Plastic Toy - such as stacking cups

Blanket - a soft fleece (one of those crib size ones) Some wash it and sleep with it a few nights so that their daughter would become familiar with their "scent".

Some bring duplicates of the items, just in case.

CAMERA INFO

Make sure you put the baby’s picture & name on camera. *Copy your daughter's Chinese name several times then cut and taped it to her camera, along with a few tiny photos of her, just to ensure the SWI workers knew whose camera it was.

PICTURE ALBUM

Put family photos including hers in a "Who Loves Baby" album. One family sent a set of plastic rings with laminated photos of them & extended family with the hopes that maybe she'll get used to our faces. If you can label the photos in Chinese that would be great too. Below is a site you can use to print simple phrase/words to use in labeling your camera, album (if choose to do this), etc. There are others. Just print, cut out the Chinese characters and tape them on your items (http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/index.html#Contents)

NANNY & DIRECTOR GIFTS

Sent some small candies to the Nannies. Good choice are Hershey's and M&M's since these are well known American Chocolates. *assortment of Revlon lipsticks, chapsticks, hand lotions, scented soaps, bath gels, tea bags (imported British teas) and hard candies. *For the orphanage director, maybe a men's wallet with a note thanking him for the care that my daughter was receiving and telling him the other gifts were for the nannies. sent chocolates and lotions and a framed picture of our daughter for the foster mom.

MAILING INFO

Declare $0 it is a gift. DO NOT to send packages certified or registered Do not list a camera in the contents. *I would suggest sending translated questions of your child in one of packagesUSPS air mail 3.5 lbs cost $26 You can go to Blessed Kids and print off the address for the orphanage in Chinese characters. *…had very good luck with sending packages to China just using the US postal services Global Express. One thing you can do is have the orphanage write you out a label in Chinese and send it to me via email, then just print it out every time you need it so your boxes have both English and Chinese labels on them! Also make sure that you write clearly on the box "donation/gift" so that the orphanage is not taxed on the items in the box...so far, no problems there! Only send a shoebox size package to the orphanage to avoid any hassles for the orphanage in claiming the package. Sending a care package of this size costs about $30 to ship * mail it "global". Again, list contents and value enter $0. This way, the Orphanage does not have to pay anything at their end. Also, they will accept your package! mark the package as gift/charitable donation and check off the box for 'return to sender'

ORPHANAGE INFO

*You can find the address, written in Chinese and English, on the Yahoo group for your orphanage. You can also go to Blessed Kids and printed off the address for the orphanage in Chinese characters.

-:¦:- Stephe -:¦:-
http://www.giorgiadanette.blogspot.com/

Gifts to SWI's

Gifts are tokens of appreciation and it’s largely ceremonial. The gift itself is quite secondary to the act of giving. Don’t a make the gifts too extravagant, you don’t want it to look like a bribe. Look for gift’s that are NOT “Made in China” and nothing Political or Religious.
I read this somewhere and I thought it was interesting info on gift giving.

"...I wanted to share something I learned from our guide that I'd never read here before. She said that every time she goes to an orphanage the nanny’s pull her aside and show her a large pile of gifts that they don't know what to do with. She said usually these are lotions and they want her to translate the bottles for them.

Because they can't read the English on the bottle, they don't know what to do with them. Makes sense! If someone handed us a bottle of something white or pink and creamy and it was all written in Chinese we wouldn't know if it was body lotion or face lotion or soap for the shower. She had us all give her our gifts and she separated them into bags and labeled them so the nanny’s would know what they were.

She said the three most-appreciated gifts are: chocolate, cigarettes and perfume..."
another AP said...

"We put a note on each gift bag, with our name, our child's Chinese name and referral picture and "Thank You" in Mandarin on each bag so that they knew who it was from. We found that they (orphanage workers) seemed to like cosmetics and nice body lotions (enough small samples for 10-12 people)-they did not seem to like cigarettes as a gift and chocolate melted (we travel in the summer and it was hot and humid). All our gifts went to the orphanage workers, we gave no gifts to "officials" and were told not to."

I also read this too...

"The only thing I would caution about up front is, don't give or buy cheap items (I've been told that some people give samples of AVON lipsticks, or the free giveaways of perfume from department stores as gifts... which shows a disregard for the SWI directors and caregivers... they have taken care of your child for the last "X" number of months/years - and now is the time to actually show your appreciation of their care. Items they would appreciate:

American Ginseng
Cd's of current popular (hip hop, popular, country, or classical)
NICE cosmetics chapstick, lipstick, nailpolish, makeup,
DO NOT give samples or cheap cosmetics.
College logo (t-shirts, nice ink pens & refills, good stationery, etc.)
Hometown items
Nice soaps and fragrant lotions. The Chinese Love fragrance...
Nice perfume/cologne.
Very nice costume jewelry, such as Trifari, Monet, Napier, etc.
Nice Chocolates or Candy

Some DON'T's are:
NO sample sizes - considered to be insulting.
NO green hat to a man - signifies his wife is having an affair.
NO clocks or watches - represents death
NO candles - signifies a wish that their home will burn down.
NO gift that is white or black in color. These colors have negative connotations (such as white is the color worn at funerals)."

Cut Flowers

Some people that you want to consider giving gifts to:
Orphanage Director
Nannies
Person in Charge of Children’s section
Adoption Logistics person
Translator
Adoption Registration Official
Chinese Notary
Drivers
Guides
NO gifts needed for American Consulate Officials


-:¦:- Stephe -:¦:-
http://www.giorgiadanette.blogspot.com/

Hope's SWI Care Package

Finally I am getting these photos posted. Here is what I sent:

2 Teddy Bears

A little blanket that matches her bedding (for familiarity). Hoping we'll get that back, but it is not the end of the world if we don't

Disposable Camera

3 little bottles of maples syrup from C. Barrel

Jelly Bellys

Candied Pecans

Nail Polishs

Lip Sticks

Hand Lotions

Little photo album of me & Scott and our families

A package of receiving blankets

A little teething toy

We were told that our Orphanage ALWAYS returns the disposable cameras. I sure hope they do. I also taped Izabella's photo on all the items that were for her and nothing on the others. I also included a list of questions that Susan shared with me. Here are my pictures...

I stuffed it in a USPS Priority Flat Rate Box and it cost me about $37.00. I mailed it on a Friday and it arrived by Wednesday. Totally Worth it because I packed it full!!

Car Seat Installation

How to Install a Child Safety Seat That Won’t Budge

found this here and thought it was a great post!

(I meant to post this on my Giorgia Danette Blog but accidentally posted her...hey, it's travel related so I guess I'll leave it!)

Over the years, I’ve had a lot of experience putting child safety seats of one kind or another into our cars. Remember, if you can move the seat more than an inch side to side or toward the front of the car, it’s not tight enough. After struggling to get our seats secured countless times, I stumbled onto a simple trick that lets you get your car seat buckled in tight. Every time. And with minimal effort. Here’s how you do it…

Before we get started, I should say that we always secure our seats with the seat belt, not the LATCH system. I’m not saying that you should necessarily do it this way, just sharing how we do it.

Step 1: Place the child safety seat in the car and feed the seat belt through it.

Step 2: Attach the metal locking clip (below) that came with the safety seat to the car’s seat belt just a bit short of where you think it needs to go in order to succefully buckle the seat belt.

Step 3: Recline the seat (the car seat, not the child safety seat).

Step 4: Tilt the child safety seat back and apply a bit of pressure to it while you buckle the seat belt.

Step 5: Bring the car seat back upright. If you guesstimated properly in Step 2, your child safety seat will now be rock solid. If not, then go back to Step 2 and repeat. Once you get the hang of it, you’ll be able to install your seat in a flash.

Note that the usual approach of sitting or kneeling in/on the safety seat while trying to simultaneously buckle the seat belt can work. However, it’s a pain in the butt, and I’ve never been able to get the seat as tight as I can doing as outlined above.

Don’t believe me? Just try it. It’s works like a charm.

Mailing Care Packages

Hope just mailed her new little girl her Care Package through USPS. She used Priority International Flat Rate box and paid $37. (Hope is located on the east coast of the US and the package went to China) So, you know me, I had to go look up all the info. Here is what I found!

Also some great links below:

International Postage Price Calculator

New Flat Rate Boxes

Prices for the Flat Rate Boxes

This sounds like a really great deal. Thanks Hope!

-:¦:- Stephe -:¦:-

http://www.giorgiadanette.blogspot.com

Evelyn's Baby Med Packing List

Here's my list for Baby Meds Challenge:

What I Have:
Purell Hand Sanitizer
Butt Paste
Baby Vapor Rub
Baby Tylenol
Liquilytes Instant Mix
Water Babies Sunscreen
Mini Travel First Aid Kit (bandages different sizes)
Alcohol Swab wipes
Health Care Travel Kit (Thermometer, Nasal Aspirator, Med Dropper,
Nail Clipper, Med Spoon, travel case)
Rice Cereal (read somewhere good for rehydration)
Off Insect Repellent Wipes (family formula low deet)
Neosporin to Go individual packets
Benadryl Individual Packets( not sure I'll need these for baby)
Tissue
Cotton Swabs
Clorax Wipes
Antibacterial Wipes

To purchase still:
Humphrey's #3 Teething Pellets
Little noses saline spray
Aquaphor

As for prescription meds, I'm going to wait and possibly get Amoxicillan (unconstitued), and prescription eye drops. I may skip the prescription meds altogether, and let a local doctor prescribe any meds if baby is sick. I also here you can get free meds left at Jennifer' Place in Guanghzou.

Melissa's Baby Meds

Here is what I have so far:
Aquphor, orajel, Balmax, antibiotic ointment, Benadryl, Bulb aspirator, thermometer, band - aids and cleaning wipes, small scissors, Aveeno hydrocortizone cream, Tylenol, Moltrin, bug repellent, prunes, vicks rub, medicine syringe, and cool compress.

I need to buy:sunblock, lotrimin, ceralyte, mylicon drops, and prescription meds. For prescriptions I plan on taking an antibiotic, erythromycin for eye infections,and permethrin cream for scabies.

Jennifer K's baby meds

I can't remember if we were doing just baby meds this month or if it also included adult meds/toiletries. I only did the baby meds, so adult stuff will probably be next up for me.

Here's what I have so far (shown above):

• Aquaphor for eczema
• Little Noses saline drops
• Neosporin antibiotic ointment for cuts/scratches
• Benadryl
• Bulb aspirator
• A&D ointment
• Digital rectal thermometer
• KY jelly
• Adhesive bandages
• First aid tape
• Gauze
• Alcohol wipes (not shown - I had included these with a previous challenge)
• Aveeno hydrocortizone cream for eczema or itching due to scabies
• T-gel shampooo for cradle cap -- do I need this?
• Baby Tylenol
• Baby Motrin
• L'Occitane lavender wipes (repel bugs - not shown, think I included with the backpack challenge)

Still needed:

• Echinacea
• Pediatric electrolyte powder
• Baby sunscreen
• Small scissors

I also talked to our pediatrician about prescriptions and have decided to bring just Elimite, which we'll get closer to travel.

It feels really good to be getting some of this stuff done in advance. I'm starting to feel a little overwhelmed by everything that needs to be done ... and we don't even have our referral yet!

Luggage Charge

Luggage Charge Effective Monday for Most Airlines If you have a flight out Monday, May 5, and want to check two bags, be prepared to pay $25 for that second checked bag. Most airlines are implementing the new charges: United, US Airways, Delta, Northwest, Continental, Air Canada. American will begin charging $25 for the second checked bag on May 12. AirTran will charge $10 for the second checked bag beginning Thursday, May 15."

-:¦:- Stephe -:¦:-

http://www.giorgiadanette.blogspot.com