Carry-on Checklist

Here’s a checklist of all the things that should go into your carry-on bags:

• Your adoption paperwork and all supporting documents. It’s also a good idea to include photocopies of all these documents. Remember: NEVER give your child’s original legal documents to anyone. These documents are irreplaceable!
• Medicines (both prescription and over-the-counter), including remedies for colds, upset stomachs, headaches, and diarrhea
• Your passport (and a photocopy of the photo page of your passport, in case it gets lost or stolen)
• Money
• A complete change of clothes for everyone. Yes, this will take up some room in your carry-on bags but you will be very glad you have clean clothes in the event that your checked luggage gets lost! When we traveled to bring our son home, the airline lost all of our luggage – everything was gone for three days – and we had not had the foresight to pack clean clothes in our carry-on. We got some very odd looks when we kept showing up for breakfast wearing the same not-so-fresh clothes!
• Toys to amuse your child on that long, LONG plane trip
• Formula and diapers for infants
• Snacks, because the airline food service may not be everything you’d wish for. Before we left home, we bought – and froze – a box of ready made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. On the day we left for Thailand, we threw the frozen sandwiches in our carry-on bags. The sandwiches were nice and fresh for the entire trip.

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Make sure your child has something to chew or suck on (depending on his age) to help make the changing pressure of take-offs and landings more bearable. And of course, make sure all your medication is in your carry-on baggage – never put medicine in checked baggage.

Credits: Excerpted from "International Adoption Guidebook," Mary M. Strickert