Au pair life: What to pack?

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My previous post about 10 things you should know about being an Au pair, was such a success that I decided I will put up an Au pair related post every week. Someone left a comment on Facebook if I could write a post about what to pack, so here we go!

I would say, bring as less as possible! I mean you're going to stay for a whole year, so you will probably buy a lot of stuff anyway, and you need to bring everything back with you. I'm actually a bad example of this, as you can see in the picture above, and even let my mom send me a box with stuff that didn't fit in my suitcase.

Also don't bring to many shoes! You will buy more here and you're probably not going to wear all of them. In fact, when I went home to visit my family after being here for 10 months, I took a few pairs of shoes back with me, because I wasn't wearing them anyway. But what should you pack, I will put a list below with things I think you really need, if there is anything I forget, feel free to leave it in the comments.

Au Pair Packlist:
Hand luggage 
- All your Au Pair papers (visa, hotel information, flight information, phone number from the agency)
- Passport (visa)
- Money in the right currency, creditcard
- Laptop/Tablet and charger
- Book/E-reader
- Music
- Earplugs
- Sleep mask
- Camera
- Pen
- Notebook (with phone numbers from home, flight numbers, check in times, hotel address, etc.)
- Pillow
- Phone + Charger
- Basic make up
- Sunglasses

Suitcase
- Basic shirts/tops
- Basic Jeans
- 2/3 pairs of shoes (that you can use anywhere, so maybe no high heels)
- Jacket
- World plugs
- 1 swimsuit
- 1 pyjama
- Handbag
- Underwear
- Socks
- Cardigans (so you can work in layers, depending on where you go)
- If you want to apply for university back home while you're still here bring the papers from you high school etc. so it is easier to do.

Toiletries
- Tooth brush + mini tooth paste
- Mini shampoo + conditioner
- Hairbrush
- Deodorant
- Mini shower gel
- Mini body lotion/moisturizer

Personal
- Pictures of your family
- Addresses
- Going away presents
- Candy from your country

I think this pretty much covers the basics, I don't recommend bringing hairdryers/curlers/straighteners because, at least if you compare the US and Europe, the voltage is different, so it won't work properly here anyway, and you can buy cheap new ones. Also make up, bring the basic stuff, because you will probably buy more when you get here anyway. I think that personally, I have 10 times more make up now then when I came here, but that's probably a little bit extreme haha! Maybe I should do a post about all the make up I bought since I got here.

The main thing clothing wise is to bring mostly basics and things you can layer, so you can wear it in any type of weather. You want it to take as less space as possible, for toiletries just bring the travel packs, because you will need to buy it here anyway and it saves you a lot of weight. Off course the personal things are different for everyone, that's why you should try to have your clothing take as less space as possible, so you can bring the stuff that really means something to you and you can't buy new here.

And last, but not least, you will not miss your stuff at home as much as you think you will. You saw the picture of the stuff I packed when I came here, most of it I didn't even use. And the things at home that I couldn't bring I don't even miss now I'm here. I have moved to three different countries in the past 4 years and every time I was surprised how I did not miss my things back home, so try to keep that in mind.

I hope this helped the future Au pairs that might read this. Current Au pairs, if there is anything I left out, please leave it behind in the comments below.

What do you want me to talk about next week?

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