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Dear Readers:
The following tips were sent to me by parents
traveling in Kazakhstan. Though there are some things particular to the
Petrovalavsk region, most are general enough for all travelers. Some are
a bit comical but all are helpful.
1. Before you leave, call your credit card
company(ies) and let them know you'll soon be traveling to central Asia
(the exact dates if you can) so that they won't suddenly see an aberrant
pattern in your credit card use and freeze your credit cards. We did this,
and the credit card staff seemed very glad we notified them (they acted
as if they absolutely would have frozen our accounts if they had suddenly
seen charges popping up in central Asia).
2. Learn how to make your camera put the date
on the actual photo as you'll need that for court - if you can't figure
it out, they can do it here for a little more money, but it's less hassle
just to figure out your own camera in this regard. Bring the user manual
for your camera just in case, unless you know all this stuff already.
3. Waterproof your boots with some hiking/camping/silicone/etc
type spray if you're coming in the fall or spring, as the melting ice gets
really messy and muddy, hard to avoid the puddles.
4. In cold weather times, women can bring
a very nice winter coat, as every woman here dresses to the hilt in the
winter, virtually every woman has a fur trimmed coat, fancy hat, high heeled
knee high leather boots (Though high heels would be fashionable, it'd be
uncomfortable as lots of walking is done here). Ideally the walking shoes
for visiting women coming here would be waterproof yet comfortable/fashionable.
Don't panic on the fashionable part, though, because we both wore hiking
boots most of the time and didn't feel stared at all. Just don't intentionally
bring your worn out clothes thinking they'll get messed up anyway.
5. Other warm winter wear: a scarf is great
for men and women and very commonly worn here (it's COLD outside!!!) -
long underwear isn't a bad idea (my wife wore hers, but I never wore mine,
even though I'm more cold natured than she is - hairy legs must've helped).
6. AIRPORT WARNING: For carry-on luggage you're
not "checking," the security people will confiscate all your
liquid containers that ORIGINALLY held over something like 3 ounces (call
your local airport to find out their limit, and of course put all sharp
things in your checked luggage) - , even if you've almost emptied the bottle
such that only 1 ounce remains, they'll still confiscate it. That includes
toothpaste! so you can pack it in the luggage you'll check, but NOT on
carry-on luggage. So buy some little travel sized toiletries/shaving cream/etc
or transfer some into a tiny bottle that is labeled as holding less than
the required number of fluid ounces.
7. PREP FOR AIRPLANE PRESSURE CHANGES - this
is probably obvious but bears mentioning - because any air that is in the
bottles you're brining (shampoo, hand cream, whatever) will EXPAND at high
altitude (even in the somewhat "pressurized" passenger area),
you need to do the following: at home when packing everything, open each
bottle and squeeze most of the air out of each bottle and recap it while
squeezing, thus there won't be much air left in there to expand, and it'll
just expand back to normal size rather than explode all over your suitcase.
But do pack all such items in a zip lock (also with most of the air squeezed
out, just to be safe. Realize that strong containers, like glass perfume/cologne
bottles with strong tops (screw on tops or permanent tops) most likely
can withstand the air in them trying to expand - you can't get the air
out of them anyway, but if in doubt, zip lock it!!).
8. The men dress in dark shades for their
coat and their pants, and often have a leather jacket on, but any dark
winter jacket is fine. A number of people here dress in plain old blue
jeans and tennis shoes (men only for tennis shoes) - many women wear jeans,
just very tight and fashionable.
9. Bottled water is everywhere, don't bother
bringing water purification systems (we did and it was a total waste of
space).
10. If you've left any kids back in the States
old enough to talk with you on the phone (ours are age 6 and 8), consider
the following thought regarding how often you want to call them while you're
away from them: We realize every parent will have to decide this
for themselves, but we had been calling our kids every day, and often the
calls seemed to make the kids miss us more than if we'd not called and
reminded them how much they missed us! An experienced adoptive mom
and close friend emailed us her advice to consider switching over to just
calling our kids every 2 or 3 days, which is what she did when she did
her international adoption - So we took her advice and are glad we did
- it's been a little harder on us, but it's been a good change for our
kids. We think it's making the trip go by quicker for them and with
less tears.
Also, we found that calling them around their
bedtime was a bad arrangement - it upset the bedtime routine and caught
then when they were already worn out and had nothing to do after the call
but think how much they missed us while trying to get to sleep - many tears!.
A much better time to call was right after breakfast, because they
are more up-beat, and if they get a little sad, they quickly forget it
because the events of the day help fill the void.
11. Bring slippers - you have to wear them
in the orphanage (or buy some here)
12. Please schedule an appointment with your
doctor to talk. You'll want your doctor to advise you about vaccines you'll
need, possible help with sleep to overcome the time change and jetlag,
and to give you antibiotics you can carry with you in case of traveler's
diarrhea.
13. Pack some basic recipes for cooking stuff
from scratch if you'll have a stove/oven where you're staying.
14. A little portable "USB memory stick"
was invaluable for us in transferring photos for transport to the printing
shop here, so that we could pick and choose which to print and when, and
mix and match things (anyone with a clue about computer can help you get
the right one) - hauling your camera to the photo store every day would
be a thrash - it's much easier to use a USB memory stick. Of course, that
means you need to bring a laptop too, which you'll want anyway for downloading
your photos to it (and videos, if your camera will take them).
15. It's REALLY nice to be able to check your
email from the comfort of your apartment, but that means you'll need to
be able to use "dial up," - there's no wireless in Petropavlovsk
that you can use (although the internet cafe, if you're close enough to
walk to it, does have high speed internet you can use). IMPORTANT- since
many new computers don't come with a "dial-up modem," you may
need to buy an external one - they are tiny, they plug into your USB port,
and cost under $50. It is an essential piece of equipment here!!! You may
need to be sure you know how to set your computer up to actually use the
dial up service - ask a computer-savvy friend if needed, we're sure glad
we did, as it is a little tricky if you haven't done it in a while.
16. Bring stuff to do in the down time, as
there is lots of down time, especially once your 14 day visitation period
is over and you're sitting around waiting for your court date.
If any one else out there has some good hints
for future families please pass them on. JAN
