Things to take with you when moving to NZ

Or anywhere far far away, actually.

What? me? project due today? However could you tell?

If I got to pack all over again, what would I bring?

Well, starting out with clothes, because they're practical, and far less likely to get you lectured at customs, I would bring-

• Wifebeaters! comfy, good for sleeping, eating (in, eating *in*), cooking, laundry, riding bike, under lab coat, or those days it's just too much effort to put on real clothes.
• dickies, levis or wranglers, or any other type of trouser-y thing that's cheap at home, since they're all in the $100+ range here, and the size selection sucks.
• More jeans than I brought. If you're an odd size too, you might wanna bring more than three pair slightly to very worn jeans. And then *don't* cut one pair off at the knees.
  
• Warm clothes. I don't know if I've covered this enough yet, but.. it gets freaking freezing here, and damp, and windy. Bring sweaters. And coats. And tights. And extra long sox.
• A decent outfit for going out in. i didn't bring one, so had to spend a pile of dollars on something that'd cost about $40 at home.

And now for the fun of - food!!!!!!!!!!!!

• Ranch dressing packets. The cheap ones, small, compact, light, useful, you can never have too many
• Kraft mac and cheese- even just the cheese packets, which I think you can buy from somewhere, but I don't know where- mac and cheese here tastes funny. But not like clowns
• Doritos.
  
• French onion mix. they have regular onion mix here, but not french- how do you make onion dip without french onion mix?.
• SF sourdough starter. For that yummy flavor you can't get anywhere else.
• Chipotles in adobo. Not available. I looked. And looked. And checked on line.
• a couple cans of black beans

Also much lusted after (by me) is a tortilla press. Tortillas only come in flour here, and usually flavored, so no fun for other stuff. And at 5 bucks a bag/ box (for taco shells) it's cheaper and easier, and fun, too, to make your own.

Oh, yeah, and common sense stuff-

• Books- $6 smutty books are $17-30 here. I went into the bookstore, spent $39 (with 10% student discount) and walked out with two (2) paperbacks.
• Music
• flash drive
• SD or other memory cards (soooooo expensive here)
• camera!
• US postage, in big and small chunks- you can mail letters/ post cards from US embasies/ consulates if you have US postage. At domestic rates.
• A pda, if you use one- the accessories are easier to get at home, and the toy, I mean tool, itself is cheaper- even factoring in the exchange rate.
• More Money!
• A bottle or two of that woolite for dark clothes if, like me, your wardrobe is mostly black (now a rather faded icky gray).
  

Ok, now that you've got a pile of stuff too big to bring, and no socks or underwear, I'm off to play on my project.

j.