Then there was my new Singer feather-weight sewing machine that I had been afraid to trust to Railroad Express (with no furniture we were ineligible for more genteel movers). A frantic call to the airlines revealed that we were each entitled to hang up a suit carrier as well as bring a carry-on and two pieces of checked luggage. Since it was a domestic flight there was no weight limit. I am not sure the crew was fooled as I boarded trying to lightly swing my portable sewing machine at my side as though it were a make-up kit. When Ron nonchalantly threw his "suit carrier" full of shoes over his shoulder, it nearly carried him backward down the ladder to the tarmac. My Uncle Whit, an air force pilot and veteran mover, shook his head watching us go. "They'll learn," he said. "They'll learn."

And indeed we did. One thing I know after twenty-seven years and fourteen moves is that no two are alike. Once you have figured out the right proportion of diapers and Gerber's to keep an infant quiet on a transatlantic trip, you will find yourself traveling with a toddler or worse yet, a sullen adolescent. But here are some ideas that work for me.

Pack out earlier rather than later. Borrowing is easier when you know your neighbors than it will be at your new post. You will be able to spend time with your friends at the last minute instead of wrangling with movers. Plus the longer you wait for your effects at the new post, the longer you will take to get settled.

Ever since that first experience I have done my packing in reverse order. Before the movers come, I pack my accompanying suitcases right down to the cosmetics and make sure they will close completely, then I move them into a bathroom or some other place I can lock away from the movers.

Next I pick a room, usually a den or guest room with a spare bed or couch, where I can pile my air-freight. For those people who are organized (I mean the ones who alphabetize their canned goods) I suggest arranging air-freight so that the "must-go" items will be packed first and the "maybe we can live without it" will be last. That way you can remove the latter more easily if you are overweight.

Things I always include in the air-freight besides basic housekeeping supplies are: a small tool kit; clothes for the season in which you expect to receive your surface freight and clothes for the season after that (when your shipment ends up on another continent and you are stuck with summer dresses and everyone else is into fall); office supplies (your first week in a new country, you won't feel like figuring out what a rubber band or paper clip is called, much less where to find one); some gift wrap supplies; some hostess gifts (i.e., notecards) for any welcome parties you may attend (put a wall calendar in accompanying luggage to keep up with social events); all your spices (don't throw them out because they are old; rest assured the ones in the commissary will be older) well-sealed in a Tupperware container (also non-liquid baking supplies like nuts and raisins if they will be difficult or expensive to obtain at the next post); recipe files and a couple of basic cookbooks; plastic wrap; aluminum foil; first aid kit; sewing kit; supplies or equipment for any kind of hobby that might keep you sane while waiting for your effects; lots of letter-writing supplies; several novels; and for kids: school supplies, games, sports equipment, gifts for birthday parties.

Insist that the air-freight be packed and weighed first. (Finding out that you are overweight after your household effects have already been shipped will cost you money.) Now then, everything that is left goes into the surface shipment. See how easy it is?

Oh, don't be surprised if all that careful planning goes for naught. At our last post our surface effects arrived four months after we did, and our air-freight arrived the day after that.

I began this letter in Managua and finished it in Buenos Aires, so the information comes from recent experience.

To Catherine Sell: the tip on carrying duct tape is a great idea. [Readers: see Autumn 1993 issue.] And as for having our excess baggage eliminated, imagine our frustration at leaving post with an excess baggage allowance, arriving in Washington for physicals en route to home leave and reassignment abroad (transiting four seasons along the way) and being told the third suitcase we each had carried would now be at our own expense. Solution? Bigger suitcases.

©1994 Wesley Ann Godard. All Rights Reserved.