Moving Overseas to the Congo: How We Managed 18 Suitcases
Moving overseas with a young family is no small feat. We recently packed up our lives in Virginia and headed to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with two little ones. For months, we strategized, packed, and re-packed, yet somehow, on the morning of our departure, we found ourselves scrambling to buy *two* last-minute suitcases (thank you Target delivery for $9.99). For a visual of our packing planning, read this post here.
If you’re wondering if this was stressful to be packing and adding luggage the day of our flight, yes it is. I had a mini meltdown and laid on the floor and cried, “Why are we doing this? I cannot do this. I don’t want to do this!” After I pulled myself together, we came up with a plan of how to get 18 pieces of luggage, 2 children, 2 adults, 1 stroller and two carseats to the airport. It involved not one, but two Uber XLs and might I add, I was quite proud that we were even able to fit all of us and our stuff in *just* 2 cars.
Charlie lounging on our luggage, not a care in the world
After we checked in at the airport and said goodbye to our bags, I felt a lot of relief and a lot of dread. The start of our very long travel day was just beginning. Our journey had three parts: a transatlantic flight from Washington D.C. to Paris, then from Paris to Brazzaville, and finally, an ultra-short flight into the DRC.
Washington, D.C. to Paris: For this first leg, we were optimistic. Our big kid, C, settled in with his tablet and then fell asleep soundly. Baby D, on the other hand, had other ideas. He decided that a red-eye flight was prime time for zero sleep. Instead, he giggled, screamed, wiggled, babbled, cried, and decided that his longest sleep would be just 45 minutes. In order to even fall asleep, he had to be held perfectly still in my arms and would wake at the slightly sound or movement.
Paris Layover: By the time we landed in Paris, we were all exhausted and bleary eyed. We only had time to walk to our gate and arrive just as it was boarding. As we stood in line on our flight to the Congo, I questioned why we were doing this move and wondered, rightly so, if I should hop on the first flight back to the states.
Paris to Brazzaville: This leg of the journey was more of the same. Big kid C playing on his tablet, snoozing when he was tired. And baby D refusing to sleep and only wanting to be held. At one point, I left baby D and ran to the bathroom and heard him screaming 20 rows away through the bathroom walls. Sorry to the rest of the plane.
Baby D and I were recovering from a head cold, and he essentially nursed on and off for 20 hours. I can attest that breastfeeding is not supposed to happen for this long and you can imagine the damage this does to one’s nipples. I also accidentally and in a delirious stupor, walked to the bathroom with my nipple completely out of my shirt. Don’t worry it was right after the lights were turned on and everyone was waking up for meal time *awkward.*
Brazzaville to Kinshasa: Our final flight from Brazzaville to Congo was almost surreal—it lasted all of *eight minutes.* After hours upon hours of travel, it was both amusing and somewhat annoying to have to take an 8 minute flight across the Congo River. Is this the shortest flight in the world? It sure felt like it.
After a total of around 26 hours of travel, 18 pieces of luggage, and two young kids in tow, we finally arrived in Kinshasa. As the plane touched down, we exhaled, knowing that the hardest part of traveling was behind us (or was it?! Foreshadowing!)
Moving Overseas: Final Reflections
For anyone planning a move like ours, here are a few takeaways for long overseas flights with young kids:
- Don’t do it! Just kidding, sort of. But really, the travel is tough and I’m not sure I want to do that long flight again. Guess I’m staying in the Congo forever. 11 months old is a really hard age to travel with babies, they are wiggly and sleep is challenging.
- Bring so many snacks. And then pack even more snacks.
- Overpacking is ok. I used to be a proud light packer, this was not the type of trip to do that. While I don’t recommend traveling with 18 pieces of luggage, I absolutely knew that we wouldn’t regret bringing as much stuff as we could.
- Try to minimize layovers. I can see the value in both a long layover and a short layover. For us, we scheduled our Paris layover at just 1.5 hours as we knew we’d be tired and would just want to get the travel part done. While a longer layover in Paris could have been nice to explore the city or relax in a lounge, our kids are not at the age where that would be enjoyable.
Stay tuned for more adventures and a peek into our daily life as an American family living in the DRC.
