What I am Taking to Argentina
My family is going to Buenos Aires, Argentina for six months. We leave at the beginning of June and come back the middle of December. Up until now I've been wrapping up my DIY projects and prepping my house for another family to stay in it for six months. I'm finally at the point where I can start packing. I started by throwing everything I knew that I wanted to bring on the guest bed on the third floor. It's a lot so I will do an extra post on that. So I'm going to do a separate post on packing, suitcases and all of that. Today I want to talk about the stuff that I'm actually taking. Obviously this is not going to be an extensive list, but I want to talk about some important things and why I'm taking them.
What I am Taking to Argentina | Adult Must Haves
Waterproof Phone Case
First up, I have these casemate floating waterproof lanyard pieces. Yes, I know we're going to Buenos Aires. However, while we're there, we want to explore as much of South America as we can because this is our first time going. I'm the traveler in the family, I've been all over the world, but this is still my first time going to South America. So it's a new experience for the whole family! The reason I got these is because when we went to Tulum, Mexico in 2022, we went to this place called Sian Ka'an, which is a bio reserve south of Tulum. It is a natural lazy river and because I didn't have anything like this, I don't have any pictures of that experience so this time I want to make sure we are able to capture all of the new experiences.
Adventure Bags
The next thing is we are taking are these bags from Canvel. We have their backpack and extra large sling bag. I love these because they are washable, the insides are waterproof, and they have so many freaking pockets. I took the backpack to Mexico and a matching smaller sling that I took to Mexico, but it just wasn't big enough so that's why I got this extra large one pretty soon after that. I've used it since then and I love it so I know that these will be great for our adventures, not as my every day bag in the city, but our actual adventures.
What I am Taking to Argentina | Kid Must Haves
Bed Tent
First up is the bed tent. My seven year old is autistic and she likes sleeping in an enclosed space. She does fine on an overnight or two without it, but long term she does better if she has an enclosed area, that's why I built her the house bed. We took this bed tent when we went to Mexico and it was a huge hit so this is going to be really helpful for her especially because the kids are sharing a bedroom and she doesn't share rooms very well. I will say, once you set up the tent you don't want to take it down, though. I tried to find a pop up tent that we could use instead but any I found took up way too much room in a suitcase. So, we're sticking with this one.
Car Seats
The next thing is our car/booster seats. We're going to be using a lot of public transit when we're there and I didn't want to have to take big giant car seats. I wanted a booster seat for Jackie and a car seat for the baby that would work. For Jackie, we used the Mifold Highback Booster when we went to Mexico and it was great, especially then, because she really wasn't used to sitting in a car seat that didn't have a 5 point harness on it so this was a great way to transition her. Now that she can just use a booster, I got the Mifold Booster Seat. This thing is so, so cool. You actually can't get it on their website. I had to buy it from somebody else on Poshmark, but it was still in the box/brand new. I checked the manufacturing date, which was 2021, which means I still have plenty of time to use it before the seven year expiration mark. I love that it's so compact and will fit in her carry on so that she can get in a vehicle and be safe as soon as we land.
For the baby's car seat we got the Wayb Pico car seat. It's only eight pounds and is absolutely fantastic. I'm going to show you what it looks like all set up. So this is what it looks like just all compact and super easy to set up. It's suggested that you use it over the age of one and over 30 pounds, which my son meets the criteria for. At home I would rather leave him rear facing, but we are going somewhere where they don't have giant cars like we do here because they utilize their rail services so I'd rather take this than another car seat option that is going to be giant and bulky and really hard to carry around.
Toys
We are definitely taking Squiggles. If you aren't familiar with these, they suction to each other as well as to walls and windows. These will be amazing for the airplane, but will also be great for our apartment in Buenos Aires. We have the little tiny ones as well as the bigger set that the baby got for his birthday. I know they will be great sources of entertainment.
We're also taking magnetic tiles. My in laws got the kids a magnet tile storage box that also unfolds and becomes a mat. We have a lot of these so my plan is whatever magnet tiles we can fit in the storage box are going to go. Another family member got the kids a ball run set that integrates with the magnet tiles, so we're going take all of that with us too. I'm a little nervous about checking a bag with magnet tiles in it because it might freak security out so I'm planning to pack JUST them and a few other toys in a bag by themselves.
Stroller
We are also taking our UppaBaby stroller. I know that there are tons of other smaller/more compact strollers and if we were only going for a couple of weeks, I'd probably get something that's more compact. However, I love our Uppababy stroller. We've had it since my daughter was born. I got it the Black Friday before she was born and I love it. It has amazing storage, drives so nicely and, the utility of it, and is super comfortable. My son loves being in a stroller and loves a walk so I want to give him that comfort in the stroller that he already loves.
So that kind of wraps it up! Like I said, I will do a complete separate post about packing, packing tips, and how I'm going to get everything there so stay tuned for that!
