Senderovitz's Vietnam Travel Packing List
The Senderovitz's share their packing list and suggestions for travel to Vietnam.
We traveled to Hoa Binh (near Hanoi) in October of 1999 to adopt our daughter, Molly.
This list does not contain items for ourselves (such as clothes, shoes, books, sunglasses, toiletry and all the usual stuff you bring when travelling). It is solely for things associated with Molly. All I want to say is that we travelled very light ourselves to leave room for gifts for the orphanage and to make sure we had plenty of room for stuff we would buy in Vietnam. As it turned out that was great, because we bought quite a lot of Vietnamese clothes for Molly (and some for ourselves) and various othersouvenirs.
The only thing we forgot or didn't think of to bring was a pair of tongs which we could have used for "fishing" out the sterilized bottles from the big electric kettle in the hotel room. As it was, we used two forks (not being used to chop sticks, we'd brought a set of knives and forks!) and I ended up burning my hands more than once...
PACKING LIST:
Passport photos, 4 each (didn't use)
List of useful telephone/fax numbers and e-mail addresses (e-mail
addresses very useful - we mostly used e-mail to communicate home)
Photocopies of all important adoption papers, wedding certificate, birth
certificate etc. (brought it just in case, but didn't use).
Visa (plus photocopies of visa, just in case)
Vaccination/immunization certificates (didn't use)
Various medicines (antibiotics, disposable sterilized syringes, anti-diohrrea
medicine etc.) (Didn't use any of it. As a precaution we took yoghurt tablets
every day - apart from that we did not need or take anything.)
Mosquito repellant - bought some containing DET on the way out in Singapore. (Didn't use - there was no need.)
Travel guides.
Small bowl/children's spoon (didn't use - Molly was too young).
Bottles - (We had six, which was just right.)
Swiss Army knife
Camera, spare battery for camera, six rolls of film (used all, bought
one more)
Video camera, battery recharger etc. Three 45 min. films (bought
one more)
Diapers - very necessary! Although it is possible to buy Pampers
in Hanoi, the quality is very poor. At least, make sure to have enough for
the flight home...
Baby wipes
Baby lotion
Bin bags for disposable diapers
Soothers
A few small toys
Baby nail clippers
Formula. (Nice to have for the first couple of days - but easy to
buy in Hanoi. You can buy Nestle products everywhere.)
Thin changing mat (quite useful).
Baby carrier (Not necessary, but used it as a bed for Molly although
the hotel supplied a baby cot. But she preferred the baby carrier.)
Baby harness (an absolute godsend!)
Some clothes for Molly. (Most of what we brought was too big...
quite easy to find in Hanoi, and very cheap! Small t-shirts and shorts were
best, as it was very hot. But make sure to have something warm for the flight
home.)
Socks, underwear (used very little).
Hat (used some despite the heat; the Vietnamese like children to
wear hats).
Bibs
Small cardigan
Baby gros/sleeping suits (too warm in Vietnam, but practical on the
way home).
Instant coffee
Diary (a very good idea!)
Gifts for the orphanage, the caretaker, the interpreter
Gift wrapping paper
Small blanket and pillow (useful).
You can meet the Senderovitz's daughter, Molly, in the FCV Photo Gallery.
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