Two Fat Expats

It all began with this post. I have a little list in my phone, it gets added to throughout the year when I think of something I’m missing from home, or perhaps after I’ve exhausted the local stores in Doha looking for something I just know I could find easily in a department store in Australia.

This week on Two Fat Expats we’re asking “what’s on your list?”. What do you take back to your expat location from home? We’ve also put together a little list of things you may want to think about packing for your expat adventure.

There was one particular item that featured regularly. Tampons. Yes, it appears we have a lot of tampons in transit. Other personal items were:

Bras, both sports and daily wear.

Underwear

Pain relief (Nurafen was a popular choice)

Tinted moisturiser may be harder to find in a country where the shelves are packed with whitening lotion.

Dry Shampoo

Shaving Gel

Ziplock bags

Cling Wrap

Sunscreen

Your preferred toothpaste and deoderant

Calendars (with your holidays from home)

Neosporin

Many of you mentioned the patriotic paraphernalia that is required for International Days and sporting events – don’t forget to take back your yearly supply of patriotic flags, tea towels, flags and tattoos.

Our American friends talked of packing Cheerios, Mac N Cheese, Tex Mex accompaniments, Dryer Sheets and patriotic paraphernalia.

The Aussies were keen to come home with vanilla extract, Lucas Paw Paw ointment, passionfruit pulp (it’s all about the pavlova), Violet Crumbles, Cherry Ripes, Freddos, Caramello Koalas, liquorice bullets and Bonds Underwear.

Canadians were keen for Wax Paper, SOS scrubbing pads, Graham Crackers, Crisco, Pie Filling, Turkey Stuffing bags (can someone please explain what these are in the comments), Schreddies, MAC Cosmetics, and the entire contents of Costco and Superstore.

For the English it was all about the Marmite, Tea, Cadbury chocolate and Marmalade.

The Dutch are bringing back liquorice, cheese, light brown sugar, dutch cookies and snacks.

The Scots are packing white puddings, butteries, stock pots, coffee pods, dog chews and cough and cold medicines.

Some of the random things that had us laughing were the chainsaw and rifle, outdoor shower, ashes of a relative or pet, an ice-cream machine, a suitcase full of tinned tuna, a lava lamp, car horn and a cat in the cabin.

Sarah’s Movie Pick: The Water Diviner. Beautifully shot film directed by Russell Crowe. Set during WW1. A father of 3 travels to Gallipoli to try and find his 3 missing sons who were fighting in the war. It’s also a favourite of Kirsty’s as it was shot just minutes from her beach house (and Rusty stopped in for a seafood pie at the local fish and chippy).

Kirsty’s favourite thing on the internet this week was the video of the woman giving birth to the 10 pound baby in the car. How amazing was she?! The conversation between them?!
Husband: “would you like to pull your pants down?”

She deserved some sort of award for her composure. Take a look.

Sarah’s Social Media Pick: Last week it was about Donald Trump and cats, this week it’s all about a toddler and a bulldog. Mum and Photographer Jesse Holland has spend the past year working on a creative project that stars her toddler daughter and their pet dog. Titled “Handfuls of Trouble” the project is a series of side-by-side pictures of the toddler and the French bulldog. They are posed with the same props against the same backdrops allowing for a hilarious comparison. You can see it here

We both wanted to say thank you for all of your support, reviews and ratings this year. We’ve loved making Two Fat Expats and can’t wait to come back in September for Season 2. Apologies for the sound on this one, it was recording in a few different rooms and was a nightmare to edit – I promise we’ll be back to normal in September!

Safe travels and we’ll speak to you soon,

Kirsty and Sarah xxx

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS