I should be trying to get some sleep, because I am upside down on my sleep. It is around 7:00 am in Moscow and my body certainly thinks it has missed out on some serious sleep. I made a promise to myself that I would at least take a shower and get out of my Russia clothes! :) Well, let me clarify...I did get out of my Russia clothes today. Just didn't have time for anything else. There is no rest here in this house!!!

SO.....while it was fresh on my brain...there are a few things that were MUST haves for me that you might no think about taking when you travel. Magellan's online travel store became my best friend. If you are flying coach, things are a little tight in the spaces. If you are flying First Class...well, I wished I were you. But, since I am not...we will stick to coach :) B and I are tall people and god forbid when someone leans their chair back...there is nothing like having someones chair in your lap for 10 hours. BACK OFF! :) (just kidding)

Anyway, I bought a couple of comfort items that looked like they might be ok for the flight. They turned out great!. Magellan's had a Comfort Lumbar Pillow. It is great for your lower back. I also bought this thing called a Foot Exercise Cushion. You might be saying "FOR WHAT?" I will get to that in a minute. The best thing that I did was buy ballerina shoes. Again, WHAT??? I will explain :) I was told by my doctor that I had to wear those ugly embolism socks...the ones that you wear when you have surgery. Well, no one noticed, because they look like white hose. I had to wear them because of my recent surgery and since it was such a long flight, there was a concern of blood clots. That is a concern for anyone really, but, especially for someone right after surgery. I didn't say that to scare you. It is not something that often happens. Just means that you need to get up and walk around. So, let me go back to that Foot Exercise Cushion. When you take your shoes off, it pushes the air back and forth and lets you exercise your legs which give you circulation. It actually felt good to my feet and my lower calfs.

Now, since most of you will be flying will not have had surgery, you can still get these socks that are a lot nicer and prettier from Magellan's The biggest reason was for me, I didn't get any swelling whatsoever in my legs. I heard so many people (women in particular) complain about their feet and legs swelling on the plane. These socks helped so much with that. The cushion was another factor in helping out with the non-swelling.

What's up with the ballet slippers? I found some online that looked like regular shoes. If you are on your 1st trip to Russia, you will want to do everything to just have 2 bags that fit as carry on. So, what I did was wear my boots to the airport, and right before I got on the plane, I put my boots in my handy-dandy shoe bags and pulled out my ballet shoes (which can easily fit in a purse or backpack) and wore them on the plane. I switched out shoes when we landed. The ballet slippers (not the ones with the pointed toes) were black so you can wear them if you were to stay with a host family, or go to the orphanage, or restaurant, etc. Because, you will see that when you go to the orphanage, you have to take off your shoes before you can go in to meet your child. Or, when you go into almost any Russian home, you have to take off your shoes. So, those shoes are nice. No one knew that they were ballet slippers. Besides, they felt awesome!!!

I bought one of those neck pillows that were foam instead of those ones that have little beads. Much more comfortable. Forget about those ear plugs, bought them...they fell out and never worked.

Other things for the plane. Since it is such a long flight and you feel all grimy. Buy some of those disposable baby washcloths at the grocery store. Huggies and Johnson and Johnson have them. I am sure there are other brand names. But, you can wash your face and throw them away. Speaking about throwing them away....buy the baby disposable toilet wipes. Huggies makes them too. Not only are they nice for the plane...but, I will get into a why you want them in Russia, especially if you go anywhere besides your hotel or a public restaurant :) It is a must have!!! Lets put it this way....the Charmin toilet seat covers were not needed on their toilets, because there was no toilet!. It was a big hole in the ground. I am not pretensious or anything like that. But, let me tell you what....to have to squat in a public restroom at Red Square into a silver bowl or hole in the ground and PAY FOR IT, lets just say that I am not used to that.

I have a lot more little things that you might forget to pack lists.....they may be random...so, forgive me. But, this is the first, because this is the travel part that helped me out a lot. Being so crammed in a small spot was not too fun. But, I did sleep, believe it or not.

I have lots more to remind you to pack :) Like FEBREZE!!! But, again...that is another blog. Just a little hint on the febreze.....everything, everywhere smells like smoke. So, if you don't want to smell like that, then buy febreze. Just put it in one of your ziploc bags and off you go.

Talk to you more about that.....Night night everyone!!