You’re moving to Mexico. What do you need to bring with you?
My husband and I moved here with our dog and we brought roughly 3 large suitcases and 2 carry-ons. We flew here because we didn’t want to be burdened with a car while we lived here. Honestly, we didn’t need half of what we brought with us.
We packed our medication and made sure we had enough to get by for about 6 weeks. It turns out that getting medication here is pretty easy. But in case it wasn’t, I had 6 weeks to figure it out.
I brought some kitchen things because I was thinking it would be difficult to find certain things here…but it wasn’t difficult at all. Of course they have hand juicers, garlic presses and potato mashers here, why wouldn’t they? I am glad I brought some sheets and extra pillow cases, although I learned that Costco sells nice ones. They are a little pricy but they are available.
I brought a bunch of office supplies since we were going to be running our rental business down here. I’m a notebook and pen fanatic…but alas, there are several Office Depots here in PV and they carry everything you would need.
I wear glasses so I brought a back up pair – just in case. But it’s easy enough to get a new pair here (and likely for half the cost).
Of course, the thing we brought the most of were clothes and shoes. Now, mind you, I am not a person that owns a lot of either, but I was afraid that I would need certain items. Turns out, I wear the same 10 items over and over and practically live in my flip flops and Sketchers (on this note, bring comfortable shoes, you will need these more than you realize). Likely you, too, will live in tank tops, shorts and dresses. Once you are here for a bit, you’ll wear more pants and long sleeved items, so bring a few of those. You’ll acclimate to the weather and certain times of the year you’ll want these. I have a few fancy outfits but it seems that every time I have an opportunity to get dressed up it seems like a lot of trouble. I love the carefree go-with-the-flow feeling of living here and the make up-hair-dressy clothes-fancy jewelry thing seems so not PV.
And guess what? You can buy lots of clothes right here. And there’s always Amazon.com.mx in a pinch.
My point is that you think you need things but you don’t. My first trip home I purchased more things I thought I needed but almost 6 months into my move here, I’m realizing I didn’t need those things either. You have to understand that you’re choosing to move to another country. Things won’t be the same here – your brands may not be available, certain items may be hard or impossible to find – but you will find a substitute. And it might even be a better fit than your diehard favorite brand items.
Embrace the new freedom that comes with your choice to live here. You will soon learn that the important things are not things – they are the new experiences you are having and all of the things you are learning about yourself that you never knew.
What are some things you brought that you thought you MUST bring but NEVER use?
