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Topic: LIST: Things you wish you had brought with you  (Read 103605 times)

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  • From Texas to North Yorkshire
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Re: LIST: Things you wish you had brought with you
« Reply #30 on: August 29, 2003, 02:05:13 PM »
1.)  My photo albums

2.)  My old Canon AE-1 camera

3.)  My cats (didn't want them to spend all that time in quarantine)

4.)  My exercise bike (the ones here suck)

5.)  My digital bathroom scale, which measured my weight in POUNDS, not STONES or KILOGRAMS

Leave the matter of religion to the family altar, the church, and the private schools, supported entirely by private contributions. Keep the church and the state forever separated. -- Ulysses S. Grant


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Re: LIST: Things you wish you had brought with you
« Reply #31 on: November 05, 2003, 04:03:30 PM »
A tray for deviled eggs. [smiley=chef.gif]
Mamie
newcomer link: http://www.4uall2c.com/mamies-art [nonactive]


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Re: LIST: Things you wish you had brought with you
« Reply #32 on: January 29, 2004, 02:04:17 AM »
everytime i go home i stock up on things from the drug store , cant get pms medicine over the counter here. also no nyquil , tylenal or excedrin, and believe it or not no summers eve! i also brought back a 13x9 baking pan and american measuring cups spoons and favorite recipes. Also very difficult or expensive to find quilts nice blankets and those egg crate mattress toppers. Bring your favorite perfume if u have one. might not be sold here. I also bring over american cake and brownie mixes and canned PUMPKIN when i go home. cant find pumpkin her to save ur life .


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Re: LIST: Things you wish you had brought with you
« Reply #33 on: January 29, 2004, 07:31:40 AM »
totally with you about the canned pumpkin. being without it just ruins a thanksgiving in the UK. and Brownie mixes too - brownies in the UK are tools of satan.

I'll never leave the US without stocking up on Covergirl Invisible Consealer Fair Claire.

Now when I move to the US I wont be able to leave the UK without stocking up on Nivea facial wipes. Anyone seen them in the US??
Me (US/UK), DH (UK/US), DD (US/UK)
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Re: LIST: Things you wish you had brought with you
« Reply #34 on: March 02, 2004, 05:42:32 PM »
I wish i would have stocked up more on my favorite shampoo/conditioner,hand lotion and makeup. I especially miss my physique conditioner!-can't get it here.

We stocked up on food stuff and our fav. coffee while in Germany visiting family,but would'nt ya know it...all the coffee makers here in KL are tiny plastic no-name cheapos. We wanted a good one,one we'd have for many years,so we purchased one in Germany too. Since we were flying home with all these goodies we discovered we were over the baggage weight limit for Air France and ended up having to leave the coffee maker behind at his sisters home. I've been drinking instant (Sanka) ever since-ha and blah!  :D

My sis-in-law likes to tease us with "i'm really enjoying you're coffee maker"...wha? :-/  Can't wait to get it here!

And i miss my new blue Kitchenaid mixer...could'nt bring it,runs on diff power. boohoo


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Re: LIST: Things you wish you had brought with you
« Reply #35 on: March 05, 2004, 02:39:21 PM »
British cooking measurements and US cooking measurements are slightly different.  So it's been found to be useful to have both sets of measuring utensils so you can accurately cook from US or UK recipes.
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Re: LIST: Things you wish you had brought with you
« Reply #36 on: March 08, 2004, 03:47:55 AM »
Earlier in this thread, a couple of posters mentioned that UK deodorants were not the same or "urgh" - what is the difference, can anyone tell me, I am really intrigued by this because when I lived in the U.S, I fell in love ( strange term for a deodorant!) with Soft & Dri and Secret, as they were so powdery and fresh ..........


Okay, weird alert! LOL!! but I *am* looking forward to the US products when I return there! This thread has been so funny :)

Sheril
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Re: LIST: Things you wish you had brought with you
« Reply #37 on: March 16, 2004, 02:00:57 AM »
Well I don't live in the UK yet, but from my experience of going twice for 6 months each time I REALLY wish I would have bought loads of make up to take over because make up is so expensive in the UK! Good brands anyway, and maybe it's just me but I absolutely could not find that Cover Girl 3 in 1 foundation or whatever it's called. Thats what I always use.  


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Re: LIST: Things you wish you had brought with you
« Reply #38 on: April 09, 2004, 02:52:28 PM »
The food department:

Ranch dressing mix.  Lived without this just fine until I went on Atkins, and then it became indispensable.

Black turtle beans.  I finally sourced them in London after about a year, though.

Liquid Smoke seasoning.  I occasionally use this in crock pot recipes.  If you use it at all, bring it over--you'll never find it here.

If you regularly cook Mexican food then bring everything you will need, as far as it's practicably possible.  Almost nonexistant here, even in London.

Cookware:

With my partner's help, I actually hauled over my entire set of high-end pots & pans (Calphalon), as well as my cooking knives, on various of my visiting flights before I got my first long stay visa.  I don't know what would have happened if Immigration had decided to open my bags--I was, in fact, on legitimate visits and had US ties to prove it, but it would have been equally obvious that I was gradually moving to Harrow.   ;D  In any case, I'm glad I brought the stuff over because it would have cost double the original price to buy it again here, and I use it every day.

I have been very disappointed in the budget and mid-price bakeware available here.  If you want to go high end, it costs an absolute fortune, but you can get pretty much anything.  Except bundt pans, bring one of these over if you plan on bundting much.  General advice, if you are planning to bring any bakeware then make sure you check the size of your oven first.  Much of the stuff I left behind in the US would not have fit into my oven here anyway.

The pharmacy department:

500 or 1000 count bottles of ibuprofen.  I REFUSE to pay exorbitant British prices for a paltry pack of 24 pills.

Melatonin--I use this to catch up on my sleep or to help with jet lag--available over the counter as a supplement in the US, not available at all in the UK and only by prescription in other EU countries AFAIK.   >:(

Murine ear drops to keep wax under control, along with the bulb syringe that comes with them.  And hydrogen peroxide.  Why these items are so hard to obtain in this country, is completely beyond me.

American athletes-foot medicine works MUCH faster and more completely than the British equivalent.  (A completely useless fact until you get a flare-up on a camping trip....)

And finally, cough drops with proper dextromothorophan cough suppressant in them.  Something else you can find in any American grocery store checkout line, but is only available on scrip in the UK.  My first winter here I got the typical "moving continents immune response," a/k/a "no immunity whatsoever," and spent a little over a month in bed with the flu.  Up all night with terrible coughing, and my partner was working abroad so here I was, sick and completely alone.  Didn't think of visiting the doctor because I thought I wasn't entitled to NHS care on a student visa.  In desperation I called up my partner's mom, who is a retired nurse.  She recommended creosote pastilles for the cough.  I have to tell you that this was the worst thing I have EVER put in my mouth, bar none.  Since then I load up on American cough drops whenever I am back over there, just in case.  

Wish I had brought the cat, but I couldn't do that to him.  He went to a good, loving and stable home even if it was with my ex.  ;)  Now I travel so much with my partner that it's totally impractical to have a pet at all.  Still trying to work this out, and in the meantime I've made friends with most of the cats on my street.

Emily
~Emily

"It is one thing to say that our feet do not know they are feet.  It is quite another thing to say that they are illusions."  --Ernest Holmes


Re: LIST: Things you wish you had brought with you
« Reply #39 on: April 21, 2004, 01:28:51 PM »
This may be way behind time to this thread (I've only found/joined this forum recently) but a couple tips about things I've seen mentioned above:

What we in the US call Tylenol is equivalent to Panadol here.  Same basic drug, different name.  It comes in a variety of formulas, so you'll probably be able to find some sort of Panadol that equals the similar thing in Tylenol.   There's even a PM formula-- Panadol Night Pain.  You don't need a prescription, but you do have to ask for it, as they keep it behind the counter. 

Pumpkin-- we've found Libby's Pumpkin here.  It's the smaller can, but it's the real thing.  I can't for the life of me recall which supermarket we got it at, but it has to be one of these three:  Waitrose, Sainsbury's or Tesco's.   (I think it was Waitrose.)  What I miss along these lines, though, are Pillsbury's ready-made pie-crusts...the ones I used to find in the refrigerated/dairy sections back in the US. 

For those with sensitive skin (I'm one of them, too):
I've been thru countless soaps over here, trying to find something that sat well with my skin.  I desperately miss the very basic stuff I used to get back home--Pure & Natural.  I miss Dial for Sensitive Skin, too.
But I've found that Boots' Skin Kindly stuff to be pretty good.  They make a bar soap, as well as a whole range of skin care products.  They're pretty good and scent-free as well. 
Clinique is available here in the UK, too, though it's just as pricey as it is back in the US, if not more.

Anyone here into Newman's Own stuff?  I've found that Waitrose carries several of their products.

What I really miss is Campbell's Healthy Request line of soups--esp. the chicken noodle.  They don't have chicken noodle soup of any kind that I can find over here--not as I know it, anyway.  I miss this particular line because it was the one I could be sure was MSG-free. 

About electrics...I'm glad I brought very little when I went overseas, as it isn't just the plug which is different.  Yes, you can get a plug adaptor.  But the real problem is that the voltage is completely different!  It's what...240 here?  As opposed to only the average 110v back in the US.  Trust me, you don't want to plug something that's made for US current into the current here.  There are voltage adaptors--that you would need in addition to plug adaptors, if you want to use US electric based stuff)--we have a couple.  But they actually tend to get very hot themselves, and are, I hear, pretty pricey.  You'd need one for each US voltage item you'd want to use.  It's cheaper and safer--I've found--to just buckle down and get the British equivalent of an item. 

Like a lot of people have already mentioned, I miss the deordorant I used in the US--Sure-- and can't find its equal here.   Which is weird because there is a deodorant called Sure here, as well, but it's not the same stuff! 

What I've found bizarre, though, is that I saw more US products over in Dubai, in the Middle East, than I do here!  LOL  But almost everything there was imported, as they have a huge expat community in Dubai. 







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Re: LIST: Things you wish you had brought with you
« Reply #40 on: July 02, 2004, 09:19:46 AM »
My friends  :\\\'(

I didn't realize just HOW MUCH I would miss them.... and it's hard to make new REAL friends here in the UK.  When times were tough -- the time difference was a killer -- I would sit looking at the clock -- waiting for when it would be socially acceptable to call them -- sometimes NOT waiting - just waking them up --but then - they understood.

I've pretty much adjusted to NOT having the usual grocery stuffs -- people would send care packages -- so that would help ALOT.

One thing I notice from time to time is that I miss ZIPLOC storage baggies -- and REAL tupperware. Silly I know -- but I really regret giving away my tupperware before I moved to the UK.


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Re: LIST: Things you wish you had brought with you
« Reply #41 on: July 02, 2004, 10:15:04 AM »
+Plus-size clothing. Come on, Evans is usually a joke with their styles, and the only option here.

You need to look around more, I have found the UK is MUCH better than the US in regards to plus size clothing.  Most department stores carry some (heck tescos and Asda do too) the catolouges are great, plus there are stores like Ann Harvey (though Evans is better for lingerie) and SizeUp (whose clothes can be kinda cheap but if you look you will find great things there)


The only thing we stock up on in the States are Flaming Hot Cheetos, Sunflower Seeds and solid pack Pumpkin.

Rosie
All wars are civil wars, because all men are brothers. ~François Fénelon


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Re: LIST: Things you wish you had brought with you
« Reply #42 on: July 25, 2004, 01:31:52 AM »
True that, however, I will keep on searching for Ranch Dressing and French Onion dip until I die.

Someone above mentioned Carmex... I've seen it. I think it was in a Superdrug. Or was it a BP station?

I go back in a couple weeks for a bit and will be returning with:

Twizzlers. My friends don't understand what they are. I shall educate!
Hidden Valley Ranch/Fr Onion packets.
My prefered deoderant: Secret.
Excedrine. My headaches are complicated
Trader Joe's natural crunchy peanut butter. So cheap. So good.
My inkjet printer. Fiance's got an adapter!
Inexpensive clothes from Urban Outfitters. My god it's expensive here! Actually, I'm just going to do a massive shopping spree on Melrose. Anyone want anything?
"I hope life isn't a big joke, because I don't get it." - Jack Handey


Re: LIST: Things you wish you had brought with you
« Reply #43 on: July 25, 2004, 02:41:54 PM »
For the most part I'm with Jemima - there isn't really much I miss/can't find here/can't find a substitute for. Except, as driveupcoffee said, my friends, who I miss dearly.

I usually end up filling my suitcases with all of my old "stuff" that's stored at my mom's (everything from kitchen tools to sheets to handbags) just because I never did a proper "shipping" of stuff and I'd rather bring back what I already own in batches rather than pay to buy it all over again.

But I do bring back coffee beans every time - I just haven't found any here that I like the flavor of as much and being from Northern Calif. I'm a coffee junkie and having a hard time adjusting to not having a cafe on every corner!!! Everyone who stays with us brings over 2 lbs. of Blues Breaker from the Santa Cruz Coffee Roasting Co. if they know what's good for them!  ;D

Oh, and Delara, I also bring back Excedrine as I haven't yet found a substitute that does the same job - and I like your description of your headaches as "complicated" - mine seem to be as well!!! Plus, a couple of excedrine and a Berocca (something I'd have to import from here if I ever went back to the US) also really does the trick for my hangovers!!!


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Re: LIST: Things you wish you had brought with you
« Reply #44 on: August 07, 2004, 12:45:50 PM »
This list has been very helpful. So far, I need to stock up on ... birth control...

Go to your local surgery (or ask Mr Snupy to if you're not in the UK) and ask if they have the same kind in the UK before you do that. I was really upset with myself because I went and bought a 6 months supply (which cost me more than I'd like to have spent) and then I find out that the UK has the same exact brand I use (which is free).  I was kicking myself for having spent the money.
There are two things in life for which we are never truly prepared:  twins.


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