Hi! I'm going to be an au pair in England for 10 months starting October, and I was wondering if you have any tips when it comes to packing or preparations? Thank you x L
Hi, sorry, I don’t know when you sent this, I didn’t get the notification.
Right, packing. I’m actually doing that but the other way round, which is frustrating as hell, by the way. First thing first, when I was packing to come here I followed this post, which helped a lot.
I don’t really know how to start this post so I’m gonna make a list of things you should take into consideration when packing, a list of essentials and a list of random things.
Weather. England is rainy and windy in general, and it gets colder as you’re getting north.
Area. I’m living in the countryside, which is not the same as living in a city. A bicycle was my main transport, which is not the same as walking or using the bus/train/car to go to places. This is important, for example, I brought skirts and dresses that maybe I’ve worn once or twice because I’m not comfortable bicycling in them. I also brought shoes that I’ve never worn because I always ended up with boots or trainers because it was raining.
Job. How old are your host kids? What is your job gonna be? Are you gonna stay home most of the day looking after babies? Will you have to take your kids all around town to activities or the park? One of my friends had to stay all day inside the house with a baby which means she always ended up wearing leggins and baggy shirts during the week.
Traveling. Take traveling essentials if you plan to take at least one weekend traveling. I had to ask my mother to send me my small/medium backpack because travelling with a suitcase is a nightmare. I also took a towel for when I went travelings, it’s really small and it’s very useful because it doesn’t take lots of space.
Primark. I’m gonna talk about it more but Primark has really really cheap clothes, quality is not always fantastic but it’s awesome.
Waterproof coat. When I say it’s rainy, I mean it rains around 4/5 days out of 7. You can use an umbrella too but it’s windy so it will be useless. I bought mine here because all my coats were really old and I needed a new one anyway. If you take it from home, wear it on the plane. I paid £30 for mine and it was a sort of rain coat + fleece (that you could zip in and out), I had the money saved before I came here though.
Electronics + adapter. I took the following:
-Laptop-Phone (+ my mother’s old phone which has literally saved my life because my phone died two months ago)-Camera (I haven’t used it because my phone take better pictures. If you are really into photography and have a very nice camera, go for it, if you don’t, I would suggest to not bother taking it)-Ipod-One of those plugs with lots of sockets (I used it a lot, especially because there’s only one socket in my room)
Boots and trainers. It’s pretty much all I’ve used. My suggestion is to wear your boots on the plain since they’re usually the biggest ones.
Passport and documents. Make sure your passport hasn’t expired or is gonna expire while you’re away. If you’ve an international insurance, take that with you too.
Small presents for your host family. I brought them some traditional food (ask for allergies first, or that’s what I did) and a puzzle for both my host kids. It doesn’t have to be something huge though.
Random things (clothes and other stuff)
Books/ebooks. I love reading but I don’t have and don’t want an ebook so I took four books with me. If you love reading, England has lots of charity shops and second hand book shop where you can find very cheap (and very new) books. Be careful though, I’ve bought so many that now I can’t take them all home.
Clothes. I would suggest not taking an awful amount of clothes, especially if you like to go shopping. I’ve lost lots of weight while being here which means I can’t wear most of the clothes I bought at home before coming because they’re too big. In my experience as an au pair, you’re either gonna loose weight or gain some. You body is gonna be adapting to lots of new changes, from food to weather (and homesickness). The clothes I brought (more or less):
-3 pairs of jeans (within 2 weeks 2 of them were too big and the other ripped so I had to buy new ones) I wore jeans every day but if you don’t usually wear them, probably take 2 pairs only)-4 pairs of leggins. I ended up using them in the winter under my jeans and it saved me from not being cold.-5 jumpers. I bought two more here because I love them too.-2 dresses and 2 skirts. I wore one of the dresses a couple of times and the skirts the same, the other dress has been hanging in the closet since I arrived.-Shirts, vests and blouses. At some point I ended up wearing the shirt during the week while I was with the kids and the blouses in the weekend because I was meeting with friends. I bought lots of new ones here though.-2 pairs of converse. I’ve used them pretty much every day.-2 pairs of shoes. Literally never used them.-Underwear. I’m throwing away most of it now because it’s old and too used.-1 summer scarf. I didn’t want to take my winter scarf because it was big, so I ended up buying one at Primark for £3.
-Sports clothes. I didn’t take any because I don’t do any sports but if you, you should take those too.
Primark (again). Primark has clothes and literally everything you can think about (from movies to candles and sweets) for very cheap prices. I ended up buying lots of clothes while here and I don’t even like going shopping that much.
Pads and tampons. This helped a lot. I feel like shit when I have my period and having the things I usually use at home helped a bit.
Toilet bag. Following that post at the beginning, I took new shampoo, conditioner, soap, deodorant, toothpaste, razors and make-up. I would recommend doing this, I brought my favourites so it sort of felt like home using them and I didn’t have t awkwardly ask for soap and shampoo to my host parents.
Stuff animals. This is gonna sound weird maybe, but I have this stuffed elephant that I can’t literally live without and I took it with me and I don’t regret it a single bit. I put it in one of those bags that you can get all the air out so it didn’t take a lot of space.
I can’t think of something else right now, I hope this helps and I’m happy to answer more questions (and specific questions) about this.
