Ladder and ironing board?

1. A ladder would be very helpful if you end up in a townhouse. You can buy step ladders here or call Maintenance for any problems, but having your own ladder would be helpful, especially if you like DIY projects or don't want to have to call Maintenance for something like changing a hallway light bulb.

2. There is a dry cleaning/laundering service in camp, or you can bring pre-laundered clothing for "pressing only," if that's what you like. It is very cheap compared with the US, and it takes only a couple of days usually. In your home, along with the furniture and other items, you will be provided with an ironing board, which you can continue to rent for an extremely nominal fee, or you can ship one or buy one you like better. The boards for sale here are large and wide with a blunted end and a metal side rack for the iron. If you're used to a more pointed end for shirts, you'll want to bring one. I've not seen them for sale here, only the blunted ones with side rack. Even though you may be planning to use the dry cleaners for ironing, invariably there will be occasions when you still need to do a quick touch-up at home. So, I strongly recommend you bring more than one iron, perhaps one that's in use now, and a brand new one in the box to save for future years. As you've read, 110v small appliances are hard to find and running around from store to store, trying to figure out who is open when, is a complete hassle. There was an iron in the house when we got here, but like the hot water pot they left us, it was 220v and did not work well with the adapter they also left. For any small appliances that generate heat, we have always avoided the 220v/transformer issue due to potential for fire hazard. To each his own on that decision. Again, glad we packed as many small 110v appliances as we did, and will keep buying them and bringing them with us whenever in the States.

I've never once seen a resident mowing his or her own grass. (Others may have a different comment on this.) There are gardeners you can hire to care for your lawn and plants. Trust me, they'll ring your door early the first day you're in the camp, eager to make your acquaintance. Also, outdoor stoe of any patio or lawn items is always a challenge with the fine dusty sand that gets into everything, and the outdoor hose water used for spraying patio surfaces and watering grass -- it splashes everywhere and rusts everything. We didn't bother with the lawn mower and I'm glad for that. We did, however, bring a tall outdoor plastic stoe cabinet which we filled with small hand tools, rakes, pruners and the like, gloves, wire, etc. which our gardener appreciates. They don't have a lot of equipment to work with. The lawnmower is something the gardener has on his own, though.

Indeed, I am disappointed that our backyard area is something we enjoy primarily through the window and not by actually being outside all that often. This was an unexpected surprise for us, as we used to barbecue a lot and spend a lot of time in our yard in the States. However, due to climate, dust residue and hose water issue, it's not a comfortable place to sit or entertain on a regular basis. Also, the way our house is configured with a row of homes behind us, we have a complete lack of privacy in our backyard, even if we were to build an extension on top of the concrete fence wall. Sadly, the grills we brought with us still remain disassembled in their boxes. I have smelled BBQ in our neighborhood only a couple of times since we've been here, so I don't think our experience is unique, in this area at least. Had we known, we wouldn't have bothered shipping some of the stuff we did for outdoors. In our family's instance, and like that of many of our neighbors, that stuff stays under ugly tarps for 99% of the year, collecting more dust and rust, but at least the lizards and spiders have a nice shady hangout. :shock: Glad we didn't add a bulky lawn mower to the stoe mix. Others will comment on this with their own experiences, I'm sure, which may well be different than ours.