During a recent trip to the U.S., it so happened that I had enough room in my luggage (okay, I may have planned that part) so I could bring a few LEGO sets back home with me.

I hadn’t bought any LEGO since moving in April, and in reality hadn’t bought much this year due to the impending move (with the exception of 11371 Shopping Street, which of course, has not been built yet). So, the challenge was to find sets that I wanted, were readily available and small enough to be unboxed and fit in our carry-on luggage. While I would love to get a copy of 11377 Minas Tirith, that is going to have to wait for a larger suitcase type of trip!

Thanks to several trips to Denmark, I have a lot of experience of buying and traveling with LEGO. First of all, you do need to unbox the sets and recycle the boxes. That was very hard for me at first. My first few trips I actually flattened the boxes and put them in the luggage as well. However, that was when I was traveling with a larger suitcase – not possible on this trip.

I also always carry a Sharpie with me so I can label the bags as they come out of the box, and I never have to worry about figuring out which bag goes to which set. My husband laughed at me when I saw me packing a Sharpie, but that stopped when I was able to use it for other things other than labeling LEGO.

Back to the original question….I was able to obtain three sets on this trip. The first, as you might have guessed by the picture, is 11383 Mayor Manor, which I then reviewed for Brickset.

The other two, which I’ll write about over the coming weeks, were 31218 Japanese Cherry Blossom Landscape and 80121 Ancient Moon-Gazing Inn. I probably had enough room for 21368 Snoopy’s Doghouse, but that will have to be for another trip.

I’ve built 31218 and will feature it shortly, 80121 may have to wait a while since Christmas is coming! I have an idea for an advent countdown, and of course, it’s time to start building my Winter Village!

So those are my three: Mayor Manor, Japanese Cherry Blossom Landscape and Ancient Moon-Gazing Inn. Which ones would you choose?