Tomorrow morning, bright and early, we hit the road for a couple weeks spent with our families.
Preparing to go away involves more than just packing for me. I have a set of rituals of sorts that I always do before we leave in any trip.
1) I think about everything I need to do and get excited!
I can be very productive, but only at the last minute. I do not make lists of what needs to be done or set out a suitcase and slowly start filling it a week in advance.
2) I clean the house!
This is probably my number one travelling tip, and it doesn’t even have to do with travelling! It is so nice to know that we will be coming home not only to our own bed (which in itself is quite wonderful!) but clean sheets on that bed, empty laundry baskets to sort our suitcases into, a fresh bathroom, clear kitchen counters and clean floors. Yesterday I vacuumed and mopped our floors. I was also going to clean the bathroom, but like I said, I’m a procrastinator. I’ll do that at nap time. Or tonight after baths…we’ll see how far the procrastination goes this time! Right now I am on laundry load 3 of 4. That includes all our clothes, sheets and towels. Later today I will throw in all our diapers since we use disposables when we travel.
3) I pack!
I don’t start packing until I have done all the laundry. I like to start with all my options. Oh, and when I do the laundry, I make sure we are wearing things that we won’t be bringing. That way I don’t have to pack dirty stuff. Since I don’t make a list of what to pack, my method is to mentally go through our day and grab everything we use, such as toothbrushes and other toiletries, a bib for Calvin and burp cloths for Victor. I usually don’t forget anything. The toiletries I leave all out on the bathroom counter the night before then slip them into a bag the morning we leave. And then I put everything I have piled on the bed into luggage, leaving out the clothes we will wear on travel day.
And that’s how it works around here. It’s kind of my happy place, cleaning, tidying and packing.
Do you do anything specific before leaving on a trip?
I’m totally the same way. The only difference is, I’ve been giving myself tasks to do each night so that I don’t get overwhelmed.
I am the complete opposite and HAVE to have a list or else we leave an embarrassing amount of things behind. The last time I travelled without a list we had no pi’s or toiletries. Seriously, not even toothbrushes. I think I just get too excited about the trip! But I have made a reusable list, so I just plug in the stuff I need for this particular trip and pack away. We don’t do as much laundry, so normally as laundry gets done I add stuff to a bag, then the day before I actually grab stuff from drawers and closets.
But I LOVE coming home to a clean house too and usually just before a trip is when my house looks the nicest!
Cleaning the house is THE most important thing you can do before going on a trip. Andrew didn’t know this, so we got back from our honeymoon at 2 am and had to make the bed. Worst! Ever! :-P
I used to be way more paranoid with lists and such, but I’ve grown out of it. I do start parking a suitcase a few days to a week in advance. Pretty much, if I wash it and it’s clean and I’m taking it with me but wont need it before we leave, I’ll put it in the case. I have a refillable set of airline approved toiletry bottles, so I tend to keep those filled and ready to go all the time so I’ll maybe pop them in when I get the suitcase out. Mostly, I tend to do it in advance just because if I’m trying to do it the night before I’ll get myself stressed and uptight. If anyone ever manufactures a chill pill, I should really buy a few. :-P