Preparing to Vacation

[smg01]

This poll is inspired by the people who have asked me recently if I've "packed yet." I'm leaving on Thursday for Hawaii. It seems that whenever I go on a biggish trip, people start asking up to week before hand if I'm packed. Sometimes this makes me wonder if I'm doing it wrong. Because I always pack the night before. It takes me about fifteen minutes. And it always seems to be a trauma free experience. (I do usually feel like I'm forgetting something--I don't think I ever actually have--but I also usually figure that almost anything I've forgotten can be bought along the way. That's what Mr. Visa is for.) So now I'm wondering, how do others prepare to leave town?

[Poll #1052999]

Comments

[datawhorevoyeur.livejournal.com]

Days? Really, sometimes, it's months. Because I am very weird. Lately, it's be more like option number two though...

[nasagrl.livejournal.com]

I've got friends who do that packing and repacking thing. It's crazy.

I don't have the TIME nor the amount of clothes necessary to pack and then repack and yet still dress for work.

[suzannemarie.livejournal.com]

That's what I was thinking too! If I pack ahead of time, then I don't have anything to wear. I don't have a very extensive wardrobe.

[lostvoice.livejournal.com]

My more serious problem is the unpacking. I'm horrible at it.

[aizjanika.livejournal.com]

I often don't unpack at all. I live out of my suitcase until it's unpacked simply from my wearing or using everything. *g*

[suzannemarie.livejournal.com]

I've done that too!

[aizjanika.livejournal.com]

I think it makes sense. *g* You have to take the stuff out of the suitcase or duffle bag anyway, as you use it. This may be my innate sense of laziness, but we've also traveled on long trips several times and then had to stay in hotels for weeks at a time, so I've lived out of suitcases quite a bit over the years, and it doesn't bother me to do that at home for a while. *g*

[jungleeyedgirl.livejournal.com]

heh. I'm usually unpacked within about 30 minutes of getting home (unless it's ungodly late). Often that's because I need to wash most of the clothes I took. And I need my bathroom stuff.

[lostvoice.livejournal.com]

Packing involves the putting away of clothing, which I pretty much abhor. It's beneath cleaning the washroom when it comes to domestic activities. I have no idea why - I just find it so damn exhausting. I need a valet - to pick out my clothes and to put them away for me.

[aizjanika.livejournal.com]

I think you're doing it right if it works for you. :-)

I was used to packing for myself and for small children to go on very long trips to places where it wasn't always easy to get what you needed and/or I couldn't afford it. I had to try to think of every eventuality, but I was never one to pack way ahead of time. *g*

When my kids got older, I let them pack for themselves with nothing but a reminder to pack socks and underwear. (I've had to buy everyone, including myself, new socks and underwear on a vacation simply because someone forgot to pack them.) Toothbrushes are usually easy to get so if someone forgets one, it's not such a big deal. *g*

Now that I really only have to think of myself (except for snacks, usually), I do a combination of the last three above the "none of the above" answer.

I start thinking about it as much as a week ahead of time and begin making a list which I keep on the kitchen counter. Sometimes other people add to it, though sometimes I make a separate list of just my stuff, too. I am the type of person who will forget even the most basic stuff if it's not on the list. (I'm the type of person who will go to the store for one thing, spend $60, and come home without that one thing. *g*)

I try to make a list of the absolutely essential things that I know I can't buy if I forget them (medications, my special digestive aids that make it possible for me to go about like a halfway normal person, etc.), things that would be expensive or inconvenient to buy, and then pretty much anything I can think of. *g*

I throw everything into a bag just before I run out the door. Then I buy anything I forgot once I get there. I actually own about six 2-cup Pyrex measuring cups for this reason. They are perfect for boiling water in the microwave in a hotel, but I often forget to pack one with me. *g*

I don't own a lot of clothes, so unless I have to bring special, fancy clothes, it's easy enough to choose one pair of pants to bring and then to pack my other two identical pairs. *g* I mostly only wear ladies' t-shirts (nice ones, but still t-shirts *g*), so I always buy a whole bunch exactly the same but different colors. When packing I grab enough to have 2 per day (in case I spill something *g*), unless it's a longer trip and I'll be doing laundry.

I have the same method for underwear and socks. I always pack at least twice as much as I really need, because if I step in a mud puddle or something worse, I want to be sure I have clean socks to put on. *g*

That's pretty much my method of packing. *g*

I do usually feel like I'm forgetting something--I don't think I ever actually have

I've forgotten things lots of times, including the absolutely essential items that I can't get elsewhere. Most things can be bought elsewhere, or I find that I didn't really need it. *g*

[suzannemarie.livejournal.com]

(I'm the type of person who will go to the store for one thing, spend $60, and come home without that one thing. *g*)

Me too! Someday I should probably start doing shopping lists on a more regular basis. *g*

[aizjanika.livejournal.com]

I do have shopping lists if it's more than 2 items. We usually have a magnetic pad on the fridge and/or a piece of paper on the counter and people are *supposed* to write things down if they use something up (like ketchup) or if there's anything they want or need. In reality, most of us only write on there about half of what we need. *g*

When I'm doing the regular shopping, I generally buy all the same things, but if there's something I don't always buy and it's not on a list, I'll probably forget to buy it.

I always think I don't need a list when it's only one or two things that I need. You'd think I'd learn by now. *g*

[bitchygurl.livejournal.com]

i generally pack 2-3 days ahead. this way, the night before the trip, i can go through the bag and assess what is actually necessary and what is my panicked-overpacking. when i pack the night before, i tend to take 6x the amount of things i actually need.

[raithen.livejournal.com]

i am more or less option 2, but there is still ALWAYS some stress involved. I keep promising I will get past that, and no.... Though I sometimes do start a pile of stuff a couple of days early now....

[aka-becker.livejournal.com]

I pack two nighte before as I work evenings and fear I'll be too tired to pack the night before. Then i double check that I have everything the night before. I only pack one extra set of clothes than days I'll be away, so that's easy. Plus, I do the same NJ Christmas trip every year, so it's a routine by now. :)

[texaslawchick.livejournal.com]

It's usually not like burning man which actually did involve checklists. Most of the time I sort of think about what I want to take with me, and I throw it into a bag sometime before I'm supposed to go to the airport. Usually the night before the trip, but sometimes that morning.