Pre-Vacation Rituals?

[EKniager]

With our Aruba Surf Club vacation quickly approaching, I started thinking about our pre-trip ritual. We drive to Charlotte the night before our flight, use Marriott Rewards points for a free night at the Renaissance SouthPark, and enjoy a fabulous NY strip (or filet) at the second floor bar in the always great Del Frisco's!

Are we the only ones who start our vacation before the plane lifts off? Are there any other TUGers with TS vacation rituals? (LOL, other than making sure all the clothes you want to bring are clean.)

Can you tell I am pumped for our trip?

 

[winger]

For some reason, we take alot of early flights, so we normally stay overnight at 'our' hotel near SFO, then fly out the next morning to our vacation destination. Public transit simply does not start early enough to get us safely to the airport in the time for takeoff and waking up too early to drive the hour to the airport the morning of travel is NOT the best way to start a vacation IMO.

 

[RBERR1]

It is usually a lot cheaper to fly from Buffalo vs. Toronto so a lot of times we drive down the day before and start the vacation there since the hotel we always stay in has a pool which is great for the kids.

 

[m61376]

Have a great trip- enjoy the great weather, the beaches, pool and great restaurants. We're home only a few days; my DH was longing for another week when we met all the people there for 2, 3 and 4 weeks. I think you'd have to scrape me off the beach after two weeks I'd be so mellow

 

[ciscogizmo1]

LOL... mine is sad. I clean out the refrigerator. I don't feel like I'm going on vacation until that happens. Usually, I stop shopping the week of and use the food in the refrigerator. I make sure I make things that don't have a ton of leftovers. Then with an empty refrigerator I scrub it. How sad is that! Your plan sounds better...

 

[SueDonJ]

LOL... mine is sad. I clean out the refrigerator. I don't feel like I'm going on vacation until that happens. Usually, I stop shopping the week of and use the food in the refrigerator. I make sure I make things that don't have a ton of leftovers. Then with an empty refrigerator I scrub it. How sad is that! Your plan sounds better...

Yeah, adding an extra night to a vacation sure does sound like a winning plan, but what you do isn't sad! I clean the whole house before leaving; there's nothing worse than coming home to a messy house after just staying in a nice un-cluttered timeshare for a week or two.

Anybody who comes in our house on the day before we leave will see the vacuum and broom, etc. all over the place, along with umpteen electronics and battery packs being charged on the kitchen counter. The Kindle, the camera, the iPad, the laptop, the phones ... I make sure they're all ready to go.

 

[EKniager]

LOL, if it makes you feel better, Merry Maids is coming the Friday before we leave.

 

[Passepartout]

DW usually works until the departure hour. I (note my username) tend to emptying the fridge, delivering the dog to the kennel, stopping the paper/mail, calling the CC and bank cards with an itinerary, confirming all the ressies. Putting together a pack of TS kitchen necessities, packing the car- regardless if it's to go to the local airport, or a more distant gateway city- or all the way if it's a road trip. We do have hotels (used for their free parking) we use at different gateway cities, but usually don't get there until late the night before flying out and just wrack our collective brains for what we might have forgotten.

Sometimes I wonder if it's worth the hassle- for about an hour. Then I relax and unwind and enjoy whatever time the getaway allows, whether it's a long weekend or a month in Europe or China.

Jim

 

[Weimaraner]

We always get pedicures the week before...including DH (he'll hate that I shared that lol). And when we leave Aruba, we always get brunch at the Hyatt so the mimosas make the sad flight home easier.

 

[SueDonJ]

We always get pedicures the week before...including DH (he'll hate that I shared that lol). And when we leave Aruba, we always get brunch at the Hyatt so the mimosas make the sad flight home easier.

I schedule one for me on the first morning of all our stays. If anyone wants to know, the Aveda salon on Anna Maria Island is the best I've found yet - they do an excellent pedicure!

It's getting more and more common for men to get pedicures, and once I got my first one about five years ago I don't understand why ANYONE wouldn't want one! Your feet feel so nice after, with the nails all nice and evenly clipped and the skin so soft ...

I wish Don would do it. It's not that his feet are so ugly that they need to be covered at all times but there's definitely room for professional improvement. I tell him that all the he-men pro athletes do it because they know how important it is for their feet to be taken care of, and if their manhood isn't damaged by it then he certainly doesn't have to worry, but he just won't agree. I don't nag him about anything else (honest!) but this is the one thing that I'm not giving up until he gives in.

 

[Empty Nest]

I do the super houseclean thing in case the plane goes down.

Then I hide jewelry in the pocket of my green bathrobe (like lots of others do, and crooks know that) and remind my kids that if the plane goes down they can't sell the bathrobe at the estate sale till they check the pockets. sick

We have to turn off water and plug in a freeze alarm in addition to paper and mail.

When we go to Hawaii we fly into LAX and spend the nights before and after at the Renaissance LAX. (The flight from MN is too long.) It helps us adjust to our 4 hr time change, plus we get a nice platinum hotel room upgrade and shuttle to LAX.

When we fly into Palm Springs our first stop is always INN n Out burger for our first meal. Our arteries are clogged, and then DH feels like he is on vaca.
Jolene

 

[iluvfla]

I have a couple cold ones with my neighbour, since he has to either cut the grass or shovel snow, depends the season, then the wife drives to Buffallo, have wings at Anchor bar, crush at the Martiott niagara airport and next morning head out!!!!!

 

[IngridN]

Yeah, adding an extra night to a vacation sure does sound like a winning plan, but what you do isn't sad! I clean the whole house before leaving; there's nothing worse than coming home to a messy house after just staying in a nice un-cluttered timeshare for a week or two.

Anybody who comes in our house on the day before we leave will see the vacuum and broom, etc. all over the place, along with umpteen electronics and battery packs being charged on the kitchen counter. The Kindle, the camera, the iPad, the laptop, the phones ... I make sure they're all ready to go.

+1. The cleanest the house ever gets is the day before we leave on vacation :hysterical: .

Ingrid

 

[Quilter]

Okay, so I open this thread early this morning. Start thinking how fortunate we are to be only 20 minutes from DTW so not necessary to book room by airport UNLESS there is a storm on the way. Even though the brownish grass has no snow on it I then went to have a peek at weather.com. Did I mention we're flying out early tomorrow morning for 2 weeks in Arizona? You know what I found, yes you know. A red alert winter storm warning. 5-8 inches in the next 36 hours. I left DH with directions to book us at the airport Westin using spg points before I headed for manicure/pedicure. Then to get the pre-vacation haircut.

I already had an extra night booked in Old Scottsdale so we could get to Canyon Villas early the next day to begin our reservation. Now I'm hoping we get out of here safely tomorrow morning and make it to the early reservation.

Other pre-vacation rituals. Get caught up on paperwork. Straighten house. I use to deep clean but I've gotten over that The place is so organized when we leave it feels a shame to go. Well, almost.

After this trip we come home for a few days to repack and travel by car to Lorton, VA and catch the Autotrain to Florida. I've booked a room in Washington the night before the train and got tickets to a concert at the Kennedy Center. That may become a tradition.

 

[suzannesimon]

With our Aruba Surf Club vacation quickly approaching, I started thinking about our pre-trip ritual. We drive to Charlotte the night before our flight, use Marriott Rewards points for a free night at the Renaissance SouthPark, and enjoy a fabulous NY strip (or filet) at the second floor bar in the always great Del Frisco's!

Are we the only ones who start our vacation before the plane lifts off? Are there any other TUGers with TS vacation rituals? (LOL, other than making sure all the clothes you want to bring are clean.)

Can you tell I am pumped for our trip?

Our first trip down to Frenchman's Cove was Christmas 2009 and meeting family there who were coming from California so we absolutely had to be there. We came home from a holiday show on the Thursday before our Saturday departure only to see a killer storm on the way on the news that was going to hit on Friday night. I called Delta and got us on a flight out of DC at 7:00 on Friday night, we spent the night in Atlanta, and left on our "connecting" flight at 10:00 a.m. the next morning. It was fun as we were lifting off out of DCA and the flakes were beginning to come down. I felt like we were escaping a nuclear winter to get to paradise. The airport was in full evacuation mode as everyone was trying to get out of Dodge. The next morning nothing was moving in DC.

If I leave out of Dulles, we do the night before and stay in the airport Marriott and it's fun to start early. I only live 10 minutes from Reagan National, however, so it's hard to justify a hotel room to start an early vacation.

 

[griffinhouse]

My ritual includes all the normal things--clean the house, cancel the mail and paper. My husband turns off the water as we walk out the door, We're at the Courtyard near the Detroit airport tonight getting ready to fly to West Palm Beach tomorrow. Was supposed to leave tonight but they offered us both a bump from our flight and we couldn't turn down the $400 vouchers for both of us. And when I called to change our car reservation the cost for our car went down by $200. Not a bad deal all the way around. Our reservation at OP doesn't start until tomorrow so we're not even missing any of our time at OP.

 

[EducatedConsumer]

A bit surprised to see the number of TUG members with some OCD in their DNA. Glad to have some company.

We thought we were the only ones who had to leave a clean house before leaving for vacation.

 

[Passepartout]

A bit surprised to see the number of TUG members with some OCD in their DNA.

We have CDO. It's like OCD except it's in alphabetical order, THE WAY IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE!

Jim

 

[winger]

LOL... mine is sad. I clean out the refrigerator. I don't feel like I'm going on vacation until that happens. Usually, I stop shopping the week of and use the food in the refrigerator. I make sure I make things that don't have a ton of leftovers. Then with an empty refrigerator I scrub it. How sad is that! Your plan sounds better...

What you said sounds very reasonable... well, UNTIL the "scrub" portion. LOL, like my buddy says, there's a reason why our favorite ice cream shop has "31 flavors"

... along with umpteen electronics and battery packs being charged on the kitchen counter. The Kindle, the camera, the iPad, the laptop, the phones ... I make sure they're all ready to go.

I do this as well. One thing, though, on one trip where we took the plane, I found most of my spare, rechargeable batteries (we have several for each of our phones, flashlights, and such) were almost discharged when I checked during vacation. Wondered if the xray machines went haywire : X

...and just wrack our collective brains for what we might have forgotten.
....

Jim

We have a travel-to-destination and post-arrival ritual now, and that is to expect the gotcha-moment to and laugh at discovering WHAT we forgot/left behind. No more beating our brains about it before we depart.

 

[Mamianka]

+1. The cleanest the house ever gets is the day before we leave on vacation :hysterical: .

Ingrid

I want to take pictures of my brand new gorgeous kitchen, to send to friends. I have decided that I will do this in the last hours before we leave for vacation - the kitchen will be spotless, and the camera will be charged and ready. I guess a lot of us think the same - and have travel OCD.

 

[GetawaysRus]

I'm glad that my BW (that's Beautiful Wife) is not the only one who insists on cleaning the house before we leave. We also make sure to stop the mail, put the garage door opener on the "lock" setting, and turn the hot water heater down to the vacation setting.

She has one other ritual. Even though she is very organized, she absolutely hates to pack. I suffer through the complaining about packing before each vacation. But she does always manage to get it done at the last minute (with my help, of course), and then she's fine once we're off and away.

 

[chunkygal]

These have been very entertaining!

I have the house cleaned when I am gone...so I come back to a clean house..a splurge!

The night before I always double check my pacing list from onebag.com. Why? Because when my kids were small and I packed for everyone else I always forget something in my suitcase. I went to the caribbean without a bathing suit..and they didn't sell suits for ladies my size ( 100 lbs ago). And I forgot shorts on one and only had jeans in 90 degree weather on one Disney trip. So I found onebag.com and I go over the list and check it twice!

Then also turn off the water heater and shut the water off to the house.

 

[SueDonJ]

We have CDO. It's like OCD except it's in alphabetical order, THE WAY IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE!

Jim

BWAHAHAHahahahahahahaaaa!!!! Oh, I love this! :hysterical: :hysterical:

 

[dundeeyank]

Trip to ATL first and last

We have to drive 4+ hours to Atlanta to save $200+ per person that flying from nearest airport. We sent the night at Marriott Airport, paying for a stay and park rate. Then early flight from ATL to St Thomas. Two weeks then stay at Marriott Airport stay an park rate. Two stays, 14 nights of parking in a secure parking lot. As for the frig, we eat leftovers to get to zero on the last day.
Nothing strange I think.

 

[Mr. Vker]

We will stay at the Marriott Dulles Suites or BWI Marriott before an early flight. Enjoy the evening with room service and relax before our early flight. Usually use Megabonus certs or the Visa Certs. (Although Marriott Dulles Suites is $89 on Fridays.) I really enjoy getting started "a day early".