Pre-Vacation Rituals?

[Quilter]

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.

Oh I can empathize with her. All week I've told myself to get a head start on packing but never got to it. Then this morning came the news of the pending storm. Packing and leaving the house nearly 12 hours earlier than expected. It got tense but now we're enjoying a beer and a wine at the hotel.

 

[GetawaysRus]

Just remembered a few more that I forgot earlier:

We empty all the trash containers in the house. My wife seems to think that there is something wrong with leaving any trash (even things that won't rot, such as discarded paper). So this means that we head to the airport with our luggage plus one bag of trash to deposit at the airport. Anyone else do this?

Also, lots of things need to go into our home safe: jewelry, car keys, credit cards, checkbooks, pagers, any cell phones that we might not be taking with us.

 

[Mr. Vker]

Just remembered a few more that I forgot earlier:

We empty all the trash containers in the house. My wife seems to think that there is something wrong with leaving any trash (even things that won't rot, such as discarded paper). So this means that we head to the airport with our luggage plus one bag of trash to deposit at the airport. Anyone else do this?

Also, lots of things need to go into our home safe: jewelry, car keys, credit cards, checkbooks, pagers, any cell phones that we might not be taking with us.

All trash out. All laundry done. House clean and valuables in safe. We also shut the water off to the washer.

 

[IngridN]

. . .We empty all the trash containers in the house. My wife seems to think that there is something wrong with leaving any trash (even things that won't rot, such as discarded paper). So this means that we head to the airport with our luggage plus one bag of trash to deposit at the airport. Anyone else do this?

I'm embarrassed to admit it, I thought I was the only one that carried a bag of kitchen trash to be deposited in the car park trash can .

Ingrid

 

[normab]

OMG. After reading this post I am beginning to realize I did inherit some of my mom's OCD tendencies.

Since I work full time, I am in vacation prep mode for the 2 weekends prior to vacation.

I have 2 different packing lists I use for our TS vacations. One for flying and one for drive-ables. The first couple of pages are the clothing lists so we don't forget a belt or underwear! Then there is a list of other "things". For the drive-ables we have a large tote with toiletries and all the handy things we might need at a timeshare vacation-flashlight, scissors, small sewing kit, small laundry detergent, umbrella, binoculars, baggies, foil wrap, etc....

For the flying vacations I have a list of the small must-haves that we can fit in the suitcase. Especially when leaving the US, I like to take Advil, immodium, Maalox and any other drugstore items that might be prescription or only available at a drugstore in other countries. It seems you can't get meds on Sundays and of course that was when we have needed them!!! And I love my tea that I can't always find everywhere. We pack some toiletries but others we buy on arrival.

Due to the fact that I start 2 weekends ahead of the trip, I am pretty much packed by two nights before the trip. The suitcases are sitting open so the clothes don't get crushed.

The last night ritual is eating out locally, tidying up (not full scale cleaning, just making things look neat for the return), putting trash out, and putting out the clothes for travel since we seem to always leave before 7 am. In the morning we set the thermostat on hold, lock up and go. Once we are on the road I turn on vacation mode and let it all go...:whoopie:

Norma

PS Looking back, I think my Girl Scouting years were good training. I still like to be prepared.

 

[Quilter]

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

I told the neighbor checking my house to expect to see some things I didn't get to before leaving. It gave her a nice laugh.

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 Jolene

I didn't know you were supposed to put the jewelry in the bathrobe pocket. I have, however, shown a couple pieces to my son and told him I don't take them because of their sentimental value. The wedding ring I now have is one I got on our 25th anniversary when my MIL passed her mother's diamond to me. I leave it behind and wear a nice fake on my trips.

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

About 5 hours after arriving in Arizona I know the first thing we forgot. The Marriott Gift Cards. I was thinking of the Spa at Canyon Villas when it dawned on me they're still in my desk.

 

[Twinkstarr]

I'm embarrassed to admit it, I thought I was the only one that carried a bag of kitchen trash to be deposited in the car park trash can .

Ingrid

My DH does the samething, though we do it the night before. He drops it off in my sister's huge wheelie or since we have a lot of building going on around us, he will scout out a dumpster. Last spring break he ran into one of our neighbors doing the samething.

 

[javabean]

Pre Manor Club ritual

We have a great pre-Manor Club ritual we enjoy. Living in the great Northeast we drive to Baltimore and stay at the Marriott Waterfront at the Inner Harbor using our annual category 1-5 certificate from our Marriott Chase credit card. We walk to the Power Station restaurant area and have a beer and laugh at the club "Howl at the Moon". :hysterical: The next morning we enjoy breakfast buffet at the hotel and stop at the Whole Foods market a block away and treat ourselves to (the pricey) selections to take to Williamsburg for the week. Then off we go. Thanks to all for this thread. It's been a fun read.

 

[Quiet Pine]

We're two hours from the airport, so we always stay over and treat ourselves to a great dinner. As for preparation, I've created a spreadsheet and check off items as they're done. It starts with "travel docs on flash drive" & "suspend newspaper" and ends with "empty coffee water chamber" and "turn down thermostat." Is it OCD or preparation? I can't say, but it works for me. Last trip we drove and took 2 cars. I walked into the garage, turned off water to the house, drove away. DH decided to go back in to pee--water was off--he ended up behind a tree in the yard.

 

[Mr. Vker]

We have a great pre-Manor Club ritual we enjoy. Living in the great Northeast we drive to Baltimore and stay at the Marriott Waterfront at the Inner Harbor using our annual category 1-5 certificate from our Marriott Chase credit card. We walk to the Power Station restaurant area and have a beer and laugh at the club "Howl at the Moon". :hysterical: The next morning we enjoy breakfast buffet at the hotel and stop at the Whole Foods market a block away and treat ourselves to (the pricey) selections to take to Williamsburg for the week. Then off we go. Thanks to all for this thread. It's been a fun read.

Javabean: I hate to deliver sad news. We live in Baltimore and love using our Cat 5 cert there too. In March Marriott Waterfront AND the Renaissance go up a category. :annoyed:

 

[MsBlues]

Love this thread on pre travel rituals

Hi all,

I am new to this forum. I love reading all the pre-travel rituals here. Here is what I usually do.

1. Feel tons of anxiety realizing I've left all the pre-travel chores up until the last minute
2. Print out every possible travel document I'll need just in case my electronic devices don't work. This includes a coupon for long term parking at the airport, flight info, hotel or timeshare info, rental car info, discounts on sights I want to see and so on.
3. Call our kitty sitter and make sure I have enough food for the cats during the time we'll be gone
4. Send an email to family with trip info.
5. Leave copies of the passport and credit cards with a trusted family member or friend so when I lose these items, I can get info quickly
6. Start the frenzied packing
7. Go to bed and get a terrible night of sleep because I am too excited about my vacation

MsBlues

 

[javabean]

Thank you, thank you.

Thanks so much for the heads up Mr. Vker. I immediately called and reserved our room at the Marriott Waterfront Baltimore for our June 29th trip down to Manor Club. I didn't ask any questions and the phone rep put the reservation in and attached our category 1-5 certificate.:whoopie: I really appreciate your posting the information about a category upgrade at this hotel. Safe travels.

 

[SOS8260456]

I buy all new health and beauty items and everyone gets new packs of socks and underwear :rofl: . I have always done the new health and beauty stuff so that no one has to pack their toothbrush or razor at the last minute because they need to use it one more time. Then when we get home, which is sometimes quite late at night/early early am, there is no need to worry about unpacking anything other than their pillows and blankets that they took for the car ride.

ALthough I don't like leaving the house amess, the room by the exit door usually looks like a tornado hit it. Even though we preach and preach about packing light, it never sinks in to our children until we are loading the van up and we are trying to make room for everyone plus the stuff. So all of the final elimination stuff ends up by the exit door. It has been a long time since we have been on a plane and usually drive to our destinations.

 

[EKniager]

Thanks to all who contributed! After typing the opening comments, I went back to re-read and edit. I was thinking, "What a dork!" Then just decided to go with it. I figured that the TUG BBS was not only a place to learn about TS but to share our experiences and to celebrate their contributions to our quality of life. (Oh well, sounding dorky again.)

Please continue to share. It is appreciated!