Squish our delightful dog. Then go into mourning (never, ever am ready to come home). Funny - lots of people tell me they are ready to come home, travel makes them appreciate home, etc. but with me it is the opposite - I so badly want to STAY in Europe!!

after kissing both the cats, I grab my stack of newspapers and check the obituaries for the 2 weeks I was gone. I used to think my parents were insane when they did this but... shock.... I've turned into my mother!

Sort the mail, pay the bills, take a shower and sleep. Laundry gets done the next day.

Check Fodor's to see what I have missed. I rarely check it when I am on a vacation.

I upload the 800 or so photos I took so that I can pine later on, compost the plants my daughter forgot to water, try not to answer the phone in either French or Italian, toss in a load (being careful to first remove any contraband souvenirs), shower and then visit with the tv.

Call everybody to rub it in :))

Unpack, check the mail and e-mail.

I also read every newspaper delivered while I was gone, especially the obituaries.

Unpacking can wait until the next day.

Cuddle our cat who's always very vocal at being left alone, check for furballs etc., read email (we don't do it while we're away), flip through the regular mail and unpack the dirty laundry--and then it's off to bed (we usually seem to arrive home quite late).

I'm with Chepar...can't go to sleep unless I unpack completely, no matter how long I've been gone. That is after kissing the kitties, looking for vomit, etc. Sound familiar?

I have to admit I'm completely nonplussed by the sheer number of Fodorites whose first activity upon arriving home after a European jaunt is looking for vomit.


Who knew?

Who wanted to?

Pour a glass of wine.

St Cirq - perhaps that's why so many like to travel - a few weeks with no vomit! :-d

1. Call our 3 grown kids & my parents to tell them we're safely home.

2. If it's warm season, walk around & check out our yard & what's new in the garden beds. Then I go inside and walk through our entire home being thankful.

If it's cold season, walk around the house, if possible, to check for winter damages. Inside I do the same as warm season.

3. Check phone messages, return priorty calls if needed.

4. Unpack gifts and lay them out on dining table.

5. Unpack & start laundry.

6. Have a snack & catch the weather report,

7. Have a glass of wine while reading a book I bought on the trip.

8. Fall asleep with pleasant new memories.

9. If exhausted, cancel #4-#7 and go to #8

Look at the bills and pour a stiff whiskey and think "oh well i will worry about them in the morning"

Reeeealy hope I cleaned the house before I left!

thereyet

"Call my Dad, the only other person I know who believes verbal trip reports start with: "the limo to the airport was black and was driven by Rick who was..." "

LJ, and here was I thinking my mom was an only child. But now I find she has a long-lost brother!

****

Patrick, great question.

I unpack my clothes in 5 minutes and throw them in the washing machine (they're nearly always dirty).

And after this heroic burst of post-trip activity, it takes weeks to finish unpacking, to distribute or discard the rest of my stuff (gifts to neighbours who watched house, brochures, trip documents, etc....) Sometimes just prior to the next trip I clean out the luggage to find...ticket stubs, etc. etc....

Check the cats first, but as soon as we are settled, it's off to dinner to our fave Mexican restaurant! I think salsa and enchiladas verdes do wonders for jetlag!

We drop the luggage on the living room rug and flop on the sofa. Then I work on compiling my travel journal and photos and posting them online: www.moonfun.net.

When I'm visiting Mom in Florida (our "second home"), one thing I can't resist doing as soon as I get there is buzzing around for about 45 minutes in her golf cart (with Mom along of course). She lives in a pretty retirement community with miles of paths, lots of trees, flowers, ponds, birds. And the light is just so different from Belgium or the UK. Plus I love exchanging warm hellos and big smiles with everyone else out and about walking or in their golf carts.

Hmmmm...
First, leave the luggage in the car for now. Then, greet the kitties, check my 1000 emails, check my snail mail. After I've 'caught up', I go and get the important luggage - the stuff with my toiletries. Then I take it into the bedroom so it will be available when I'm sleep-showering the next morning, getting ready for work.

I also maximize my days off by going to work the next day.

Unpacking the car and the clothes in the luggage usually waits a day or two.

I usually start writing my trip report before that happens :)