Pre-trip Rituals: Do you have any?
 

I am getting ready for my trip to CO tomorrow ann noticed I do certain things pre-trip, such as change sheets and clean up the house. Macabre as it may seem, I always think that if we die, I would like my family to see what a good housekeeper I was (am) :-D. Anyone else have to do the same things before your trip?

I always go out for Mexican food before a trip out of the country, unless of course, I'm going to Mexico. :-D

Good topic.

I like to straighten up around the house too, but only because coming back from a vacation is depressing enough without dealing with a mess.

I always get together a file folder with all of my reservation confirmations, maps, agenda, and contact info so I can refer to it quickly.

My partner is a "lister", so we have a lengthy checklist of things to do before we leave the house and things not to forget. We put it on the kitchen counter the day before and check things off as we do them or pack them. This list continues to grow with every trip we take!
-Bill

Hi Judyrem, I like to be packed (checkin luggage and the carryon bag plus my purse which goes inside my carryon bag) two nights before I leave on a trip. I do a "double check" to make sure that I have everything I need. Everything for the trip is in the entry by the front door.

I too make list and check them off, and I like to make sure everything is checked of two days before I leave on a trip.

Consequently the last day before I leave I do last minute stuff such as clean out the refrigerator, change the bed linens, take out the garbage etc. I do not cook the night before I leave, I either eat a sandwich or get takeout or go to a cafe so I don't have more work to do in the kitchen. I run the dishwasher and empty it the day before I leave.

Doing all of this in advance leaves me very relaxed when I go to bed the night before my trip. But I always worry if the alarm clock will go off properly, lol. But it always has!

Leave the cats ridiculous amounts of dry food and water in several places - even though the neighbor who feeds them is reliable.

Turn down water heater and turn up heat from the 50 my husband sets it at so the cats do not get cold.

Turn off answering machine so people do not think I am just ignoring them when I do not call back.

When my husband and I are getting away together for more than a weekend I usually have to make up a menu and assign who cooks what night, make sure all the recipes are out, do all the shopping and stock the freezer with microwaveable stuff. And I have to make sure everyone is clear on the transportation schedule as to who is driving whom to what and when. I usually spend the day before typing it all up on nice, clear charts and calendars. I just realized that next week will be our first real trip with 3 of our 4 out of the house and my "baby" in high school and able to fend for herself. Suddenly I feel very old.

I always stay up all night the night before we leave. It started because I was never really fully packed and ready. Now it's just part of the ritual. I get showered and ready before my early rising husband is even awake and have his coffee ready, then I sleep really well on the plane and I generally have no problem with jetlag.

Party Party at house of sart29 - parents are going to be away!

Kiss my kittles and tell them how much I love them. :)

Pack.

Fight with Mr.GoTravel :-D

I chalk the fighting up to pre travel stress.

I turn the water heater off at the breaker board...when we get home, it will provide hot water by the time we have unpacked.

My wife packs and repacks for the two weeks preceding a trip, trying to outguess the weather.

I clean the house and usually get some groceries so when we get home there is some milk that is still fresh. (Of course the milk thing doesnt work if a trip is more than 10 days.)

Gail- I thought I was the only person who turned off their answering machine while traveling! But gawd, I just hate to come home and have to listen to a million yammering messages that need immediate attention. Going thru the mail is bad enough.

I usually don't like to cook the night before either, but tomorrow we have a late flight 8:15pm. I bring out the suitcases early too..amd my pile of clothes seem to grow magically...must be the the leprechauns ;-).

Call Mom from the airport before I board the plane. If I'm travelling with Mom... call my sister! I don't have any hangups about flying, yet am perversely superstitious about this...

And I try to leave my apartment as clean as possible given that I'm a procrastinator - I too dislike it when I come home to a messy house!

This makes me laugh because of what my Mom used to do. As we were in the car and leaving for whereever, she would run back inside and vacuum the living room (which led to the front door) so the carpet would be all nice when we got back!

I didn't get that gene.

My pretrip ritual is to have all the details of the trip taken care of but then avoid packing until about 12 hrs before the plane leaves and stay up way too late packing. I got that gene instead.

Look up the meaning of AR in the dictionary and you'll find my picture. :-D

I have a typed, and copied, list of all that I feel needs to be done before leaving including water the plants inside and out, set the light timers, clean the house, pay the bills, leave instructions for the pet sitter, set the thermostats, shut off the water upstairs, and hug and kiss the kitty as much as possible telling her how much we'll miss her to the point of annoyment so she'll be glad to be rid of us...at least for a couple of days.

Judyrem, enjoy a great trip to Colorado! :-)

I just do the usual about cleaning out the fridge and making certain the newspapers are stopped; my main pre-trip ritual includes spreadsheets to cover every contingency including any time differences (so I know not to call my boyfriend at 4 am NYC time from London). I check all of the weather related sites to get precip/temp averages and I've tracked the location on accuweather.com and weather.com (yes, both). I have a master list which I update for each trip - it includes things like how many books do I want to bring and if the number seems incorrect I leave myself a note (comment in Excel) about why I think I need that amount. I have another list of the clothes I want to bring and I usually paste in a copy of the weather forecast. Then I go through and write a realistic assessment of what I am going to do each day, look at the weather forecast, and usually remove about 2/3 of the clothes I first put on the list and add a few things that weren't there before (like an umbrella).

I don't know how half of y'all are able to leave the house! LOL!

I have the luggage packed 4 days before the trip. Two days before I have the house clean and do some food shopping for stuff we will want when we gat home..lean cuisines, coffee creamer that kind of stuff. The day before I usually spend at the salon...hair, nails, massage. I get home and set out our traveling clothes. My Dh and I will fight over what I packed for him... but tough noogies, then we go out to dinner. Then we bring the bags to the front door for the limo driver.

This always happens too: My DH is always late because he has to play his playstation before we leave so now I just lie to him about the limo pick up time....then we have another fight - LOL.

If it's a long trip to a place I haven't been before, I will obsessively pack and repack in each of a half-dozen different bags, as the panic silently builds. Whatever I eventually decide on, it's always the smallest that I wish I'd taken instead.

I see I am not alone,,,thank goodness :-). I forgot about the manicure pedicure thing before trips. Will do that tomorrow! Tough noogies Annabel...great phrase tough noogies,,,have not heard that in a long time. Hi back at you, loveitaly. emd, I think I got your mother's gene ;-) Annmarie, thanks for good vibes! Finally does anyone keep looking at their hotel web sites..just in case? WHY, I don't know,,,but I am an AR big time too! Must be the way to work through trip anxiety?