Spent all night packing for trip, now too sick and tired to go!
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Never needed lists. I mean, how difficult is it to figure out how much underwear, how many pairs of socks,how many shirts, T-shirts, etc. for a given number of days.
Never needed lists. I mean, how difficult is it to figure out how much underwear, how many pairs of socks,how many shirts, T-shirts, etc. for a given number of days.
You MUST be a guy . And do you know any women at all ? Have you ever travelled with one? If not, then trust me, it is NEVER a case of packing nothing more than socks, t-shirts and jeans. We are not genetically capable of that. It's simply not in our DNA!
You MUST be a guy . And do you know any women at all ? Have you ever travelled with one? If not, then trust me, it is NEVER a case of packing nothing more than socks, t-shirts and jeans. We are not genetically capable of that. It's simply not in our DNA!
I am a guy
My wife deals with her own packing, usually the night before She also does lists
Nah I was kidding ( mostly) , most Americans seem to know little about Europe, the same way that most Europeans seem to know little about the US, generally speaking, but comments on both sides tend not to be too negative usually.
But yes I have had a lot of those comments on this forum about our poxy little European cars and tiny houses and socialist/communist ways....
The Politics forum has been quite an eye opener about the rabid hatred of Europe from some right wing American quarters. I was told the other day that the European middle classes live like the poor in the States. I really had to laugh at that one. I lived in the US for 3 years and I am quite certain a lot of poor people in Alabama or Detroit would be surprised to hear that too...
Oxford is a beautiful city and I love it because it has a sense of place and histroy, fabulous architecture and lots of cultural things to do. Living in the Cotswolds I always feel rather privileged I must admit. And still my heart aches for yet more foreign shores. I am a restless spirit and have been here way too long. I was not made to stay in one place to long.
I think those who you mentioned are not indicative of the average American. No way! We may not be as well educated about Europe and it's environs as one might wish, but we know not to make assumptions. I'll make those after Mrs. Tek retires and we spend time there...
If you're single, like myself, with no one to overlook your house while you're gone, I can go through a big worry streak until the plane takes off. Did I turn off the burners to the stove? Did I turn the water off (don't want to come back to a flooded house)? Did I call the Newspaper and stop delivery on the newspaper (don't want to come home with a stack of newspapers in front of my door to alert thieves no one is there)? And then, did I forget this or forget that?
Myself, when I pack, my books go into my bags first, clothes are secondary.
Those books will come in handy if you encounter a day or two when it's raining or you're too tired to walk around a particular city that day or you've gotten bored with the travel location you picked. Oftentimes, I took a book along that was so exciting, I never left my room except to eat. Go all that way, and then? End up doing something I could have done at home, read some deliciously interesting books!
Last edited by tijlover; 09-05-2010 at 08:35 PM..
Reason: Edit
For myself, packing is actually the easiest part of a trip, and is done the day before and takes no longer than 30-45 minutes. There are always at least a dozen other little odds and ends to do in the days before a trip. Wash several loads of clothes, housekeeping, take care of all correspondence, notify others of plans, put newspaper on hold, and so on, plus, because my trips involve driving, wash the car, check oil, fluid, and air levels, and gas up. A detailed things to do list made up several days before departure helps. The OP mentions fatigue, and this is often a problem. While preparing for a trip is usually stress free, for some reason, rarely can sleep soundly the night before departure, and am often somewhat punchy the first day. Excitement or anticipation, or whatever, being a bit keyed up does make the first day a bit rough. Darned if I have found a solution, the usual precautions such as avoiding caffeine do not seem to make a difference.
As a former military wife, I've found that packing (whether for a move or a two week roadtrip) all comes down to being organized BEFORE you begin packing. I make sure all our clothes are clean, that I have travel sized containers for toiletries, lots of Ziploc bags and that the luggage is taken out, cleaned and tagged. I do all the packing, person by person, and it takes about 20 minutes to pack clothing for the four of us. After that, I head into the bathroom with my containers and Ziplocs and in about 5 minutes, that stuff is all packed. I make a list of the stuff that goes into the vehicle last minute (pillows, coolers, makeup) and tape it to the door. Plane tickets, show tickets, maps, address books, etc are packed in outside pockets of the luggage the day the luggage is taken down.
I also follow the philosophy that most things can be bought on the road - drives me nuts when dh decides to help and leaves behind things that cannot be replaced easily or inexpensively (like the pillows, makeup, etc), but I've learned to make do.
The frantic folks are usually those who are the most unorganized to begin with, in my experience. I am anal, but not stressed when packing. I prefer to do it with little or no help, other than fetching or carrying.
I dont care where im going, i'm usually packing that morning and then driving 100 to the airport
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