One of the best things about having the kids off for summer vacation is…going on an actual summer vacation!
So many great memories can be made on these summer trips, whether they be family reunions, camping in the mountains, relaxing at the beach, adventuring at an amusement park, or whatnot. (Whatnot is one of my favorite vacation destinations!)
Yes, memories are made, but do you know what is easily forgotten? How much effort goes in to getting ready for vacation.
First off, there is the planning. Not every minute of the vacation needs to be set in stone, but it’s good to have a few ideas of what you want to do. There was one time when I was in charge of planning an important vacation, and my plan consisted of, “Let’s drive south.” Not so surprisingly, it wasn’t our most successful getaway.
Packing properly is essential to a good vacation. If you get to your destination and don’t have enough clean underwear, your trip will suffer. (And yes, when helping children pack for vacation, it is important to make the distinction that the underwear they pack be “clean.”)
Planning and packing are two obvious things to do before a vacation, but there are other important things that might slip through the cracks. Things like: stopping the mail. If you don’t take care of this, the mail might pile up, alerting passers-by that no one is at home. Or, someone could steal your mail, and you’d miss out on that important letter from your alma mater begging for donations. (For our last trip, I was going to head down to the post office to get this done, but my wife had already done it online.) (She’s much smarter than me.)
Having someone to get the trash out to the street and the Amazon packages off of the porch is also important.
If you’re going to be away for a while, it’s a good idea to ration the fresh food you buy leading up to the trip. No one wants to come home to two gallons of expired milk, or fruit rotting on the counter. It’s quite a skill to guess beforehand exactly how much food you’ll get consumed before going away.
Laundry is another issue. You want all your nice clothes to be clean and ready for your trip, which means either a last minute laundry session, or a few days of wearing old clothes you don’t want to be seen in while your good clothes are packed in the suitcase.
If you get everything ready properly, you might just have a yourself a wonderful vacation. (And things won’t go south on you.)
