What is it like in your house a week before a holiday?

Pollycat

DUKE wrote: »

Pollycat - I'm worried about your toiletries exploding in your case & ruining your clothes!

It's never happened before.
Not sure that a plastic bottle of suncream would explode anyway.....
I could understand an aerosol exploding.
They are packed in plastic bags.

DUKE wrote: »

I jot down how much is spent everyday too, why, I do not know, such a waste of time, but I can't just spend without caring :eek:

I make a note of what we've eaten & how much it costs so I can do reviews on Tripadvisor.

Slinky wrote: »

We were given 3 lovely bottles of red wine by our hosts which we wanted to bring home so these had to go in the suitcases.

I always take some bubblewrap in case we buy anything that's breakable.
We usually buy some olive oil on our trips to Greece.

Slinky

Pollycat wrote: »

I always take some bubblewrap in case we buy anything that's breakable.
We usually buy some olive oil on our trips to Greece.

We wrapped our wine bottles in the beach towels and buried them in the middle of the hard suitcase. We were also given some small bottles of olive oil by our hosts. These were small enough to wrap in a flannel and pack in a toiletries bag.

I did see somebody binning a broken bottle of red wine after their suitcase came off the conveyorbelt.

SingleSue

I spend the week before washing all the clothes we plan to take (ok, I bung everything in the washing machine and then sort it into piles for each relevant person). The day before going, I go through those piles, ask the boys what they want and then pack it.

We have one suitcase between all of us, so we have to be very good at not taking extra things that will never be worn. I always do a wash while away, so that helps with fitting everthing in.

During the day, I also put fuel in the car, check the tyres and their pressures, oil and water.

The night before, almost everything going with us is moved into the front room ready for packing in the car...you can't move in the frontroom by the time we go to bed! The rest of the stuff which can't be got ready the night before - games system, food etc, is packed up in the morning.

We generally have a takeaway the night before, not sure what we will do this year as both myself and middle son are on a diet!

Day of leaving - we start early as I have to pace myself. The car is packed up with all hands on deck (my role is usually standing by the boot dictating where everything needs to go as I can't lift or carry stuff anymore). Towells are placed on seats to save room, every little nook and cranny is discovered and filled (years of camping helped here!).

I then make sure I have our confirmation, money, cards, drinks and snacks for the drive and that the house doesn't look like a riot has taken place.

We don't need to worry about passports, or flight details as we stay in this country in a caravan....and only 1 and a half hour drive from home!

I used to do a list of what needed to be packed, used to stress about it and rush around like a headless chicken but I have been doing it for so many years now and with the move into a static caravan instead of camping, less stuff to take so less stuff to remember, that it is all pretty relaxed and organised.

nicegirl

It's usually miserable in my house the week before a holiday. My husband suffers what he calls 'pre-holiday blues'. He loves holidays and so I have no idea why he gets like this, but he's generally very fed up and short tempered before a holiday.

Usually by the day we finish work before a holiday, he's over it and excited about the holiday, while I've completely lost patience and feel like divorcing him, let alone going on holiday. :rotfl:

Gloomendoom

nicegirl wrote: »

It's usually miserable in my house the week before a holiday. My husband suffers what he calls 'pre-holiday blues'. He loves holidays and so I have no idea why he gets like this, but he's generally very fed up and short tempered before a holiday.

I'm the same. Trying to complete all the work that I would normally do during the holiday period before I go doesn't help. I usually end up taking some with me.

Jagraf

Gloomendoom wrote: »

I'm the same. Trying to complete all the work that I would normally do during the holiday period before I go doesn't help. I usually end up taking some with me.

Yep that's like us. Then two weeks wondering what's happened while you're away. I can never work out whether its better to leave emails all holiday or check daily to avoid long term stress related illnesses

duchy

I used to travel for work quite a lot so if I'd had a start preparing a week before routine - I'd have been almost constantly either preparing or travelling

I'm happy to pack a few hours before I leave-I rarely forget anything vital - and it's not like I holiday anywhere far from any civilization so if I did forget anything I'd either do without or buy a replacement. Not worth a week of stressing preflight. My checklist as I leave the house is passport, e tickets and cards (and some kind of wireless device usually the Ipad (and charger) anything else isn't the end of the world.

Well at least that's how I used to pack - my partner starts stressing a good week ahead and starts packing - and wants a clear day before we leave to do a deep clean of the house. If I'm going away without him he starts nagging at me to pack a week ahead -and he insists the moment I take any item of clothing off it goes into the washing machine LOL

I've learned to just let him get on with it -and still do my final pack the night before (I'm actually more likely to forget something as he insists on starting my packing for me -so my mind maps of my packing get messed up) I love him for it as he does it because he cares- but it does drive me bonkers

I've finally convinced him that any trip of less than a week somewhere hot doesn't need two huge suitcases and everything can be packed into carryon luggage but he still struggles with the concept

I once went on holiday for a week to a Greek island (so very casual) with a friend. I had a small suitcase-she turned up at the airport with a trunk -She'd packed enough clothes for a couple of months- there was also not just an iron but a small ironing board and a deckchair in the trunk. My face as she unpacked must have being a picture !!

LameWolf

I'm mega-organised about holidays. I have a packing "template" on an OpenOffice spreadsheet, which I fill out with what clothes we need, and how many, plus toiletries and such-like, also cameras and anything else we'll need. I have one column for my clothes, one for DH's clothes, a third for shared stuff including toiletries, and a fourth for miscellaneous bits that don't really fit in the first three columns.

We haven't flown for several years now, as it's just too much hassle with a wheelchair, so at least we don't have to worry about keeping rigidly to a weight limit.

Paperwork, including maps/directions, passports, ferry tickets if we're going abroad (usually printed from email), plus our repeat prescription lists (I'm on a controlled drug so I take this to prove I'm allowed to have morphine about my person), gets put into a plastic folder ready to take.

I always tell DH not to wear anything he wants to take with him for the four days preceding the holiday, or I won't guarantee it'll be clean for him to take. I always pack enough meds for the holiday plus a couple of days extra, in case we get delayed, and we always take extra underwear for the same reason.

The cases come down from the top of the wardrobe a week before we go, and we start putting stuff in then as it becomes available (ie washed) and mark it off on the packing list. I also spend the whole of the week before the holiday fretting about what's going to go wrong, what I'm going to forget to do/take, and generally getting in a state, to the point that by the time we get to the day before departure, I really don't want to go!

ETA I also meal-plan to use up anything perishable in the fridge during the week before the holiday.

Lunar_Eclipse

Wowzers!

We go overseas for 3 weeks in a few days time. Me, DH and 2 teenagers.

So far, we have the holiday booked, foreign currency, new swimming goggles and I've just booked a taxi to the airport.

Sunscreen, books, clothes, shoes & swimming essentials hopefully all ordered today. A shocking hit to the credit cards! Chinese laundry tomorrow. Hoping to download new music to my iPod that I never have time to do! Suitcases currently in the attic.

We had a busy weekend socialising and the house has never been messier because of it, but I have a long to-do list I'm slowly working through... teenagers are of varying degrees of help.

Former_MSE_Andrea

Usually we realise at the 1 week point that we forgot to get our cats vaccinated or booked into the cattery!

We've actually remembered this year - yay!