Preparing to Leave

We leave Saturday for our trip to England/Scotland and I've just about written this week off as a work week and caved in to the fact that I will do little other than "get ready for the trip."

I've noticed getting ready for a trip means different things to a man than it does a woman. Here's what Blair does to get ready for a trip: He packs. Well, that's not fair. He also makes sure we have all our travel documents, itineraries and money.

Here's what I do to get ready for a trip:

  • Compile a (4 pages and growing) document for the housesitter with detailed instructions on care and feeding of the cats, emergency numbers, instructions for how to operate the DVD player and remote, reminders of when trash and mail pickup occur, and brief bios on all our neighbors.
  • Go to CVS and stock up on $30 worth of "miniatures: miniature Crest, miniature deodorant, miniature can of gel shaving cream,...
  • Clean the house and wash sheets on both beds so housesitter has choice of where to sleep
  • Prepare advance blogs to be posted during my absence (I won't leave you hangin'...)
  • Empty the fridge
  • Go through my wardrobe and determine I need new socks, shoes, and underwear.  Go on a shopping binge.
  • Feel guilty about unnecessary spending on shopping binge and return majority of items.
  • Get a haircut, pedicure, underarm waxing and eye exam in preparation for trip.
  • Order and pick-up extra prescriptions to bring along on trip
  • Back-up files on computer in case of unforeseen power surge in our absence
  • Make list of "items not to be forgotten" to take on trip. Misplace list and rewrite. Repeat.
  • Spend quality time with cats
  • Fret about need to lose 10 lbs and gain 2 lbs in the process
  • Wash every article of clothing I own so that I have a fresh slate to chose from for packing
  • Pick up clothes from dry cleaner

My dirty little secret is that I actually like doing all the prep work. Makes me feel like I'm getting things DONE in life. Mostly unnecessary things, but things nonetheless.

Thank God we only travel like this once a year.