Happy Monday!
It is the last week of school here and travel plans come closer and closer, so today I want you to answer a question a bit differently.
Please complete the sentence:
When I travel, I always….
My Answer:
When I travel, I always…
… freak out an hour before leaving.
… take at least seven different lip balms/glosses etc. with me, one in every bag or pocket.
… dare to wear clothes I would not wear at home (e.g. dresses).
… feel much more grown-up and sophisiticated than usual.
… check my wallet and passport more often than I would anyone want to know.
… can be certain that I forgot at least one crucial item.
… am reluctant to leave and just as reluctant to come back home when it’s over.
… think a lot about which bag to bring beforehand – and I don’t always get it right.
… get giddy with excitement thinking about the great food I’m about to eat every day.
… fret over my selection of perfumes to bring and always end up wearing something unexpected the entire time.
What do you do when you travel?
Olfactoria's Travels 
… bring at least one perfume per day of travel (usually more)
… take more skincare items than I need (especially sunscreen: once I had to buy some random one because they didn’t carry the brand I used – and I suffered from the scent until the end of the trip. Never again.)
… check that I still have my wallet every 15 minutes (on average)
… refuse to be uncomfortable just because I’m not at home – so I bring everything I might need.
Happy travels to everyone!
I love your travel “do’s”. Especially the wallet checking (sounds familiar!) and I love how you refuse to be uncomfortable.
…go back to check I’ve locked the front door!
Have five trips in the next five weeks for work, so much panicking from multiple causes before – and doubtless also during – will be on the agenda, hehe. As much related to finding where I have to go (and how) as to do with what I am taking. Though I worry about that as well. Will my clothes be crushed? Can I fit an iron in without going over the 15kg?
Happy Holidays to those who are taking them!
Five trips in as many weeks sounds quite stressful (but fun too!).
Hope you manage to solve the iron dilemma.
Think way too much what I need to take with me and usually plan wrongly (even though I take an inordinate amount of time to plan).
Take too much clothes.
Never have enough books.
More books, less clothes! 😉
Exactly. The first thing that came to my mind was to take enough books to last the trip. 🙂
That’s why I love my Kindle, it has lightened the load considerably. 🙂
Good thinking, my friend. 🙂
I do the opposite, which is possibly more awkward – I get a kick out of packing super light, but then usually find I don’t have enough clothes, or the right kind. Books: I pack plenty but tend to be aspirational, so it’s not always ones I actually want to read when I arrive at my destination!
I can understand the part with the books being the wrong kind once you actually are on vacation (which is where my Kindle comes in handy).
I pack way too much of everything as poor Dr O knows only too well from lugging my case up your stairs 🙂
Oh I would love to see you in a dress!
He looks forward to lugging it again soon! 🙂
I am totally with you on the reluctance front. Weird, isn’t it? You look forward to the trip for weeks and when it’s finally time to leave there is this anxiety….
Apart from that:
…kiss and cuddle the cats like I’m never going to see them again
…take too much make up/skincare/perfume
…sleep badly the night before departure
…load dozens of books on the kindle
…always try to imagine what it would be like to live at holiday place permanently
Happy holidays, Birgit.
Change is change, good or bad, and humans resist change as much as possible. 🙂
I load my Kindle to bursting too before I leave for a trip.
I have multiple business trips and a vacation coming up, so this is an incredibly relevant topic! I always…
…start making lists of clothes and shoes to bring weeks ahead of time.
…pack at least a week in advance for fun trips (but wait until the last possible moment to pack for business trips).
…get irritable and can’t sleep the night before leaving.
…show up at the airport way too early.
…panic about getting on the plane quickly enough to find space in the overhead bin.
…imagine living in my vacation destination forever.
I hope everyone has happy summer travels!
Hi Ellebelle,
I totally sympathize with your airport/plane habits.
Thanks for sharing.
Have a great vacation!
When I travel…
I make a list and bring it with me on my travels to make sure that everything comes back home.
Start a week ahead of time and launder and send to the dry cleaner as necessary.
Lay everything out on the guest bed and try to reduce number of items.
Refill bottles in my liquids bag (for airline travel).
3 pairs of shoes limit: two in bag and one on feet. (This is very hard for me!)
Bring large lightweight bag for travel days and sightseeing and one small bag for evenings. Both with cross body straps.
Wear any valuable jewelry, pack costume jewelry in hand luggage.
Bring two travalos of perfume per day!
Night before: charge electronic devices then pack cords and devices in carry on luggage.
You sound like a very organized traveller, Pat. Admirable!
I will copy/paste your tips into my notebook.
Make a list and bring it with me to make sure all items return home.
Refill all those blasted little bottles required by TSA.
Limit myself to three pairs of shoes, two in suitcase and one on feet.
Charge the Kindle, iPhone, and iPad and remember to pack the Chargers.
Allow 2 Travalos per day.
Sorry about the first comment not going through right away (you used a different handle), but I decided to keep both, since I love your list! 🙂
Whoops! I have too many different identities 🙂
Great question! I also go back and check the door. Sometimes twice! I also get my bangs trimmed, exercise daily, and start packing one week prior to the trip. (I also get a wee bit nervous. So the exercise helps.)
Enjoy the week! et Bon Voyage!
Theadora
Ha, I went back to yoga with a vengeance too, pre-vacation. 😉
Thanks for sharing, Theadora!
I love travelling and love the holidays…one mistake I keep on making though is not bringing enough cleanser, shampoo, conditioner etc in the hope of buying local brands. This is fun in theory, but sometimes these products can be trickier to buy abroad, due to foreign language labelling, sometimes only sold in pharmacies etc. I never seem to learn this!! I never pack too little perfume, however that doesn’t stop me from lusting for new fragrances in duty free! Coming back is lovely, I somehow always feel more sophisticated and confident in myself. Kindles are fab but I prefer books. Have a great holiday Birgit and family and all of you who are travelling X
Buying toiletries abroad is fun, but I agree in practice it can be frustrating too.
Have a great holiday too, Annette!
….Passport, purse, tickets is the mantra, forgot to mention! Then perfume, husband and kids! Happy Hols!
You got your priorities straight! 😉
The next time I travel, I’m going to follow the advice of friends who are frequent voyagers: they send there clothes and other items UPS to their destination and carry with them only their
medications, essential cosmetics and perfumes. They tell me that this works very well and saves all the trouble of checking luggage.
Oh Lord,,that’s “their clothes”.
That’s a cool idea!
I probably travel too much for work, and that experience makes me an easy traveller for leisure too – but when I travel for holiday I always have an argument with my husband… It’s still before leaving home, over totally small things, I guess it’s just the stress.
Have a lovely holiday, Birgit !
I’m sure you have packing perfectioned. 🙂
The argument before leaving is obligatory in our house too. 🙂
Hey there Birgit,
I’m in the Tickets, Passport, Wallet, Phone mantra crew. Everything else is fixable.
Some of the things that I regularly pack are 8 pairs of undies & socks, track pants for planes & hotels, reading material, T-Shirts for summer & Skivvies for winter. Comfortable walking shoes and a lip balm.
Portia xx
You are right, everything but the travel trifecta is replacable. :))
Fairly easy going traveler: passport, toothbrush, floss, cleanser, one change of underwear, lipstick, tinted sunscreen, a frag sample or two. That’s in the purse. I LOVE the UPS idea, but haven’t tried it. I usually pack about an hour before leaving for the airport. A small suitcase that I check. I like to read on the plane, so one book also in the purse.
One hour before leaving? That is impressively laid back.
Bring at least five different types of sun lotion and moisturiser and always forget something important are the most regular but I also ‘dare to ware’ much more exciting stuff (shorts and dresses) and usually have an accidental shopping spree the day before…
Love the accidental shopping spree, sounds really familiar! 😉
Also, I totally agree, one cannot have enough tubes of sunscreen!