Need a Vacation from Vacation Preparation
By Veronica MacDonald Ditko
An Accidental Anthropologist
I was extremely fortunate last month to take an overseas trip. I’ve done this often since I was little since my mother is foreign-born. I even have an old, laminated list of must-haves for my suitcase. But this time I was packing for two little people besides myself. It almost made me go batty. I might come off as an uptight person. I like lists. It keeps me from deviating too much. And it helps me to minimize. That 50-pound airplane luggage limit is serious business to me.
But what happens when you have two youngsters who think they are old enough to pack for themselves but really are not? Lots of frustration and stress, that’s what. I should’ve made a Master List.
My four-year old packed toys and snacks –no underwear, not even a stitch of clothing. My six-year old packed three bathing suits and six sweatshirts – his favorite things to wear – and actually added some underwear. Not too bad, but still not balanced. I had a one-swimsuit-limit. They did this after I had already packed their bags and they took everything out. I was ready to go insane with the five thousand other things I needed to do before the trip.
Why is it that taking a vacation doesn’t feel like a vacation at all?
• You have to work ahead at your job.
• You have to make sure your house doesn’t burn down or flood or get burglarized or stink like a dump.
• You forget to get someone to water your garden tomatoes until the morning you leave.
• You try to eat up everything in the fridge – which I’ve learned is a time and money waster. Things do last.
• Your kids get very excited and want to help but it is more aggravation than you can handle.
• And when you go to buy a travel pack of 20 wipes at the store – it costs more than 250 wipes. That’s just wrong.
I swore to my husband the next time I will pack a backpack, that’s it. It can be done. It would make my life simpler. I’d wear the same thing for 15 days. So what? Just by looking at the photos, I’d know which trip it was. And I wouldn’t be a frazzled mess by the time we embarked.
Funny thing happened though. When we arrived overseas the stress just melted away. I could barely close our bags by the time we returned home, but I was so relaxed I didn’t care. But lugging all of our crap through the airports brought me back to reality. There’s got to be a better way. Sending stuff home by mail was too ridiculously expensive.
We’d love to hear your packing secrets. It would be appreciated by all! In fact, make me a list…
Veronica MacDonald Ditko is originally from the Jersey Shore, but married and settled in northern New Jersey. Her journalism career started a decade ago after studying Psychology and Anthropology in Massachusetts. She has written for several newspapers and magazines including The Daily Hampshire Gazette, The Springfield Union News and Sunday Republican, Happi, Chemical Week, The Hawthorne Press, The Jewish Standard, Suite101.com and more.