This past weekend, I started to pack my bags. That may seem like a pretty benign statement to make, but it turned out to be a little more difficult than I anticipated.
Two and a half years ago, we began to travel mostly by RV for the first time. We often tent camped in our early married years before we had kids, but traveling by RV was a totally new experience for us. I quickly discovered that I needed good checklists to keep from forgetting things that we needed, such as food. Yes, we actually took off on a weekend trip in the beginning and forgot to get some of the food out of our refrigerator and home and transfer it to the RV. That is when we vowed to work by checklists in the future, too. But, after a few trips, we finally got the hang of packing everything we needed pretty much without fail. Since then, if we want to bring something along, we just throw it in and take it with us.
In just under a week, we are taking our first non-RV trip in almost three years. I flew out to the bay area of California two years ago for a long weekend to see my daughter, but this will be our first week-long trip together in that time frame. Hubby travels routinely on business, so he packs a carry-on bag regularly. Me… not so much.
We are going to be “on the move” for pretty much the entire week, staying at six hotels in seven nights. We are also visiting two different climate areas, from what I can tell at this point. So, it didn’t take me long to realize that trying to pack for such a trip in one carry-on bag was pretty much an impossible task. We had decided to not check any bags on this trip, if at all possible, so I really tried very hard to test pack my bag and make it work.
Long story short… it did not work.
The main issue for us on this upcoming trip is packing for both beach and mountains and the need to take along warmer clothes and shoes, just in case we need them. So, last night, we finally resigned ourselves to the fact that we will need to check one bag for the trip. It will not be a problem, unless the bag gets delayed and they attempt to try to catch up with us once we are on our way. It has happened before, including two lost bags over the years, but I will hope for the best this time, especially since my brand new Keen hiking shoes will be in that bag.
I honestly think it is easier to pack the RV, including food, cleaning supplies, bicycles, motorcycle and other things we like to take along than it is to pack an itty-bitty bag for a week-long trip, even if you add a second checked bag! But, it is always nice to travel light once it is done, too.
We are so looking forward to this trip! We actually cancelled this trip after my mother fell back in January, as all signs seemed to point to the fact that she would most likely be discharged from skilled nursing the same week as the trip. It broke my heart to cancel, too, as it is a celebratory trip for us. We are celebrating our 35th wedding anniversary, my birthday, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and will also have an early celebration with our daughter the last weekend of our trip for her 30th birthday in July. We are so blessed to have been able to reschedule the trip a couple of weeks ago, and it is pretty remarkable how it all worked out with the airline, too. I believe a little divine intervention may have been involved because it seldom works out so well for us with the frequent flier miles.
This will be our third trip to Kauai. Kauai is what I refer to as my “happy place.” If you ever go there, it is not hard to see why either. I. Love. Kauai! We will have three glorious days and nights there before heading back to San Francisco, then down to Big Sur for the first time with our daughter and son-in-law.
I’m so excited… I just can’t hide it! 😀
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My Five Fs 
Sounds wonderful – well, the trip, not the packing! Have a fun, relaxing and safe trip.
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Thanks for the well wishes! I’m honestly most excited to see my girl again, but if I talk about it too much, I will start to cry. 😉
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Boy, do I understand the ‘remembering how to pack a suitcase’ challenge. When we packed for two nights for the trip to pick up our daughter I could not believe how much we had forgotten about packing in the short time we’d been fulltiming!
Have fun!
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I knew it would sound pretty silly, but I guess that is what really surprised me, too. Isn’t it funny how quickly we can adapt? In the past when we took our plane trips, I never had such issues, even when taking the kids along. Now, we’ve gone from checking no bags to possibly checking two! Haha Someone thinks he needs his snorkel gear. We sure can’t use it around here. 😉 Thanks for stopping by! I’m going to get caught up on my feed posts soon, hopefully. Hope all is well in the forest!
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Ok — “I knew it would sound pretty silly’ — tell me something…. isn’t it liberating the way so many more things are ‘allowed’ to feel silly as we get older. It’s wonderfully liberating NOT to have to take ones-self seriously at this time of life!
Adaptation… yup… We mostly do it quickly — except when we get out undies in a bunch and REFUSE to adapt — but yeah — it is funny.
Having all my STUFF (Thank you George Carlin) with me all the time has completely changed how I think. I no longer crave road trips. I like being wherever I am. When we are bored here we’ll move on and then I’ll be happy THERE! It’s really bizarre. I have never been this CONTENT in one place in my life I don’t think. I always used to be thinking of the next destination and I don’t need to because I am where I choose to be.
‘more snorkel gear’ — Peg is used to my obsessions. we took trips to Europe and the Carribbean where there were more suitcases packed with cameras than clothing….. how much gear do you NEED for snorkeling? 🙂
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Oh wow, classic George Carlin “stuff” routine! 😀 Those snorkel flippers pretty much warrant their own suitcase. Trying to talk him into leaving them at home, if possible. And yes, it’s nice to be comfortable with my quirks. Might as well be, eh? Lol Life is good.
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