… involves more appliances than you’d think.? Here is how it goes:
- Pack clothes: Realize that 4 pairs of shorts, 1 pair of capris and 3 pairs of jeans have spots of mulch, grass and mud on them. You can see we spent last weekend gardening and changing attires more frequently than Bollywood actors.
Wash jeans and shorts in washing machine.
- Pack cellphone charger. Check cellphone for messages. Pack cellphone, even though most of the trip is going to be spent miles away from cellphone towers.?? (Check obsessively during the return journey and call up a friend the moment you see a single bar on the cellphone).
- Pack snacks for the road: The pantry is filled with munchies. They are not enough, so buy a big bag of snacks exclusively “for the trip”.? Then decide, in a misguided burst of enthusiasm, to make vegetable puffs for the trip.? (The puffs were praised and polished off in no time by everyone, so maybe they were a good idea, even if they took some time to make).
Bake puffs in oven.
- Pack digital camera. Also take spare batteries and battery charger.? Charge spare batteries in battery charger for a few hours.? Also pack tripod and 2 sets of binoculars.
- Prepare a late lunch (and take some food for the trip – we would be in a cabin in the middle of the forest).? Use microwave, cooktop.
- Check mail, feed reader. See if you can even blog.? Wonder if you should take the laptop along.? Regretfully leave it at home.
- Have lunch and load up dishwasher before leaving the house.
- Set security alarm.
I wonder who needed the vacation more – me or my appliances?
Tonflourbroab
Savvy Aggarwal
Maria
Arindom Borah
erydaytrams
heheheheh! I feel you!
For me, the most important question always, how many books do I pack?
Here’s how that usually goe.
First, the basics:
How long will I be gone? say, a long weekend – 3 days.
How much time will I have to read? say, I got a full programme and three friends with me, that would mean 1 hour in the three days, max.
That means I have to pack 1 book, but if I’m almost finished with that one [almost finished can be between 200 to 5 pages left], I either try finishing before I leave, or I have to pack another one. But then, I usually need a bit of a choice, I don’t know how I’ll feel like when I finished the current book. And anyway, how about the other 5 books I’m reading right now?
So I pack 6 books. 3 of the ones I’m reading, 3 for choosing if I finish one of the current books.
Then I can’t carry my bags anymore and I sorrowfully remove four books.
After the weekend, I won’t even have finished one book. But wouldn’t it have been awful if I did finish and had nothing appropriate to read then?
pretty much the same except for the food dept….
La Vida Loca: Good to know I am not alone
kalafudra: That’s one of my nightmares too – being stuck without anything to read. I packed one book. I read perhaps 20 pages of it. But sitting under pine trees in an adirondack chair on the lake shore, listening to the lapping of the waves and watching the occasional canoe or motor boat on the waves…I’m surprised I read anything at all..
maxdavinci: You washed your jeans before the trip too? I thought I was the only one who would wash jeans before a trip, knowing fully well they are going to get even more muddy pretty soon
books are key .. and the other thing that i contemplate is the laptop. there is this huge dialog within my mind (yes , i talk to myself) on whether it should stay or go
I guess your appliances enjoyed the break!
Hubby’s travelling for two days, knows that he is unlikely to find time to even open the laptop, but after much debate decided to take it along anyway, just in case. Poor thing rarely gets a break, no?
heheh…thats too funny…but going by the things..laptops are the ones that need a break.!!!..:)
One consequence of the gas crisis, I have read, is that quite a few Americans decided against traditional Fourth of July trip and stayed home.
The pattern of my own life is that I have lived in three quite different countries for long periods of time but apart from seeing the deservedly famous places in them I have tended to stay put.
When one is young vacations are exciting, and when older exhausting (requiring post-holiday recovery).
Aha I can relate so much. Worst thing i feel is you pack everything and then the better half comes back asking “why this , this this ? ” scramble everyhting packed neatly and you have got to repack everything !!
but again you forget doing one thing , and you keep regreting all the while
the vacation machinations?
Hey first time here and really enjoyed reading your posts
Could well relate to this one totally 
) have a safe trip 
You forgot the GPS. People can’t leave their bathrooms without the damn GPS these days.
harini: I talk to myself all the time too; it’s the only way to remain sane
And I usually give in and take my laptop. This time around, I said “surely there can’t be an internet connection in a log cabin” and left it at home. I go there and what do I find? No cable, no TV, no cellphone coverage, BUT wireless internet access available in the log cabin 
Dipali: I agree, the laptop never gets a break. Not taking the laptop usually leads to withdrawal symptoms and we discover that there was something we could have done “if only we had brought along the laptop”.
Srivalli: Yeah, they easily have the longest working hours among my appliances.
Candadai Tirumalai: Post-holiday recovery is a given, at any age
If only they gave us vacations to recover from our vacations..
I have read about “staycations” becoming more popular..but I am not sure what the magnitude is..
BlueMist: I can completely relate to the missing-the-one-thing-you didn’t pack part. This time it was my lipstick. I had packed moisturizer and chapstick. I told myself I really didn’t need my lipstick in the middle of the forest. But it’d have been nice to have
manuscrypts: I am sure the appliances conspired to make me go away for a while
snippetsnscribbles: Thanks, and hope to see you here again! I did have a good trip (this was last weekend’s trip; the post is slightly late).
km: I am feeling maha virtuous now. Not only did I leave the laptop home, I also did not take the GPS.
Hey, I forgot to mention – I blogrolled you too
heheh…..its more like the vacations ona vacation….I can understand your dilemna….i’m packing and buying half the world before i set out, and then when I get back…i’m spending the next week..washing and ironing clothes….no…I think we should just stay put at home
“Check obsessively… call up a friend the moment you see a single bar…”
That cracked me up!
snippetsnscribbles: Thanks, looking at your blogroll, I can see that I am in elite company
prats: Oh yes, tell me all about it. I have been spending the last few days unpacking, washing clothes and whatnot too..
Celine: What can I say, withdrawal symptoms from serious case of cellphone addiction