Yes, the dog’s reaction is the worst part for me. He rarely comes on a trip with us, so when he sees the luggage on the bed, he knows he’s going away for awhile. So we try to hide it from him, like I’ll pack while she takes him for a walk, then she’ll pack later in the day while I take him for a walk. He’s always fine by the time we drop him off at the boarder’s house, but that anticipation puts him in a deep funk.
Nothing really bothers me. There are stores where I’m going, so forgetting something isn’t an issue. When my stay got involuntarily extended last year because of my son’s passing, I went to the local Rite Aid and had my scrips transferred. It was expensive to have to buy the pills outright, but I was still able to get them. I also stopped at a local store and bought another couple of t-shirts. Used my daughter’s laundry for undies and socks. There is almost always a solution.
I always make a list. I WILL forget something if I don’t.
Air trips are always more difficult than car trips - I just throw whatever I want in the car. For air, I don’t take anything I can’t shlep myself. That means one small bag and one carryon.
I do wonder how people who need insulin like panache manage trips. Must be a giant pain in the ass.
The fact that Ms. P takes a jillion years to pack, finds an equal number of things that absolutely must be done before going out the door, and often realizes she’s forgotten something 10 minutes after leaving.
Kids. I have to help the kids pack. Even if I give them a list, they still need help. Last time we went on a short trip, one them just dumped the contents of their laundry basket in the their suitcase and declared themselves “packed”.
Yeah, I’m a stress-free packer. No lists, don’t give a shit, if I forget something, I’ll find it there. Usually about an hour or two before I need to go to airport I get a bag, figure out how many days I’m gone, take enough pairs of underwear, socks, teeshirts, and regular shirts for each day plus a couple, and then maybe an extra pair of jeans and/or dressier pants. If I need formal clothes, then throw that in, too. What else is there to remember? Oh, yeah, a toothbrush and toothpaste, maybe a razor, maybe an extra pair of shoes. And hopefully, fit this all into a carry-on. I absolutely hate overpacking, and would rather pack too little then too much. Hell, even when I moved overseas for five years, I just packed a single suitcase.
For my backpack, all I need to remember in addition to the above is bring the phone charger.
This method has suited me well, and I don’t really remember ever forgetting anything that critical. And, like I said, if I did, I just popped over to the store to get it (I do remember once buying a dressy shirt that I wasn’t expecting to wear.)
I’ve been on a lot of trips and have it down, but I do like asking my wife while I’m packing, “what did I forget?” She throws out suggestions and even if she doesn’t hit on the thing I did forget, it makes me concentrate.
Where this system falls down is when I travel for work, when I often have to wake up insanely early and she’s asleep. Usually this isn’t terrible because the trips are short and what I forgot is not a problem–I can get toothpaste or lip balm anywhere.
What I just screwed up big time was my wallet. I called a Lyft for the airport, and partly because you don’t need cash for that, I wound up at LAX without my wallet…and no way to board without ID, or any way to pay for anything on my trip.
I had my wife send my wallet to the airport in ANOTHER Lyft, so it worked out okay. You would think I learned my lesson. But no. Today I took another Lyft (thankfully not to the airport) and forgot my wallet AGAIN.
Old man being old.
I dislike four things about travelling: Preparing to go there, going there, being there and travelling back from there. Other that that, it’s great.
I have a toiletries bag that’s all duplicates. (Duplicate toothbrush, brush, pill holder, etc.) I have duplicate charging stuff. I need to pack my phone at the last minute.
I usually pack everything at the last minute, but it’s not hard because i keep bundles of stuff to pack ready around the house.
I do go on one vacation a year to an island without much by way of shopping. If I forget a bathing suit, I lose a day off my vacation to but a new suit. I keep a list for that vacation. (And intentionally over-pack.)
Otherwise, I don’t worry about it too much. I have a terrific night gown I bought in Quebec when I realized I’d forgotten to pack night clothes.
Personal hygiene items, mostly; and battery chargers, cables, and powerpacks. When I lived in China, I had a collection of sandwich bags with SIM chips and local currency for several countries that I’d been to and might go to again. Now that I’ve repatriated, I’m not sure what I’ll do with close to $300 in random international currency, as I’ve really no personal interest in going to most of those countries again, especially India, where I think the government made my cash illegal anyway.
For work trips now, I have a nice, ready-to-go kit with a bump cap, safety glasses, high-vis vest, ear plugs, and safety locks. I’ve also got some CSA-approved shoes, but I don’t keep those in the kit because there’s only one facility that requires special shoes, let alone government-approved shoes.
I have kit at my office, which is kind of an anti-bug-out bag. It has shoes, several sets of underwear and socks, a complete set of clothes, soap, and hygiene items. This is handy for the days that I choose to bicycle to work.
OMG yes. My wife waits until the last minute to pack, including doing laundry for things she wants to take with her. Then while she’s packing she’s also running around cleaning the house and stuff. And then winds up eating breakfast in the car because she didn’t have time to eat before we left the house.
My biggest problem is trying not to over pack. What’s the weather going to be like? Should I bring extra clothes in case it gets hot/cold? Do I need something dressy? Sometimes I have two or three days worth of extra clothes packed that I really didn’t need.
I always forget one thing, too (never more nor less). That’s not the part I hate. The part I hate is not knowing what the one thing was that I forgot this time. Once I discover just exactly what I forgot, it’s always a relief.
This January marked my 15th yearly winter vacation in St Martin. My packing list is excellent, having been edited /improved yearly. The first year I went I took a pair of socks for each day. On return, I packed 14 pairs of unused socks. My packing list has since included “NO FUCKING SOCKS” in red pen.
The thing that’s the most irritating to me is having to pack so much “just in case” stuff. The weather is the biggest culprit of that. How many different weight jackets will I need? T-shirts? Tank tops? Better bring a sweatshirt…or 2. Shorts? Jeans? Should I bring some lounge clothing (as opposed to sleeping clothing) for the evenings? Then there’s the whole footwear issue. If I bring this outfit I’ll need these sandals but those sandals won’t match my other outfit. But what if I want to go for a long walk - I’d better bring my walking shoes.
I always bring an extra pair of underwear and socks…just in case. Luckily, I’ve never pooped my pants so I’ve never actually needed them!
I travel a lot for business, teaching classes. I need to take a projector, laptop or tablet, and all the support junk (extension cords, cables, remote presenter, etc). I also need to take this stuff as carry-on, since I can’t chance having it go astray. I hate packing it and I hate carrying it through airports.
The other thing I hate is that I have two nice TravelPro lightweight spinner bags, a 22" and a 25". The small one is great for two days, but too small for three or four days. The larger one is great for five days, but too large for three or four days. (I have to look good each day in front of the same group of people, so I take fresh slacks and shirts for each day.) I feel like an idiot taking a hoodie and extra shirts for a summer class in Phoenix, but my stuff just rattles around in the big bag if I don’t fill it out. I’m such a dweeb.
My wife is the same way! When she asks a few days before the trip “What time do we need to leave?” I always come up with an answer about 30 minutes sooner than we actually have to make our exit and we’re still always late.
I’m the opposite. I look at the weather and activities, figure out a median level of clothing and pack that so that I have the absolute minimum number (rarely more than 1) and size (rarely larger than carry on) suitcase. Most times it works fine but sometimes it backfires, my last trip to South Dakota a couple of weeks ago being a prime example. The advance weather forecast showed lows in the 30’s and highs in the low 50’s, so I took only a light jacket. That happened to be the week of the April blizzard. Temps stayed below freezing the entire second half of the weeks and we had 24" of snow. Scraping the car multiple times each day in while in a light jacket, sneakers and no gloves was not fun. That once in a while inconvenience, however, is far outweighed by not checking baggage!
That’s the way I see it. I’ll be going somewhere for a week and I’ll pack what most people would for like 2 days. It drives my wife crazy, but then again she’s the exact opposite; she’d pack the entire house if she had a bag big enough. That used to drive me crazy, but I’ve learned to live with it. And I always have plenty of extra room in my bag for her stuff, so I guess it evens out. 
:eek::eek::eek::eek:
Are you using the Celsius scale?
Some years ago, whenever I would leave an open suitcase on the floor with some clothes in it, my cat would apparently think we were trying out a new litter box, and I’d find my clothes soaked with cat urine. I’d have to remember to zipper the suitcase shut (although once it tried just peeing on top of it), or keep it on top of the bed or keep the door closed until we were ready to leave. Now that the cat is gone, packing doesn’t bother me much at all.
I wear size 14s, but except when going to Barbados every winter, I carry no extra footwear. For Barbados, I need sandals, sand shoes, and slides, which take up a lot of space. On the other hand I take little underwear or socks since I spend all my days in swim suits that can masquerade as shorts, with a T on top. Elsewhere no extra footwear but five days of underwear and socks and do laundry after 4 days plus three shirts and one pair of jeans. I have a cosmetic packed with soap, tooth cleaning stuff, and such. My pills are always carry on. My travel computer and charger go into the backpack along with my e-reader.
My wife is the real problem. She will never wear anything a second day. So complete change of pants, shirt, bra, underpants for five days and also a couple pair of shoes. Cannot travel light. She does make do with my travel computer. But she will start packing at least two days early and will be ready the night before. I start the day before and usually pack in under an hour. I almost never forget anything.