3 Keys Thursday: 3 Key Items on My Packing-for-Vacation List

Photo: Dodgerton Skillhause via Morguefile

When I'm packing for a week away, particularly one where relaxation rather than learning or sightseeing will be the main event, I try to bring things that will make it my home away from home for the week. Comfy pjs for down time (and leisurely mornings on the patio). Enough clothes so I don't need to do laundry. The electronics I use for work and play.

Since my organizational styles go wherever I go, there are a few things that are always on my packing list so that adrift is only a state of mind when I want it to be.

Prepacked (as in always packed, never unpacked) toiletries and medical/first aid pouches. Not only do these save me time and list-making before the trip, but they also help make sure I don't have to spend vacation time and cash on unnecessary trips to the drug store trips to buy things I already have at home. Restocking them and checking expiration dates when I unpack after vacation makes sure they're ready to go again when I am.

My satellite office bag: I have a small tote that houses my wireless mouse, earbuds and charger, pencil case and a small spiral memo book. I use this when I take my laptop and go, whether to Starbucks or another "satellite office." Grabbing that bag means I'm equipped for writing on the screened-in porch and shutting out the music from someone else's blue tooth speaker on the beach, as well as making sure I have just the right pen.

A notebook -- or, in my case, several. I always pack a medium sized spiral notebook for keeping track of random thoughts and ideas, as well as lists I don't want to lose. This time, I also happened to grab a legal pad, which came in handy for my Beach Pages (the notebook was too small) until I bought my dedicated journal.

How about you? What's always on your packing list?

3 Keys Thursday: 3 Keys to a Vacation that's Really a Vacation

Photo: Dodgerton Skillhause via Morguefile

Although I knew this post would be late, I was optimistic that I'd get to it sooner than 10:30 PM. Still, one of my favorite parts of coming to the beach is writing outside on the screened-in porch. Consequently, since I knew we'd be here tonight, I was saving my post. I had it all sketched out this morning, but now I'm tired, and so I'm going another way. 

And so, without further ado, I give you my 3 Keys to a vacation that's really a vacation.

Destination. Choose a place that enthralls or restores you. For me, the beach is the latter. I don't even have to be on the beach to feel a sense of calm and, when I sit out on the screened-in patio with my laptop, I'm a happy camper.

Travel with your favorite people. As parents of an only child, we elected to take family trips more often than not and so now, my husband and I are slowly adjusting to trips without our daughter. They're not bad by any stretch of the imagination, but they are different. I suspect that trips with other couples and even tour groups are in our future but, for now, trips for two, interspersed with the occasional vacation for three are just what I want.

Know when to say "enough." My husband used to be the sort of traveler who wanted to fill every second of vacation with things to do. Over the years, my daughter and I have converted him to our way of thinking: some days are the kind of days you fill, others are the kind of days in which you languish. There are exceptions, of course -- one day stopovers in places you're unlikely to get to again any time soon, for example -- but too much scheduling makes a trip seem more like work than a vacation. 

How about you? Do you agree? Disagree? What are your three keys to a vacation that's really a vacation? 

3 Keys Thursday: 3 Keys to Factor into Time Management

Photo: Dodgerton Skillhause via Morguefile

For me, vacation and writing overlap substantially, as do vacation and house projects. Consequently, it's all too easy to fall into the trap of turning vacation into work and berating myself for not getting enough done, even when I'm supposed to be on vacation. I do better when I plan to really take a day off, but even on those days, the not-so-quiet voice in my head that says, "Do something! Be productive!" sometimes pokes at me throughout the day.

This is not a good thing. Time management means just that -- managing time. As human beings, we need down time as much as we need productive time and, if we forget that, we're in danger of jeopardizing both our health and our productivity. Healthy time management means managing work time so that down time is not only possible, it occurs on a regular basis.

Here are three often-neglected keys to factor into healthy time management.

Connecton. Yesterday, I spent the day shopping with my daughter, having dinner with my family and then watching a movie with my daughter. Yes, I got a blog post written before we left, but most of the day was spent unscheduled and in the company of people I enjoy. Not a bad way to spend the day. On Sunday, when my daughter leaves for a two-month internship, I guarantee you that when I look back, I'll be happier that I spent the day shopping with her than checking things off my to-do list. Don't just take my word for it. Study after study shows that the key to longevity, resilience and happiness is connection with other people. When we keep our noses to the grindstone for too long, limiting our real-world contact (work email doesn't count) with other people, we might be productive in one area, but we're shortchanging ourselves in another.

Relaxation. We aren't built to run 24-7, a fact I preach better than I practice. Recently, as part of a course I was planning, I downloaded a meditation app. I was incredibly skeptical, but I find that on the days I actually use it, I am calmer and more patient. I'm not completely transformed, mind you, but there is a noticeable difference -- to me, at least. Taking time for ourselves, whether it's meditation, an exercise class, a nap or a bubble bath, makes us more productive, not less. In addition there's evidence that giving our minds time to roam free, as it were, contributes to creativity as well.

Balance. Today's schedule includes a voice lesson, writing time and drinks with friends, meaning I somehow managed to put two slacker days back-to-back (yes, that was sarcasm). Spending two days in a row doing things I love is an investment in my productivity. If I were keeping score, I'm sure I'd still come up with a relaxation deficit if I matched this week against the second week of the month where I did little besides give exams and grade papers. Making sure the thrill of checking things off the list is matched by the thrill that accompanies the freedom to do what we want to do is truly managing our time.

How will you manage your time today?

Do Your Styles Take a Vacation When You Do?

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When you go on vacation, where do you put your stuff? Do you unpack or live out of a suitcase? Do all of your organizational plans go out the window, or are you better organized when you're away than you are at home? Do you drop and run? Cram and jam? Put things in a "safe" place?

I've written often about the importance of finding the right location for things. In fact, I'm such a firm believer in this that I try to put this into practice even when I'm on vacation. This is made much easier when we visit the same place each year (the same condo complex at the beach, the same hotel when we visit my daughter), but it works wherever you go.

I'm not suggesting that you have to move in when you're only away for the weekend -- simply finding the drop spot that works for important items (cell phone and keys, for example) and using it every time avoids those last-minute panicked moments when you're in a hurry to get to your next destination.

Packing patterns can help, too, even when it's as basic as using the compartments in a suitcase to store the same items every time. When we're going away for more than a day trip, I use the same bag for the same things each time so I know where to look.

Ironically, as I write this, I have yet to find two things I packed when we left the beach. One was a new purchase, so it had no assigned home. The other (my Fitbit charger) got tossed into an available spot that made sense when we left (an I know I put it somewhere habit I don't usually fall prey to); I have yet to determine what that space was. I'm sure it will turn up, but, had I put it in its assigned spot, I'd have found it (and used it to rescue my poor, uncharged Fitbit) by now.

Location, location, location.

Unpack, Prepack, Pack: The I Hate to Pack Packing Method

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This has been a summer of short trips. Last week, I returned home from a visit to my parents just two days before we were leaving for the beach.

Unpack? Seriously?

Nope.

Instead, here's what it looked like/the plan.

Wednesday evening: Return home. Dump bag in bedroom. Open it only to remove the things that needed to be washed and the toiletries I'd need in the next 24 hours. Then, leave the bag alone until bedtime when I needed to retrieve medication.

Thursday morning: Ignore bag. Begin washing clothes that I want for the next trip. While getting dressed, take out stacks of clothes likely to be worn or packed. Choose one pair of shorts, leave the remainder on the bed to put in the suitcase. Also lay out other things I want to wash and/or pack as I come across them. Don't put them in the suitcase now, or they'll get more wrinkled.

Thursday afternoon and evening: As laundry is finished, leave clothes I want to pack neatly folded in the laundry basket. Retrieve packing list from the bin where I keep travel items like my toiletries kit (still in the suitcase from the last trip), extra travel toiletries and bags to pack shoes in (repurposed drawstring bags that originally held sheet sets). Time permitting, start packing linens (as they come out of the washer and any kitchen items/food we want to bring along. Refill containers in toiletries bag as needed.

Friday: Serious packing. Take stock of everything that's been laid out, is sitting in a laundry basket, or still in the suitcase. Fill in the gaps. Fit as much as possible into the already partially packed suitcase and determine how big a bag I need for the rest of the stuff.

My Type A organized friends are shaking their heads, but, you know what? This works. It fits my I need to see it personal style, keeps the clothes I love in rotation until the bitter end when they must go in the suitcase and most important....

It makes me hate packing less. That gets my vacation off to a happier start, which has a payoff all its own.

What packing plans fit your styles? Your family's? Don't be surprised if each family member has a style all his/her own (my husband starts packing a week ahead of time) and, if you can, honor those styles.

After all, who doesn't want vacation mentality to set in as soon as possible?

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