Packing to go on holiday

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I told my DH not to wear the two polo shirts and favourite shorts that he wanted to take away with him . . . So why did I have to run the washing machine the night before we left?

We're going away in three weeks and the only reason the suitcases aren't already in the spare bedroom is that our grandkids are stopping over next weekend. It's all part of the holiday ritual. DH has also asked if we were taking the two medium cases, or the large ones? What a stupid question!!

We never had a holiday as children but now I don't wear holiday stuff for a few weeks before we go.

I can’t remember what my Dm did - we had so few summer things anyway.
Nowadays I pack the day before, having made sure anything I will want is clean and ironed.

Having said that, I did once completely forget to pack any knickers when we were going to a wedding in the Czech Republic. First morning in Prague, I had to go knicker-hunting - I’ve never been so happy to see an M&S in my life!

However long he’s going away for, dh will only take hand luggage and packs within half an hour. It’s leftover from many business trips, when he was used to sending any dirties off to the hotel laundry first thing every day - all very well when it’s on expenses!

So it came as a nasty shock when we were in Darwin, and they were charging 12 or 15 Aussie $ to wash a pair of socks!!

I am going away for 2 nights from tomorrow. I bought a new small case on wheels and am as delighted with it as I was with a suitcase I had for my 12th birthday.

I am packed apart from a final dress which I want to stay as uncreased as possible. Summer packing is easier than winter which is so much more bulky. With the expected 32 deg I will need as little as possible. I can't remember much about packing or being packed for as a child. We lived by the sea so didnt holiday much. And not having many clothes like most in those days packing took very little time I expect.
My grandmother would come to stay with us from her home in London and she bought the smallest of cases. I think she must have just had a wash bag, change of underwear and night dress and maybe wore pretty much the same tbings every day. Maybe she brought a change of blouse and a pair of slippers. Nothing else would fit in the case. She did of course have a large handbag as well?

DD1 is a very organised packer. DD2 the complete opposite. I am in between. DH has a very small bag and when we went on holiday would take so few clothes. But always managed with what he had. Whereas I alway come home with unworn things....as I will this week.

I have a very well travelled friend and she leaves her packing till the last minute. Butt she has had lots of practice!

No, we only travel with hand luggage - takes me about five minutes to pack.

Another friend 50 years ago was an "air hostess" as they were called and I can picture her touching her head (for her hat), then shoulders (jacket) and then down her body to remind her what she needed.

I sometimes do that and it makes me smile. I wonder where she is now. We lost touch a long time back.

Lists are your friends Folks… I start a list, weeks before, with everything I need to take for a winter or summer holiday and find I can leave it until the last day before actually packing.

All washing is done a few days before so no surprises like no clean undies to put in!

No, as a last minute Annie I don’t get the suitcase out or pack until the night before, or the morning I’m going, if later that day. As long as I’ve got my passport, phone and charger and cards I’m not too worried, anything I’ve forgotten I’ll just buy when I get there, although I haven’t had to yet. I keep a preprinted list (and a corkscrew) in my empty case, so it’s really easy. My washing is always kept up to date anyway, it’s one thing that I hate getting behind on, I don’t know why but it bothers me otherwise.

I agree about the lists! I have a master list which is quite a few years old. From this I compile a list for a specific holiday. I don’t write down individual pieces of clothing. I put evening clothes, dresses, tops, shoes etc. My suitcase is laid out on the spare bed and I pack over a few days. Each time I put something in the case it gets crossed off the list. It works for me!

Living on a holiday island meant no holidays away. No point.
I have always been a big fan of lists. Clothes, earmarked for time away from home won't be worn in the days before travelling and I start packing the day before I go. I have found that rolling clothes helps them not to crease.

We often went to Rothesay on Isle of Bute on.holiday. Our clothes were packed in a wicker trunk and sent on ahead to our BnB . So for the week before the holiday there was very little choice of clothes to wear

I have a folder of lists on my computer. Different ones for short breaks or long, winter and summer, UK or abroad.
I start a couple of weeks before.
I could never travel with just hand luggage, my medication nearly fills it! Plus I don't see the pleasure in wearing the same couple of things on holiday and having to wash your underwear. I take a lot of stuff but I am well travelled and very little is unused or unworn.

I have not yet booked my holiday but have already bought a shampoo (special offer) two head bands for when washing my face and two pretty half price hair ornaments and placed in my case. I always buy small things from the date I book and so this latest wheeze is very forward looking.!

List maker too. I have a notebook with items I think I may need and transfer details to my actual list as soon as I start planning.

To answer your question RosiesandherMaw yes I have turned into my mother when it comes to holiday packing.

As a child our holidays were spent in Devon. I recall my mother on the Friday evening before departing next morning standing there hands on hips declaring “I don’t know what to pack” I am an indecisive Lulu too and seem to get worse as I get older. I’m a bit like you too Casdon as my list is done on an A4 notepad and I just look back on the old lists for reminders.

My daughter always goes to Greece for a month in the summer and takes only hand luggage! She says its easier getting on and off the ferries when she goes island hopping. She definitely doesn't take after her mother. I take a couple of cases for ten days road tripping!

Now there’s only me, I thought this year would be easy, but I have a default setting that is “take everything but the kitchen sink! The year before last I brought back half of what I took, unworn. This year, I bought a smaller case, thinking that would solve the problem. Fine. But it’s all the other stuff that needs a large hold-all - wet weather gear (and boy did we need that!), camera, binoculars, walking shoes, walking poles, a non slip mat for the shower in case there wasn’t one (there wasn’t), etc etc. SiL gave me the same look as DH used to give me!
I packed underwear for the lower half and forgot to pack underwear for the top half, so ended up retiring to a large Sainsburys in the nearest town to buy two bras and thought the elderly male checkout operator was going to have a Father Ted moment!

My memories of mum packing in 1957 are a tin of dentifrice toothpaste and a tin of Quickies - tiny wet wipes. Oh the excitement!

I've packed today for going away tomorrow for a week in an air B&B in this country. Packing for 4; me, Mr. S. and the two dogs.

I have a friend who always packs a 'just in case bag' plasters, insect bite cream, savlon, painkillers, throat pastilles and cold remedies, compression bandages...in case of sprains...icepack and Coldsore ointment!!! 😆😅

I can do four weeks with hand luggage, since I realised nobody cares if I wear the same dress four times, and I can wash things when I’m there ( ‘ sapple them through’ my mother would have said!) I have things I bought specifically for long trips because they are lightweight and don’t crease. My friend is horrified, as she takes shoes, bags, jewellery to match every outfit! Packing is done maybe two days before.

I don’t recall my parents doing that, but most of our holidays were days out as we lived near the sea.
We usually pack the night before, or the actual day, both pack lightly, I had years of business travel, so it’s no bother, it all the iPads, leads etc these days.

I think I remember a trunk that was sent ahead of us by a week or two, so I guess packing in advance was a necessity.

I have a pile of clothes here worn on holiday in May/June that I've washed and since kept unworn to go away again in September. That makes life easier!

I am the world's worst. If I could take the kitchen sink, I would.

We have a touring caravan we use abt 5 times a year and it takes me a good 2 weeks of choosing/washing/ironing. It all goes in and at least half of it comes home again - unworn.

We're hoping to go on our third World Cruise in January and I've already done "the list" (amended several times, and more to come!). Half of that won't get used either.