Do you like everything cut and dried?

You are certainly not alone. As I get older I find my fear of the unfamiliar gets worse. When I was younger I would quite happily take things as they come and not worry.

You could look up the weather forecast for the place or places you are visiting and you could even find the bus/train routes online.

Try to stop worrying. I hope you have a lovely time.

Thanks. Yes, I have done all that and made notes, as I won’t have wifi for the first 36 hours.

I do like to be prepared. We’re booked into a U.K. Airbnb in July, with dd1 and family, so as usual I will be making a massive list of what to take.
One essential item - since we once arrived at a holiday let with 2 loos but none at all - is loo paper! I was bursting and had to send dh straight out on a mission of mercy. Luckily there was a good old Co-op close by.

I'm the same, I need definite plans and organisation. I'm unbearable if I don't have routine.

Yes, same..I like to be prepared too and have a plan of what I'm doing , what I need to take, how long it will take to reach places etc .
Oh yes and I'm an 'Overpacker' stuff for if it's hot, stuff for if it's cold, shoes in case it's wet, sandals in case it's hot, umbrella, jumpers, sun tops, need I go on? Well, you get the picture !

No you’re not alone. I’m the holiday or trip organiser in our house and I’m used to being in control of things . Our AC have bought us several city breaks for big birthdays and Christmas. And I do feel out of sorts not being in control . But it’s such a lovely thing for them to do, and their taste regarding cities and hotels has been first class.

I go away with a friend and am much happier if I handle the booking.

I’m like this as well. I don’t like things left to chance at all, however, I do seem to be able to cope when things don’t go to plan or develop into a crisis.
Maybe it’s due to having a career where I had to be both strategic and operational. I love a list!

I know people like this- of course some planning has to happen but this sounds like either needing to be in control which stems from anxiety.

Maybe I am just too laid back but I think it is a counter balance to all the people I know (and many of them!) who fret over the smallest details.

I am going away soon with a group of women I know very well- the stressful thing for me will be listening to them stressing about every little thing!

I do have a plan though, which is just to either go off on my own for a while, zone out in my head, or drink a few glass of something alcoholic!

I totally get this. I need to make sure that all my boxes are ticked when planning anything. The thing is my DD and SiL are far more laid back so when they planned a holiday for us all with the GC a few years back I felt very much outside my comfort zone. Thankfully it was all ok, even though we nearly missed the flight going out and coming back because my DD and SiL are never able to get anywhere on time. 🙄

If all the flight, accommodation and transfer details are in place I'm happy to go with the flow.

When it comes to holidays, I'm the organised - I research everything before and like to know it's all done and dusted. However, once we get there, I'm more relaxed and don't mind a bit of spontaneity.

Thankfully it was all ok, even though we nearly missed the flight going out and coming back because my DD and SiL are never able to get anywhere on time. 🙄

Family were joining us on holiday abroad one year and they did miss their flight: a combination of cutting it short and unexpected roadworks by the airport.
They were transferred on to a later flight but from a different airport, and had to travel there by train. (They needed to leave the car at the original airport so it would be there on their return).
All with a 9m old baby and heaps of luggage 🤦🏻

I had lists on the computer of what to take for a formal weekend, a casual weekend with friends, a week or two or a much longer trip visiting family overseas.
Since Covid and with both of us with mobility problems, I've gone off travelling but should make some kind of effort again.

I'm the opposite, I would love someone else to sort. I go away every year which my chums always somewhere in Europe. for a long weekend. But I'm the organiser.
Group of us off in June for a Hen weekend, it was me that sorted the flights, and transfers.
When we go away, I sort it...
Just once I would like someone to say, this is what's going on? just pack a bag.

These days I tend to over think going away trips, imagining varying scenarios, I'm doing it already with a prospective journey down to Devon in the summer, wondering if petrol will be rationed and how that could affect travel.

I wasn't always like this, I can remember taking our children away when they were babies down to France via ferry, and the shuttle once the channel tunnel had come into existence. Then motoring way down south, sometimes into Italy with all the paraphernalia required and not really worrying too much about overnight stops on the way, although I did usually pre book those.

Lately, I also hate hanging around at airports, in spite of having done lots of long hauls in the past. I love it when get there, wherever that maybe, it's the getting there I hate.

It’s hard to know what to pack for temperatures ranging from 5 to potentially 17 degrees next week. There’s only so much I can manage as after the first night I am continuing by train.
I am assured there will be toilet paper and washing up liquid in the chalet. I have breakfast supplies and snacks and coins for the meter.

“I’m assured there will be toilet paper and washing up liquid”.

I don’t think you are assured at all. You might have been told that that is the case but I think you’re miles from being assured.

Chill out and trust your daughter to look after you.

Cabbie21

Thanks. Yes, I have done all that and made notes, as I won’t have wifi for the first 36 hours.

don't you have a smart phone which provides a search engine?

Cabbie21

It’s hard to know what to pack for temperatures ranging from 5 to potentially 17 degrees next week. There’s only so much I can manage as after the first night I am continuing by train.
I am assured there will be toilet paper and washing up liquid in the chalet. I have breakfast supplies and snacks and coins for the meter.

Let someone else worry about the washing up liquid.

If in doubt, pack a couple of toilet rolls; remember the Great Toilet Roll Shortage? It was a scam anyway!

This is a constant source of friction between my eldest and myself. Perhaps not so much “friction”, as despair. Hardly a week passes without me blurting, “Just say what you mean, and mean what you say. Make it easy for me to understand, stop taking in riddles, stop being so vague”. She (probably) has ADHD and is the most chaotic, disorganised person I know, although a high achiever at work.

Last week I dropped her dog back, he’d been with me for an hour or so and I was passing anyway to go shopping. DGS appeared briefly and went back to whatever he’d been doing. We talked about the dog. DD said, “I might need some help with him on Thursday, I’ve got a work dinner”. I said that was fine.

Wednesday evening she whatsapped a message that she’d drop the dog at my house at 07.45, DGS would finish school at 16.30 so I’d need to be parked there by 16.25, and her Waitrose delivery would arrive at 17.00, with supper for DGS and me.

So what I thought was having the dog for the evening turned into all day, then driving 10 miles to meet DGS and take him and the dog back to DD’s for the evening.

It was fine, but it was not what I expected. I absolutely need clear and specific directions and go into a tailspin with her vague hints.

When I worked briefly at Waitrose, if I was seeing her later in the day I’d occasionally ask if she’d like me to pick anything up, could she message me her shopping list. I meant her precise list. She’d say yes, could I please get a nice red and something for Sunday? Ok darling, WHICH red? I don’t drink and I’ve no idea what she’d like. WHAT food for Sunday? A roasting joint, or a bird? Vegetables? Or did she want a Charlie Bigham’s fish pie? Or lasagne? Salmon?

Or she’d message to say she’d forgotten salad. I’d ask what she meant: lettuce, tomato and cucumber? Iceberg or romaine? A bag of leaves? With watercress? Peppers? Cherry tomatoes or big ones? Or pasta salad? Grains? Dressing or mayonnaise, what’s in her fridge?

And she’d explode with frustration, saying why can’t I use my imagination?

Because I don’t have any, I suppose.

We are both neuro-diverse, in very different ways, and we haven’t really understood each other since she was two.

It depends on whose doing the planning and arranging. Mostly if I go away it is with family or close friends and I have every confidence in their ability to sort everything out. Anything particular to me I will organise for myself.

Witzend

I do like to be prepared. We’re booked into a U.K. Airbnb in July, with dd1 and family, so as usual I will be making a massive list of what to take.
One essential item - since we once arrived at a holiday let with 2 loos but none at all - is loo paper! I was bursting and had to send dh straight out on a mission of mercy. Luckily there was a good old Co-op close by.

Didn’t you have the local newspaper to hand?😁

We used to travel a lot when we were younger but now well into retirement, we just can't be bothered with all the hassle. We live ten minutes walk away from one of the UK's leading top holiday beaches. We just book a balcony room over the sea front in one of the luxury hotels and enjoy a weekend there. Bus down the hill, diets catered for, lovely bars, spa, and health club. If we forget anything, we just pop home, but that hasn't happened yet. No flights, queueing, disappointing accommodation, difficult people. What are we like?!