by Helena Whyte

Created on: May 31, 2009

It is harder getting ready for a vacation than returning home afterwards. No matter how intricate the plan, I never get enough sleep the night before going on vacation. Something always happens at the last minute to use up the time planned for an orderly, organized packing session and departure. The vacation always begins in an exhausted state, on the last nerve after running like a whirling dervish to prepare to leave home.

The plumbing backs up the day before departure when the laundry was to be washed, dried, and ironed. Or the neighborhood child hired to walk the dog comes down with the chicken pox so a new dog walker/dog sitter needs to be found. And there is still the newspaper to stop, the mail to put on hold, the house plants to water, and the radio and lights to put on a timer so there are no signs that no one is at home. In such a frenzied state, the tickets or the e-reservation code, or the hotel reservation confirmation, or someone's swimsuit can't be found anywhere.

All this doesn't take into account the rest of the pre-planning that was completed before getting to the point of preparing to leave home. It doesn't consider how difficult it was to find THE week when everyone in the family could go on vacation. It doesn't consider the fact that reservations for everyone's second or third choice of the ideal vacation had to be made because the NUMBER ONE spot is booked for our week for the next 2-3 years. Then of course, there were only three seats left on the ideal flight instead of the five we need so we could all travel together.

Since 9/11 you can't make spontaneous plans to travel outside of the US. You can't cross the Canadian or Mexican border with just a birth certificate anymore. Everyone traveling must have a passport card or passport. If you have remarried, your children have to have permission from the parent traveling with the children as well as the ex-spouse to obtain a passport. That permission can take a lot of negotiating if the ex-spouse holds a grudge or didn't leave a forwarding address to avoid paying child support. It also takes more than sixty days to get the passport because of the numbers of people needing them.

Then there is the preplanning for activities the family will enjoy while on vacation so you'll know what to pack and what to pull out of storage ahead of time. The family will need fishing poles, hooks, waders, and clothing allowing them to blend into the landscape like chameleons if the family is going

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