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We're retired, so life is just one long vacation. However, one of the joys of our sunset years is traveling. My spouse and I have been all over the world, and experienced all levels of travel. We've done everything from overpriced cruises to Las Vegas casinos to backpacking in Europe. Therefore, as a self-appointed expert, I can declare that getting ready for a vacation is more difficult.

Planning a vacation takes all kinds of time, effort and research, including deciding where to go, poring over pamphlets, surfing the internet and listening to pitches by our friendly neighborhood travel agent. Then, if the trip involves some required dress-up, such as those snooty cruises, there must be some seriously unnecessary clothing shopping.

Once all the decisions and reservations have been made, there's the pre-trip duties. Notify the post office, newspaper dealer and others to stop delivery during our absence. Then, a week or so before departing, there are the suitcases to fill. In our early retirement days, we stupidly dragged along those big bags, and had the pleasure of checking them before flights. Inevitably, they'd be the last bags off the airport merry-go-round. Now we always take carry-ons, and never check anything.

After packing our bags, we always realized there just wasn't enough room for everything we absolutely needed for the trip. We then had to go through the process of dumping out everything except absolute essentials. Of course, these days of tight airport security, we must make sure we don't pack anything terrorists would use, such as toothpaste tubes and liquid explosives.

Returning home is much easier for us. First, we've developed a system of packing some of our oldest clothes for the trip. We wear them for a day, then dump them or leave them for hotel staff. By doing this, our carry-on bags are lighter for the return trip. Another routine is taking clothing into the shower each night and hanging it in the hotel room to dry. This cuts down on the amount of underwear and socks we have to take along.

Packing for our return trip, especially with lighter bags than we had originally taken, is much easier. Another factor is that we experience less tension on the return trip. No more worries about schedules, hotels, flights, excursions or restaurants. Just the comfortable feeling of going home.

Learn more about this author, Ted Sherman.
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