Travel Agents Are The Worst At……….

being prepared for their own holidays!

Here I am less than 48 hours before heading off on a work trip to Costa Rica and I am not even packed!!

I kind of have everything ready either on the ironing board or under it at the moment but just can’t seem to bring myself to put anything in the suitcase yet!

I have spoken to loads of travel agents and most of them are the same and seem to wait for the magic packing fairy that never appears until frantically at the last possible moment you have to throw all your stuff in.

This time the hard thing is although I am going to a hot country, (currently 27 degrees at 6am), I am also travelling in rainy season so I need to be prepared for anything weather wise. So along with cut offs and t shirts I have waterproofs and walking boots and quick dry t shirts and sarongs!

On top of all of this I have several cans of mosquito spray, mosquito roll on and mosquito bands plus insect and sting bite cream, plasters, blister plasters, crepe bandages, diarrhea and sickness tablets, pain killers plus an umbrella and a torch. Yes I was a Girl Guide! Be prepared is my motto and I have watched enough of Bear Grylls to know I have to be prepared for every eventuality.

It’s just a shame that I cannot get my head around the packing scenario.

This is my hand luggage so I suppose at least I have separated it into two distinct piles of sorting.

Ironing board and under main case then shelves is hand luggage.

The other issue is that we are going to 7 hotels in 8 nights so I need to pack cleverly and this is where these things come in handy.

They are packing squares so I pack a day and evening outfit in each one and then just pull one out at the start of everyday rather than routing through the whole suitcase. I did a similar intensive holiday last year in South Africa and i was just not prepared for the quick stays in the hotels so this time i am determined to be better at it.

The final thing is that not only do I have to prepare myself but I also have to sort my husband out so he can get to and from work as he does not drive due to epilepsy, I then have to organise my daughter and her boyfriend so they know what they are helping with and finally add the two youngest boys clubs to the schedule so everyone else knows where everyone is as I normally do all this single handedly.

This is the final part of my duties as a mother and wife that I have to organise – a feeding schedule and tick sheet for the humans, Miley the Black Labrador, Bubble and Squeak the Guinea Pigs, Flash the Rabbit and Tom, Jerry, Boggle, Spot and  Stripey the Fish!!

And relax!!

Who said going on holiday was easy?