Travel Gear for Family -- Nits and bits driving me a little nuts

[Anonymous]

I have a travel drawer (technically a box in a hall closet) where travel stuff lives, and I pull it out for trips. Things like the expandable clothesline and the travel-sized toothpaste, and smaller packing bags (for inside a larger bag). Electrical adapters. Compression socks.

I don't go all out like OP with a deck of cards, but I do have one or two small and convenient items that I like to bring (e.g. the aforementioned elasticized clothesline).

Kids pack their own bags. I make a list, they lay the stuff out, I check.

Everyone has their own bag, ever since the youngest was about five.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shared lists are your friend. DH and I use the Cozi app to keep running lists for groceries, household goods, etc. Vacations get their own list created, with both of us adding to it the week or so before we go, as we think of things.

When it’s time to pack, the adults gather stuff based on the list. Kids old enough to read have their own individual packing lists written out. At first, you’ll have an adult double-check your work. But eventually, you’re presumed old enough to know better and/or to deal with the consequences when you half-ass your preparations. (Looking at you, DC who brought one pair of pants on a 4-day trip.)

You can choose to be a martyr if you secretly enjoy it and don’t guilt trip others because of your active choice. But you don’t have to live like this if you don’t want to.

It took me YEARS to get the family to use shared calendars. Really, you can't imagine the reluctance I had. Spouse likes paper lists -- but of course they are lost by the time next trip comes around.

Shared lists are not happening; I have my own list, but just at the end of the trip I have these two backpacks of cables and medicine and random stuff to tuck into our small cabinet in our small house.

Who doesn't travel with a CO monitor? https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/30/travel/hotels-carbon-monoxide.html

Most people don’t travel with a CO monitor. Most people don’t even own one, I would wager. Most DCUMers have one at home, but even on this precise slice of the world, it’s unusual to travel with one.

[Anonymous]

I keep all this stuff in a Ziploc bag and put that bag in the packing cubes which goes in the suitcase so when I pull it out, I have lots of things I need. Like PP I keep A travel, toiletry bag and just toss my regular make up and when I get ready for the day

[Anonymous]

OP you don’t say how old your kids are. Old enough to read is old enough to pitch in and learn how to pack. Since they could read, I write my kids a packing list. They pack their stuff while I’m doing mine, then I can go and check their work. With time the checking becomes faster then unnecessary because you have trained them so well.

Like wise with cords/devices/amusements. It is more work on your part initially to train them but worth it in the long run to get free of the burden of packing for so many people plus teaching them life skills. My youngest now is 9 and just needs double checking as he is my head in the clouds kid in general.

Also - yes I keep separate travel stuff (cords, adapters, travel games, luggage scale, etc.) for ease. I do not have the same must pack list as you. I have never packed tissues in my life honestly. Moisturizer is a toiletry and up to each individual. We do jot travel with a CO detector but those stories seem generally to be in Mexico or the like and we don’t travel there. However for items likes that and a travel first aid kit (which I do take), they would just live in my separate travel stuff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So when we travel, we have an assortment of stuff that goes with us, which usually falls on me though the teen is in charge of their own phone and laptop -- the elem kids aren't as trustworthy.

But I put together the chargers and cables for the various tablets, phones, and camera going on the trip, load movies on the tablets for the youngest as well as charge it, epipen, medicine, bandaids, CO detector, deck of cards, tissues, moisturizer, etc and if its beach trip sand toys and goggles and the like.

It all has a cabinet where it lives, but coming and going I need to pack into which ever bag we are taking on the trip (which varies somewhat). Does everyone go through this? Do you keep a bag fully stocked with travel gear and just take that? Don't have a good home for a packed backpack, but can find cubbies for the contents,

Everyone goes through this. The only change I’ve made in recent years is to minimize what we are taking with us to the fullest extent possible. Packing isn’t overwhelming when there is little to pack in the first place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shared lists are your friend. DH and I use the Cozi app to keep running lists for groceries, household goods, etc. Vacations get their own list created, with both of us adding to it the week or so before we go, as we think of things.

When it’s time to pack, the adults gather stuff based on the list. Kids old enough to read have their own individual packing lists written out. At first, you’ll have an adult double-check your work. But eventually, you’re presumed old enough to know better and/or to deal with the consequences when you half-ass your preparations. (Looking at you, DC who brought one pair of pants on a 4-day trip.)

You can choose to be a martyr if you secretly enjoy it and don’t guilt trip others because of your active choice. But you don’t have to live like this if you don’t want to.

It took me YEARS to get the family to use shared calendars. Really, you can't imagine the reluctance I had. Spouse likes paper lists -- but of course they are lost by the time next trip comes around.

Shared lists are not happening; I have my own list, but just at the end of the trip I have these two backpacks of cables and medicine and random stuff to tuck into our small cabinet in our small house.

Who doesn't travel with a CO monitor? https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/30/travel/hotels-carbon-monoxide.html

I'm the European PP. We don't have shared lists and never travel with a CO detector. We are minimalist travelers and usually travel with carryons. Maybe the root cause of the problem is that you bring too much stuff?

Ohhh, a minimalist European, do you also hate backpacks? Kids entertain themselves by writing in their moleskin notebooks and you write letters rather than phone calls.