Packing for Vacation

By the time you read this, we’ll actually be in the middle of the Caribbean, nearing the end of a 7-day cruise. Our first actual vacation in a long long time.

Well, as close to a vacation as we come – we’ll still be working some hours via overpriced cruise ship satellite internet, as we are in the midst of some major business transition. And we’re filling in for a member of our team who is currently on volunteer deployment with the Red Cross.

Most of the time, we just don’t feel the need or desire for anything resembling a vacation. Our lives have a great amount of balance of travel, relaxation, new experiences and work that are all nicely blended. But sometimes, an opportunity pops up that you just can’t say no to.. even if the timing is not the most ideal to take off.

One of the reasons we dread non-RV travel is actually the packing.

We’re so used to not having to pre-think about what we’ll need when we visit a new location. We always have everything with us – a full wardrobe, all our toiletries, food and all our tech. There’s no fear of leaving behind a critical charger, packing too few pairs of underwear or forgetting the toothpaste.

As I write this, we’re in the middle of a dry run of packing. When I was traveling a lot in my pre-nomadic days, packing for a trip was no big deal. I did it so often it became routine, and I could do it literally as I was walking out the door.

Now, since we so infrequently travel without our house, we have to give ourselves time to make sure we think everything through.

We’ve spent some of time the past couple of weeks thinking about what we’ll want on the cruise, and even flushing out our ‘dressy’ wardrobe. We love opportunities to dress up, but most of our dress-up clothes are more Burning Man and Sci-Fi convention appropriate, than cruise appropriate.

Of course I’ll still rock a corset on formal night, and Chris his tails. We’re not going *that* conventional.