What is your holiday-build-up attitude?
As in, are you 100% chilled, last minute Larry and happy to just go with the flow across the board? Do you like to have control and procedure? How far in advance does everything have to happen for you?
I get this feeling somewhere around mid Jan (I’m sure many of you are the same) where I need a circle on the calendar. A nice big, red circle and the words “HOLIDAY!!” (there are usually at least two exclamation marks.) At this stage- the early days of looking forward- all I need is a point on the map- to have discussed location/accommodation with my fiancé and the kids, and have it decided (reserved if it’s likely to book up.)
Once I have that, I’m happy right up until about two weeks before we go. This is when we usually decide how we’ll get to the place itself. For some reason, accommodation is a must to have nailed for me, the how-do-we-get-there is much looser. Will we drive? Will it be by boat? Or train? Will we fly? Where will we fly to? Will we take a few days to weave our way to our location? That all kind of becomes clearer nearer the time, and I’m pretty comfortable with that area being loose and fluid. Once I have the transport nailed though, I turn my attention to the packing.
It’s at this point that I usually make plans to commandeer the guest bedroom for a week or so. I like to start packing 1-2 weeks before we go away. My personality switches from breezy and chilled to something much sharper and my sense of humour about the whole thing kind of disappears. Packing last minute is the stress in the whole holiday-prep situation that I avoid at all costs. Now we’ve thrown two kids into the mix, that fact has been underlined several times.
Mulling it over, I think the reasons are fourfold.
One- I love clothes. I love the creative expression of getting dressed every day. My wardrobe is my paint box- my palette- and I dip into it each morning not knowing what I’ll draw on or where my fancy will take me. When I go on holiday, it’s not just about practicality. Yes, analysing the function of what I pack comes into play (see point three) but I also always know how I want to feel on a holiday. The same as everyday, my clothing is an expression. A very precisely engineered expression- I rarely get dressed without some thought, even if no-one will see me (I’m sure I’ve tried to deny that simple fact to myself in the past, but it’s a truth I’ve grown comfortable with and now embrace, even.)
Two- We take one bag for the whole family. I’m sure you will be surprised at this fact. It’s fairly big, yes. It’s bright blue. It’s not fancy (I think it’s North Face) it does the job. I hate having lots to carry whilst travelling and Sam wears this on his back. The boys then take a back pack each and Sam and I both have a small bag for carry on.
Three- I am extremely preoccupied with how point one and point two play out in real life. What I mean to say is, I’m pretty obsessed with striking the perfect balance between satisfying the whimsical nature of the way I get dressed and being uber-mega-hyper-efficient. I hate wasted space in a bag and will berate myself for packing a dress I didn’t wear (heaven forbid it’s a maxi length?!)
Four- Holidays are usually very low-key for us. There’s minimal stress, we’re chilled, we go with the flow. Our family unit functions at optimum output when left in its own little bubble- a holiday is a prime example of this- and so the packing prep is the necessary pre-programming that allows the carefree to unfold as it comes.
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