The Sexy Side of Travel Prep: Paperwork

This will be a short post, because our countdown has truly begun, and the time we have left to get through the to-do lists is dwindling. For the past few weeks, I’ve woken up every morning and it’s been pretty go-go-go on whatever I can get to each day. A lot of that has been social stuff - trying to maximize time with friends and family (especially for the kids) while also packing for camps (each kid has one week of camp before the trip), packing up stuff in the house to make room for our renters, and packing for the trip itself.

And of course there’s still normal stuff. Like, my kids want to eat EVERY DAY. What the hell? Multiple times a day, even. Madness.

Today was a biggie for little details, though. I canceled our Y membership, Costco, Disney+ and Hulu. Reduced insurance on our cars since they won’t be driven. Changed insurance on our properties because they’ll be rentals. Called doctors about the last prescription refills. Shut down Story’s Gabb Wireless account (it’s a cool watch phone thing for kids but won’t work internationally). I’ll be touching base with our hosts for our upcoming stays with AirBnB and Home Exchange folks. I made sure my mom, who is currently visiting, has WhatsApp installed on her phone so we can chat seamlessly. I showed our friend how/where to check our mail while we’re gone. Is this super exciting to read? Yeah, sorry, it’s really not.

This is the stuff I’ve had on my list for ages, but we knew it would have to wait until the very end. So, doing it all now makes this feel very real. We are no longer saying, “We’ll do that as it gets closer.” We’re just doing it. It’s boring, tedious, and exhilarating all at once.

This is not the sexy side of a trip like this, but it feels good to be getting through it!