Getting Ready for Summer Travel

Getting Ready for Summer Travel

[00:00:00] Narrator: Do you dream about your next trip? You're in the right place on the time to talk travel podcast. We come to you weekly to share places to go and what to do when you get there. Let's dive into this week's adventure.

[00:00:16] Nasreen: Welcome back to another episode of Time to Talk Travel. Today we're going to be talking about summer travel. How do you get ready for it, things you might forget to remember, how we make it work, maybe what we haven't made work and what we've learned from it.

There's a lot of details that go in, whether you're taking one trip or a whole bunch. Des. Do you want to lead us off with anything you're getting ready? Because we were having a talk before this and we learned that Des doesn't stop her mail.

[00:00:44] Des: No, they're, people who talk about stopping their mail. I guess I, I don't get that much mail anymore. I used to. So yeah, when I went to Europe for two months last summer, I did not stop my mail. I did get a nice text from my neighbor at one point with a photo saying, do you want me to take care of this cause mail was pouring out, but it was all that free, the spammy stuff, that you don't read anyway. I knew what bills I had and I was taking care of that online. But apparently this is not the way to handle it. Both Naz and Ciaran said they definitely stopped their mail. I guess that is something to think about.

[00:01:17] Maureen: I don't stop my mail either.

We have a big mailbox that we have a thing that can drop down. And so it just fills up in there. Or I get a neighbor to just put stuff in the house for us. If they're going to check on the house anyway, the

[00:01:29] Des: Yeah. For me, my priority was plants. I have orchids that I have grown for years and they could not go two months without water. My boyfriend did gift me a automatic water dropper thing that would go in my big plant in the house. But I, had a girlfriend who lives, down the street.

I called her and said, I'll buy you a gift in Europe if you will please water my plants. And I did, I, on every single orchid, I put how many shot glasses of water they get each week, cause some are bigger, some are smaller. And I was so thrilled when I came back two months later and they were all alive.

In fact, they were thriving. Yeah, for me it's taking care of plants. So I guess, think about what matters to you.

[00:02:10] Nasreen: I'm thrilled that you water them with shot glasses.

[00:02:12] Des: Oh, amen, girl. People said ice cubes a while ago. I'm like no. The shot glasses are what do the trick. So yes.

[00:02:19] Nasreen: Oh my goodness. So yes, priorities, obviously there. Plants not dying while you're gone, check on that one. And Maureen has a big mailbox that you can dump things into. What else do you get ready? Or you just go. You're just if it doesn't all burn down, we're good.

[00:02:35] Maureen: I guess it depends if you're going for the weekend or if you're going for two months, that does take a little extra prep. We've got our ring camera at the front door. We've got cameras on the property, so that takes care of wondering who's wandering around the house. We do tell our neighbors if we're out of town so that they are keeping an eye and make sure that there's not people or cars that they're unaware of around our house. But as far as like actually getting ready to leave I think it's more about the prep of where we're going than what we're leaving behind, at least in our house.

[00:03:06] Nasreen: Ciaran, what do you get ready at home?

[00:03:08] Ciaran: I've been really fortunate because I've had adult kids living with me well fortunate or not fortunate, usually fortunate. I have adult kids that live in my house. Oftentimes they are working and they're not coming on trips with me. So at least I know somebody who Is here at the house to bring in the mail and make sure things don't burn down It's funny you mentioned that because every single time we go on a trip My husband's big fear is that we're going to pull up and there's going to be like a smoking hole He's just like as long as there's not a smoking hole when we get back from our trip.

It's okay. But there's so many things even little things. We have a weekly gardener that comes and we pay them usually in cash. So making sure that the gardener knows what to do when you're gone and that you've prepaid if you're going to be gone more than a week. Making sure that you know the trash cans get brought out or brought back in because sometimes you leave and it's the day before trash day and you don't want that trash to sit till you get home. There's lots of little things like that but All in all other than the mail, the trash, the gardener, I'm much more like Des.

I don't think about things like I just pick up and go and then deal from a distance.

[00:04:18] Nasreen: I think it's rare for us that there's no one here at all, but for us, the big thing, if we're not going to be home is the dogs, getting a kennel spot can be a little tricky during the summer, especially over more popular weekends.

We have an alarm system, but I have minimal alerts set for it. . And I have different settings on the video cameras based on what time of year it is, because I don't want to use up all my footage on the neighborhood kids riding their bike in circles in front of my house, or, my son playing with the dogs in the backyard. I reset a lot of those parameters when I know we're going to be traveling so that I do get an alert if a door opens, because the door shouldn't be opening and then I know I'm someone who likes to come home to things being fairly clean.

I clean before I go on vacation because when I come back, I don't want to be thrown into chaos and feel like I have to start doing stuff again. I know, I'm cleaning out the fridge. I'm making sure there aren't going to be any mushy surprises when I come home that we don't have stuff sitting out.

I'm checking the kid's room and having them check to make sure they didn't leave any food or beverage in their room that's going to turn into a science experiment slash cure of something. And I usually do turn water off if we're going to be gone for a while. I'll flip the water off at some of the sinks and like our washing machine.

Because I've had too many friends that have had major water damage to their homes. It's my fear in the way the fire is your fear. I just don't want to come home to a soggy house. Yeah.

[00:05:48] Maureen: but not bad idea in the summer. You're talking about pets. Yeah, that is the main one. Even when I leave my older kids home, because they tend to not take as good of care of the pets and plants. But they are really good about taking care of other people's pets and plants.

And that is a good solution is to find out if there is a trusted, teenager or college student who would be willing to help out that's a peace of mind is to that somebody's in the house. .

[00:06:12] Ciaran: do you guys do anything to make it look like somebody's in the house while you're gone? I have neighbors who've asked me to go into their house and turn the lights on. Or do stuff. Just make it look like the house is occupied.

[00:06:25] Nasreen: We're in one of those neighborhoods where everyone knows each other's business. And so that would be useless because people would know we were gone. If something happens to our house, if someone comes in, the neighbors are going to text me before I notice what's going on.

And we do have those smart plugs, I could turn on and off lights if I really wanted to, but, no.

[00:06:46] Des: yeah. And I live at the top of a very steep driveway. That is one of the benefits is no one is going to make the effort to go up this driveway to pick my house to be the one they burgle. I also have the cameras.

We get a notification. Sometimes that's more stressful because Rob has a whole garden. We have a lot of wildlife around the back of our house and in the side. And so he's getting alerts at 5 a. m. That a deer is eating all of his tomatoes

[00:07:13] Nasreen: I can yell on my camera.

[00:07:14] Des: I have one inside. I can

yell,

[00:07:16] Maureen: My husband did that last night. I was in the kitchen and he's out of town and he starts talking to me through the camera. What are you doing? Creeping me out, loading the dishwasher. Exciting.

[00:07:27] Ciaran: Yeah, I've been really enjoying all of our cameras because my house is on the market and people don't realize. We have signs posted saying that, there's video surveillance, but people just they don't realize

[00:07:39] Des: They forget it or they don't realize you can hear audio. That is for sure. Yeah.

Yeah. I will say the other thing I do, and it's less about prepping for the house, but I prep my car. I definitely get an oil change before a long road trip. I remember before my last road trip, I went and I love this place because it's all women run, women, mechanics, women, and the lady comes in. She goes, what are you 1500 miles. And I said I just want to, I'm going on a road trip. She's do not waste your money. There's no need. Cause I do every 3000 miles religiously change my oil.

And she's go away, come back after the road trip. And I was like, okay, got it.

[00:08:16] Ciaran: There's a lot when you're going international too, like getting an international driver's license, making sure all of your policies are going to be up to date and cover you for where you're traveling, checking on your phone plan. I know Naz is the queen of all of that organizational stuff. I just dabble.

[00:08:35] Nasreen: I don't like surprises. I think that's what it is. I like to be ready . It's the way I am, but the car, like you're talking about getting an oil change.

, I'll do that sometimes. But getting the car ready, I have everything I could possibly need. I've got my med kit thing. That's got, every random medication, bandages, gloves, trash bags, extra sunglasses, gum. Also, like I have a corkscrew, I have priorities. I've got a bottle opener. I've got, the silicone cups that open and shut, because sometimes we'll get bigger drinks for the kids to split.

And then they each bring their own cup in the car too, that we can refill. So all of those little things. things, putting trash bags around the car strategically. So I don't spend forever cleaning up after every single leg of the trip. I just, I have, I had a lot of time to practice.

[00:09:22] Des: All smart. I remember when the kids were little and I'd pack a pizza tray, with magnets so that they could play in the car. , I'm out of that mode now, so I don't think about it, but

[00:09:32] Maureen: was way more organized when they were little. Now I think I've trained them well enough that they pack what they need and they don't want to stop. If we're driving they just want to go right through. In fact, some of my kids are, driving themselves. My son's going to be driving back from Miami on his own.

And he's like a professional road tripper now. Those trips when they're little do come in handy when they're older to be well trained. And he's that's fine. It's a 20 hour drive. I'll see you. See you in a day.

[00:09:58] Ciaran: That's so funny because my son just did a 20 hour drive to come home for Passover and he drove down from Oregon to Southern California with two friends. They planned out their trips. They had coolers and they had stops planned and they were Updating us every hour where they had reached and I was like, wow, we trained that kid good

the one thing as Southern California beach close mom, that has stuck in my car is I always have a small thing of baby powder in the back of my car to get the sand off.

Even though I don't have little kids, I have one of those little travel baby powder things to get the sand off my feet. Cause I hate like having sand between my toes.

[00:10:43] Maureen: It's everybody else's travel goal is to have sand between their

[00:10:47] Nasreen: not in the car though.

[00:10:48] Des: I love it I know I'm happy when I You

know when I've got the sand between my toes in the smell of the Sunscreen in the car, Oh, I love all of that So yeah.

[00:10:58] Maureen: moved all the way here for that,

now if I have a snow scraper in my car, that does not make me happy.

[00:11:04] Nasreen: We covered things to get ready at the house. We covered, some car things, and then we know a lot of people fly during the summer too. And from my experience, flying during the summer is a different animal. Flying during the winter is one way, flying, the rest of the year, another way, flying during the summer.

There's a lot of weather issues you can come up against. So I know for me, when I'm flying during the summer, a lot of times I don't do it because I assume something's going to go wrong, but really preparing for those unexpected delays. In fact, my son was supposed to fly back yesterday. And his initial flight got delayed so much that he wasn't gonna make his connection and he's coming home today instead and that's just the way it is during the summer I feel like a lot.

[00:11:49] Maureen: Thunderstorms that roll through, but if you've got lightning, you're not going anywhere.

[00:11:53] Des: Yeah that and hurricanes

[00:11:55] Maureen: Summer is weird, too, because for no reason, there seems to be a lot of delays and cancellations that they blame on weather, even though you're like, I don't see any weather.

[00:12:04] Des: yeah, and that is something that is an act of

God beyond their control. So they don't have to do reimbursements and, if there's a weather delay instead of, oh, our crew didn't make it in from this last flight quite yet. Flying back from Ohio the last time, they kept saying, Oh, there's something with the door and this was after a door had flown off.

So we're like we definitely want you to fix it. But then the gal sitting next to me, she said, they use the same exact excuse on the way here. No, you gotta have to come up with more creative excuses and,

We know you're lying. Give us a better, a new excuse and,

a new, more creative one, but I will say you do have hurricanes, you do have major storms that you do have to contend with, it is important to know if you're going between June and October, have a game plan because you're not thinking like all the natives. I grew up in Florida.

Usually it's Memorial Day, it

Kicks off right away that there's bad weather. It's always the 4th of July. I mean, Labor Day that's the big one. It's just all the money goes out the window for all the beach people. I hate it for anyone who owns a business on the beach, because again, if I see, where I'm booked for Labor Day is. If it's the Bahamas, Florida, whatever, if there's a hurricane coming, I am not going, I, I will not be, riding out a hurricane in the Bahamas, I pass. And they lose that money if there's a storm that

does hit. Pay attention to the weather, no matter where you go.

[00:13:28] Nasreen: It can really change

how you plan to, because if you're looking at, parking. So my son's recent trip, he was going to drive to Manchester and park himself there. And he was sitting there going it's about the same as an Uber. I ended up being like, you know what? I can drive you on the way there.

Let's leave your car here. And then you can take an Uber back. But again, because it was weather, you got to kind of plan for, is this actually going to be cheaper if I end up having to fly back a day later?

Or two days later do I want my car there? Because now he's flying into a different airport. They're sending him back into Boston to get him in. That's fine. I'm going there anyways for something for work so I can pick him up while I'm there. Convenient for him. But if his car had been in Manchester, we would still have to go get it

and he would have Paid for the extra time.

So definitely considering things that could go wrong when you're planning and thinking about what will make you the most flexible so that you're not having to go retrieve cars from places or really mess around with a lot of extra fees.

[00:14:28] Ciaran: You guys are stressing me out because, I'm so California laid back earthquakes don't generally stop flights. , I better plan to go a few days early because it's on the East coast. I'm going to Philly. It might have issues.

Yes.

[00:14:58] Des: just be aware and be ready and be flexible.

Of course, we say this all the time,

[00:15:03] Maureen: that's interesting to see a lot of people. Talking about what to pack now for summer we've had this conversation before, but what we travel on

flights, very different styles all around here. But when you're packing are you an overpacker or are you guys more of a practical packer?

[00:15:20] Ciaran: I can go either way. I have two travel modes. I have maximalist and minimalist travel modes. So it's very funny. I have nowhere in the middle. It's either one or the other. Either I've got a giant suitcase and six pairs of shoes, or I have a tiny little backpack and two pairs of shoes and one I'm wearing, yeah. But lately the idea of minimalist appeals much more to me just the idea of not schlepping a lot. I have a friend Todd we can link his stuff, but he does like all of his travels with a Kanken you know backpack like the Fjallraven Kanken backpack and he fits So much in there.

He's done some videos on every piece of gear and that appeals to me so much having a capsule wardrobe And my capsule toiletry set and being footloose and fancy free

[00:16:08] Maureen: duffel bag that you like a garment bag that

folds up and then you put everything in? That

is a game changer you've got your five outfits and then you can actually fit your toiletries in it and you're good to go. Yeah,

[00:16:22] Des: for sure. I, and then I still am over packed even when I think I'm a minimalist. I have this whole five, four, three, two, one rule where, it's five pairs of underwear, four pairs, four blouses, three pairs of pants, two, one bathing suit, like that's the rule and then I'll have Two pairs of shoes, like the one I'm going to wear everywhere comfortably.

Flip flops don't count. You need those for the beach. I have a bag that has a zipper bottom that collapses and stretches. So it's small, like a purse, that's it's like a backpack, but it. Doesn't go over your shoulders and, it has a zipper bottom.

It's called the Foldy. I love that bag because I can sneak on a flight and it's small enough to fit under the seat in front of me easily. but

if I buy something or whatever, I can unzip that bottom portion and you can fit a whole, like three more days of clothes in there.

[00:17:07] Nasreen: Yeah. I don't ever pack anything over a carry on. Even if I'm in the car I'm never going with more than one suitcase. And maybe a little backpack. If, It's a road trip and I'm gonna bring something in and out. But carry on is the max. And then I've got a Cotopaxi backpack carry on thing that I got when we were traveling to Sri Lanka, because they recommended not having rolled luggage in general for some of the destinations that we had on our list for the next couple of years.

And it's this, it. Almost is like suitcase y size, it's pretty big, but it folds open like a suitcase and then each side has compartments and zippers in it. So it opens like luggage, but it looks like a backpack and it has different areas to put extra stuff in. And I love that thing. When I go to New York now, I almost always bring that because I don't want to deal with the turnstiles on the subway system with a roller bag.

And I don't want to be dragging a roller bag around. This just looks like a very large backpack. I usually leave a little bit of space so I can shove my big purse in there too and only carry one thing. But no, I am team minimalist. I want to have options, but I feel like a lot of my stuff goes together and my clothes are not bulky.

It works out that I can bring a couple extra options. There's always a couple things I don't wear, but. I don't like to ride the line where I'm like, what do I need to re wear? I want to be right on the cusp of, still having clean clothes.

[00:18:27] Des: Easier in the summer because then you have nice linen pants that roll up to be nothing, and it's shorts and it's not the

big bulky. I have a sweater. I love in winter, but that sweater takes off the suitcase. If I don't wear it on the flight, it's not coming.

It's just, I will say though, having a jacket is great for hiding things. If I have extra I have big pockets on the inside of the coat and I can fit two packing cubes in the , inside pockets of my jacket. And I'm like, I have a whole nother suitcase right on me.

[00:18:55] Ciaran: We all have that one like Garment that we discovered like at target on sale or something I have a a very lightweight nylon, like windbreaker type jacket And it like folds up to be like this big but yes, it has massive pockets on the side Plus the pockets here and here,

plus one on the sleeve, and I'm like my phone is here, I've got packing cubes in each pocket,

I've got like all kinds of stuff here.

[00:19:24] Maureen: just checked the bag.

[00:19:26] Des: See, I will not check

a bag.

[00:19:28] Maureen: know. I

know. I always bring stuff to carry on. If my bag doesn't make it yada. But if I get two free bags, I'm going to pack them. I'm going to take them. , if I'm going in the car, I'm More stuff, the better. If we're going into a hotel or something on the way, then I'll pack a bag so I don't bring in my big suitcase, but if I can be a minimalist, but if I don't have to, I'm not going to.

I'm going to pack it. I'm going to bring it. I like options. I don't want to re wear things I do try and bring comfortable pair of shoes, pair of heels that I can wear with whatever I've got.

Actually my dog just chewed my favorite pair of wedge sandals. So she is literally in the dog house, that one. And I'm on the search for now my summer sandals. Cause you need a pair, you need a pair of go with everything that are neutral, but cute. And you can,

some,

[00:20:14] Ciaran: I have an Amazon link for you. I'll send it to you.

[00:20:17] Maureen: Okay, perfect.

[00:20:17] Nasreen: You guys have reminded me now, cause I'm thinking about the other getting ready for summer things. A couple more things. One is medication. If you're going to be traveling and you're on medications to a put in an advance for refills and you might even have to go to your doctor and explain that you're going on vacation to get something refilled ahead of time because it could be a giant pain to do it somewhere else.

Same thing with medications and summer travel, read, if you've been taking it, but maybe haven't taken it over the summer before, read everything because a lot of them with extra sun exposure, they don't do good things. It's not going to be a pleasant vacation if you don't read all the things that you can't do with the medication that you haven't been paying attention to, to begin with.

For parents who are traveling, I know a lot of people go to see their parents during the summer, their families, if they don't live nearby. And if you are not driving and you're flying and your kids are maybe at the age where they need car seats, but On the cusp, or it might be a pain or you might not need it on the flight.

I know that I used to sometimes get my parents, car seats. I would order them from target. They would pick them up and put them in and then meet us at the airport with the car seats in, because I don't really love bringing them on the plane, especially if they're not going to be in the seat.

Cause I don't want them banging around. And then we would either leave them at my parents at the end of the trip for the next time so that they had them. Or I repacked them in one of the boxes once with the foam again and then checked them that way. And car seats are free to check on, I think almost every airline.

I can't, I haven't been charged for one yet, but it's just, I don't like tossing them around or putting them in that bag and

handing

[00:21:55] Maureen: Tons of those rental companies too

now that you get what you need and they'll actually meet you with everything or, drop it off at your parent's house

or we've done that several times when they were little and that worked out really well. And you get to try something new too, like you get to try a new car seat or a new stroller or a new playpen or whatever it might have. On your medication thing, like I keep rubbing my nose. My allergies are terrible right now. Everything is blooming. And sometimes like you get used to where you live, but when you go somewhere else, whatever else is blooming or in the air can really bother you and can really affect your trip.

So add that, allergy medication into your medicine diddy bag of fun and make sure that

I

never heard that term before. Have you heard that term before? Diddy bag.

[00:22:36] Des: oh Yeah.

[00:22:37] Maureen: I hadn't like your catch all for when you travel and I have one and I actually think it would be hilarious that we should do an episode where we all just bring our ditty bag and see what you carry with you because there's some interesting things and some different things that I would never have thought of and other things where I was like, seriously, you carry that

all

[00:22:55] Nasreen: God, I'm going to be 40 minutes of the episode. It's going to be amazing.

[00:22:58] Maureen: Your whole carry on bag can't be your ditty bag.

[00:23:01] Nasreen: No I'm

[00:23:01] Ciaran: I was also going For those of us with food allergies and food issues, that is 1 area where I may pack light. I could be minimalist, but wherever I go, I'm bringing food because I have so many issues and allergies and I've been trapped at airports and had delays and Fourteen hours without eating is a long time.

[00:23:22] Maureen: It does not make a happy traveler. No, I do the same, Ciaran. Having no gluten, no dairy, and very little nuts there's really limited choices usually at the airport, so I'm with you on that. And the snacks are ridiculously expensive now. A little bag is ten bucks for anything, from candy to chips

to popcorn, everything,

[00:23:43] Nasreen: even with the delays and everything and timing places shut down. They don't stay open the entire time that things are delayed and they can be short staffed and shorthanded. In fact, one of the biggest issues during the beginning of the summer is the J 1 visa kids go back home at the end of the school year.

And so there is a hiring gap in that area where they're short staffed already. I bring snacks no matter what. I know Des travels with granola bars. We've covered that before.

[00:24:10] Des: Protein bars. Yes.

[00:24:12] Nasreen: Okay.

[00:24:12] Des: will always find me with a protein bar in my purse.

[00:24:15] Nasreen: Do you have any last, what is your summer travel advice if you were going to give someone, it can be anything.

[00:24:21] Maureen: Do it. A lot of people, you just think you're gonna get to it, and then the summer flies by, and you really didn't enjoy it. We only get so many summers, right? Even if it's, even if it's just a staycation, enjoy it. Do something local. If you can make it somewhere new and fabulous, even better.

But, take time and enjoy the summer.

[00:24:39] Des: What she said.

[00:24:41] Ciaran: Yeah, I agree. Same thing. I'm struggling with it at the moment, but we're going to do our best.

[00:24:46] Maureen: We are too. We're still trying to pick it and narrow it down and figure out everyone's schedule. I'm not saying it's easy. It's actually probably the hardest thing to do, especially as your kids get older and they work. Not that they don't want to spend time with you, but there's just not enough summer to go around.

Even right now, we're looking for a four day window that all six of us can actually go and do something

[00:25:06] Nasreen: That's a great one for sure. Just do it. I personally am a not crowd fan in general so my summer vacation stuff is always trying to figure out what I can do to avoid people. So toll pass so I don't have to wait in the line to pay the toll.

You can bring it with you when you travel. Making sure I know how to get passes or things ahead of time so I'm not waiting. Figuring out , when things are quiet and trying to go during those times for day trips. We will be back next week with another topic until then happy travels.

[00:25:34] Narrator: This has been another episode of Time to Talk Travel, brought to you by HashtagTravels. com. You can keep in touch with us between episodes by checking out our site, joining our newsletter, or connecting with us on social. We've always got the information you need in our episode notes. Until next time, happy travels, and thanks for being a part of our trip.