Thursday, May 1, 2014

Traveling with Kids - Week 2 Tie Up Loose Ends

What to do with the yard? Are the prescriptions ready to go? Dentist visits out of the way?

There are a million little things that need to be done when going on vacation. Depending on the length of the trip you may need to arrange for someone to care for the yard, water the plants, take care of the dog, make any doctor or dentist visits.

I did not know that in order to take a prescription it needs to have a prescription label with your name on it. I understand why, I had just never thought about it before. I ran into a problem. My son had been given samples of a medication for his skin and a mail in prescription. I did not start soon enough to get the prescription filled so we ended up scrambling at the last minute to see what we could do. I figured we would just take the samples...no can do. Just be aware that if you have medications to take, arrange it all a few weeks before hand to be certain everything is good to go.

Here are a few things we do two weeks before leaving:

  1. Stop our mail at the post office
  2. Arrange for someone to mow the lawn
  3. Arrange for someone to take our plants and water them while gone
  4. Call credit card companies and let them know we will be traveling so the cards aren't flagged 
  5. Gather our kids friends addresses so they can send post cards
  6. Be sure you have bed bug spray if staying in hostels, third world countries or low end hotels. I found one on amazon that is all natural so I don't worry about my kids being affected by it
  7. Think about getting motion detectors or timers for lights 
  8. Make yourself a note to turn off the water to the house to prevent any possible floods
  9. Get a little money - cash or euros in Europe for small incidentals
That's all that comes to mind at the moment. 

One important thing that I left off the packing list is Sport Stick, Runner's Glide, etc. It is an anti-shaffing ointment. Invaluable for long walking days, hiking or running.