Adventures in packing! Ugh!

[JDarling]

So tonight I'm packing our bags. Here's the kicker - tomorrow I have to be up at around 4am... Then we're driving to Tucson, AZ from San Diego, CA to spend Thanksgiving with my grandmother. The next day, we're leaving for Disneyworld from Phoenix airport, HOWEVER, our shuttle is picking us up at 5:15am for a 9:30 flight! Well, at least we'll have plenty of time...

Which brings me to my current problem... Packing! We're all set to go to Victoria and Alberts, but I think my dog hid my other dress shoe on me this morning because it seems to have disappeared.. Maybe I'll just wear one and pretend to be Cinderella?

On top of that, I've misplaced the credit card we need to get the rental car!Erg! So I'm hunting around for those... and I'm SOOO tired. Being all excited and getting everything ready for this trip has kept me so busy, I haven't gotten more than 5 hours of sleep any night this week...

Whew!
Anyone else have any adventures in packing to keep me from going completely out of my mind?

 

[bigcrit]

LOL! Are you sure were not married! We go through something like this whenever we go anywhere! Relax sometimes you just need a new set of eyes looking for stuff. Ask for some help and I'm sure you will laugh at where that stuff ended up being......

 

[JDarling]

LOL yeah, I'm taking a break and making some tea. Can't get much more relaxing than that, eh?

Here's the kicker... now i found the other shoe, and I THOUGHT I knew just where that dress was I was going to wear to V&A... and now I can't find the dress!

 

[jamzots]

This happens to me every trip!!! I am always the one up late packing, when I had no sleep the whole week before preparing. And then I am so tired I can't find anything. Find your cc first, that is most important and it will clear your mind to do other things. Don't forget Orlando is not the end of the world and if you do forget some basic neccessities you can always buy them. Enjoy your cup of tea, and just think in 2 days you'll be at WDW!!!!!

 

[graygables]

Here's my "it could be worse" story:

Dec 2003, the night before we are due to leave for the airport at 6am. I'm up, can't sleep, everything is packed, but we are having a bit o' weather, so I'm afraid the alarm won't go off. Finally, about 1am, I start getting that queasy, I'm so exhausted feeling, so I decide to sneak into DDs room in the basement to get her "manual" alarm clock. I'm successful, and just as I'm drifting off to sleep, 7yo DD nudges me and says, "there's water on my floor" (in the basement). We've had a leaky water heater and DH had a bucket under it, so I assumed it overflowed a bit. He told me to go back to sleep and he'd check it out. If my DH were a swearing man, my ears would STILL be burning, as he hit the bottom step to land in 3 inches of icy cold water. Wall to wall, side to side, the whole basement was flooded. There are 2 bedrooms, an art room, a school room, a play room, a laundry room, and a half bath down there. Flooded. The water heater had ruptured (exploded more like) and was gushing cold water everywhere. So, I run (OK slog) into teen DDs room to wake her only to find that she has all her suitcases/carry ons packed and sitting...IN THE WATER. Cell phone, palm pilot, school books, clothes. Everything is soaked and we are to be leaving in less than 4 hours for WDW! So, we haul it all up and start blow dryers on everything in the 2 upstairs bathrooms while DH goes to a job site (in the sleet) to pick up a water pump. I return to the basement to start picking up anything that is floating and then the pump gives out. So, DH has to go next door and wake his Dad (at 4am) to get the backup pump. His dad comes over and they work and work until about 545, when his dad tells him to just go get ready, he'll take care of it. In the meantime, we have blown dry most of DDs things, so we repack, load the car and hit the road for the airport at about 615 am. FIL pumped and shop-vaced all week, but we still came home to a disaster area. DDs cell/palm were goners as were her cha-ching school books I had to pay to replace. Insurance would not cover anything as we knew about the leak before the rupture.

I hope you have a GREAT time!!! (and turn off that water heater!!! Feel better now??? )

 

[JDarling]

At this point, I'm really hoping DH has it in his wallet. He's doing his martial arts thing, so I can't call him and bug him about it. Nothing to do for it, but what until he gets home... unless... do you think National rental company will take starbucks gift cards??? I have about 5 of those I found... J/k

 

[jamzots]

Here's my "it could be worse" story:

Dec 2003, the night before we are due to leave for the airport at 6am. I'm up, can't sleep, everything is packed, but we are having a bit o' weather, so I'm afraid the alarm won't go off. Finally, about 1am, I start getting that queasy, I'm so exhausted feeling, so I decide to sneak into DDs room in the basement to get her "manual" alarm clock. I'm successful, and just as I'm drifting off to sleep, 7yo DD nudges me and says, "there's water on my floor" (in the basement). We've had a leaky water heater and DH had a bucket under it, so I assumed it overflowed a bit. He told me to go back to sleep and he'd check it out. If my DH were a swearing man, my ears would STILL be burning, as he hit the bottom step to land in 3 inches of icy cold water. Wall to wall, side to side, the whole basement was flooded. There are 2 bedrooms, an art room, a school room, a play room, a laundry room, and a half bath down there. Flooded. The water heater had ruptured (exploded more like) and was gushing cold water everywhere. So, I run (OK slog) into teen DDs room to wake her only to find that she has all her suitcases/carry ons packed and sitting...IN THE WATER. Cell phone, palm pilot, school books, clothes. Everything is soaked and we are to be leaving in less than 4 hours for WDW! So, we haul it all up and start blow dryers on everything in the 2 upstairs bathrooms while DH goes to a job site (in the sleet) to pick up a water pump. I return to the basement to start picking up anything that is floating and then the pump gives out. So, DH has to go next door and wake his Dad (at 4am) to get the backup pump. His dad comes over and they work and work until about 545, when his dad tells him to just go get ready, he'll take care of it. In the meantime, we have blown dry most of DDs things, so we repack, load the car and hit the road for the airport at about 615 am. FIL pumped and shop-vaced all week, but we still came home to a disaster area. DDs cell/palm were goners as were her cha-ching school books I had to pay to replace. Insurance would not cover anything as we knew about the leak before the rupture.

I hope you have a GREAT time!!! (and turn off that water heater!!! Feel better now??? )

I think I would have had a nervous breakdown right there on the spot!!!

 

[JDarling]

Here's my "it could be worse" story:

Dec 2003, the night before we are due to leave for the airport at 6am. I'm up, can't sleep, everything is packed, but we are having a bit o' weather, so I'm afraid the alarm won't go off. Finally, about 1am, I start getting that queasy, I'm so exhausted feeling, so I decide to sneak into DDs room in the basement to get her "manual" alarm clock. I'm successful, and just as I'm drifting off to sleep, 7yo DD nudges me and says, "there's water on my floor" (in the basement). We've had a leaky water heater and DH had a bucket under it, so I assumed it overflowed a bit. He told me to go back to sleep and he'd check it out. If my DH were a swearing man, my ears would STILL be burning, as he hit the bottom step to land in 3 inches of icy cold water. Wall to wall, side to side, the whole basement was flooded. There are 2 bedrooms, an art room, a school room, a play room, a laundry room, and a half bath down there. Flooded. The water heater had ruptured (exploded more like) and was gushing cold water everywhere. So, I run (OK slog) into teen DDs room to wake her only to find that she has all her suitcases/carry ons packed and sitting...IN THE WATER. Cell phone, palm pilot, school books, clothes. Everything is soaked and we are to be leaving in less than 4 hours for WDW! So, we haul it all up and start blow dryers on everything in the 2 upstairs bathrooms while DH goes to a job site (in the sleet) to pick up a water pump. I return to the basement to start picking up anything that is floating and then the pump gives out. So, DH has to go next door and wake his Dad (at 4am) to get the backup pump. His dad comes over and they work and work until about 545, when his dad tells him to just go get ready, he'll take care of it. In the meantime, we have blown dry most of DDs things, so we repack, load the car and hit the road for the airport at about 615 am. FIL pumped and shop-vaced all week, but we still came home to a disaster area. DDs cell/palm were goners as were her cha-ching school books I had to pay to replace. Insurance would not cover anything as we knew about the leak before the rupture.

I hope you have a GREAT time!!! (and turn off that water heater!!! Feel better now??? )

WoW! And I thought our baggage getting lost on our honeymoon was bad! You win! Talk about something you'll look back and laugh about (I hope!).

 

[JDarling]

Good news... I just dialed up the rental car agency and changed the name to DH's. This way we can use HIS card, even if mine is burried in some box (we recently moved). Whew. End of that stress.

Now... where in the world did that black dress get to.

 

[Martha7]

I defy anyone to top Graygable's horror story! Thank goodness your FIL was there to handle the emergency, or else you would have had to try to rebook your flight! I agree that getting ready for a trip to WDW is stressful in itself, which is why I literally start packing about a month before we leave. I keep a list of everything I need, and check the items off as I pack them. It's the only way I can keep my nerves somewhat calmed down. I also have a "to do" list going at the same time, and can check those items off as well. To the OP: Have a wonderful time! Those black dresses tend to hide among other articles of clothing in our closets. Just look again carefully. Did you take it to the drycleaners, and could it be in one of those plastic bags that you can't see through easily?

 

[graygables]

I forgot to add that it was the trip we had won from Kellogg's so it was set in stone, no changes, nothing. I am grateful to this day that FIL was willing to help. He came over every day while we were gone, ran the pump and the shop vac and really got rid of a LOT of water. We came home to no hot water and yards of carpet that had to be ripped out and replaced (not to mention all our school books, we homeschool, and literally bags and bags of other items lost) We do joke about it now, "The Great Flood of '03" will certainly be talked about in our family history for generations to come! And...it's always good for putting the rest of our problems in perspective!

 

[SaraMc]

We were leaving for our honeymoon straight from the hall with a quick trip to my mum's to let me change out of my big foofy wedding dress and DH out of his kilt and stuff. We had a couple of hours before we needed to leave and had packed about a week before. Carry-ons were all done ect. However DH left his Carry-on at our house. No where near the airport or where our wedding was or my mom's house. It had his deodrant and some clothes just incase and toothbrush. Since Im the one who gets all the paperwork stuff ( tickets ect) to carry since I check and doublecheck things 10x's. We get in the car deciding that he can buy stuff when we get to WDW and we are just to get on the highway and I notice that my carry-on bag is not with us. Its still at my mom's. We turn around go back. Its a miracle we ever made it there with everything we needed.

 

[JDarling]

I defy anyone to top Graygable's horror story! Thank goodness your FIL was there to handle the emergency, or else you would have had to try to rebook your flight! I agree that getting ready for a trip to WDW is stressful in itself, which is why I literally start packing about a month before we leave. I keep a list of everything I need, and check the items off as I pack them. It's the only way I can keep my nerves somewhat calmed down. I also have a "to do" list going at the same time, and can check those items off as well. To the OP: Have a wonderful time! Those black dresses tend to hide among other articles of clothing in our closets. Just look again carefully. Did you take it to the drycleaners, and could it be in one of those plastic bags that you can't see through easily?

Thanks! I ended up finding it. One of the cats was sleeping on it on the end of the bed. It blended right in with the black BLANKET he was on. So we're here in Tucson and heading to bed so we can be up at 5am to catch our shuttle to the airport. Yeah! We're almost there!

Hubby came home and helped me back. That was defiantely nice. I got to sit down at the end of the night and do my nails while watching Tarzan (hey - anyone who knows me knows I'm pretty "low mateince". I haven't done my nails in over a year!). It was defiantely a luxury.

See you all after the trip on the trip report!

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

Oh thank goodness, it's not just me! It's 1:20am, and I still have SO much to do, and I have to wake up at 5am!

Tomorrow, it will all be worth it, though!

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

Make that 2am, and still not finished!

 

[aubriee]

I may have a packing horror story next month. I'm taking my 73 y/o mom for her first ever trip to WDW Dec 9th-18th and I was planning to take my 9 y/o GD for a trip next May. However, I decided to move my GD's trip up to Jan 2nd-Jan 8th (so I could get one more trip out of my AP and use the BRP). This will give me exactly two weeks between trips. Well a couple of weeks ago I fell into a great deal on a new house that I just couldn't pass up. I told the builder and finance company that I was making two trips to Florida and after some manipulating they both figured it, so that I could sign the papers on the house Dec 19th (the day after I get back from the first trip). This will give me two weeks to inspect the house, pack up all my belongings, move, have utilities and mail switched over, cook for Christmas, celebrate Christmas and New Years, and repack for my Jan trip to WDW. Plus I have to work during those two weeks. I may get to spend one or two nights in my new house before leaving for my second trip to WDW. I thought about cancelling the second trip (and just losing my BRP deposit) since the trip is a surprise Christmas present for my GD and she didn't know about it anyway. But my son and mom both encouraged me not to cancel the trip as with the new house payment there is no telling when I'll get to go back. Talk about too much to do and too little time.

 

[Martha7]

Wow, Aubriee! I think I'd be looking to eat out at a restaurant on Christmas, and skip all of the cooking, but that's just me. You're going to have to be super organized! Good luck and hope it all goes smoothly!

 

[Stacerita]

After reading some of the stories about packing and all the probs some of you have gone through with packing I should be so lucky that i haven't run into that yet. Still have 12 hours to go though. The only thing that came close to running into a prob was that I almost forgot to pack pants for the sweetpea in the carryon. We are flying on the red eye so I have the sweetpea wearing a comfy warm up suit so to sleep on the flight over. In the carryon I was to pack a change of clothes. Well, if I didn't double check last night, the sweetpea would have been missing pants. Silly me. I for sure will double check everything at least 5 more times before we head to the airport I just know.

 

[liamsaunt]

I had a packing mini-disaster on my last trip. I am usually very organized and write out packing lists and check things off as I add them to my suitcase. I did not do that this time and ended up in Disney without any underwear. So, double check your suitcase!

 

[Stacerita]

I had a packing mini-disaster on my last trip. I am usually very organized and write out packing lists and check things off as I add them to my suitcase. I did not do that this time and ended up in Disney without any underwear. So, double check your suitcase!

Gives a whole new meaning to going "commando" at the parks.