when for you does the excitment turn to stress then relaxed again?

[Julia Ann]

My excitment usually turns to stress as i am waiting for all the tickets (incl park tickets) to arrive, then stressed at work finishing up, then stress about if any of us come down with a bad cold/illness just before we travel, then stress about if i have forgotten anything - i check the ticket dates, passport dates a million times, stress about locking up and leaving the house, stress about the journey to the airport in case of traffic, stress about delays, stress about filling in the horrible visa waiver form, stress about picking up the hire car, stress about finding the hotel........and finally once in the hotel RELAX!!
....next time we go will be the first time with DD, so i will have even more to stress about then....but its all worth it in the end and can't wait for our next trip to stress about

 

[2Tiggies]

Can't say I worry about anything much prior to leaving, although last year our tickets only arrived the afternoon before we flew out

I suppose it's the usual worrying about forgetting something so I know to make sure I have my essential checklist: tickets, passports, cameras ... you get the picture. Anything else is going to be at best, annoying, but can be purchased there if necessary. I'll let you know if anything changes closer to the time.

I do have a lot more pressure at work though before leaving

 

[howlongtillsummer?]

I am stressed when I book and when I do anything visa / esta related. Other than that I am generally very good!!

 

[whatcateydid]

I go through these every day! Just now I'm going in between excitement and stress while I'm trying to organise things but trying to take things slowly because I've still got a month before we go! We've got all our tickets and bought our dollars this week, so that's a lot of stress taken care of. I think a part of me will relax as soon as we're checked in at the airport, but we've got two transfers during our flight and then transport from the airport to the hotel to catch, so I probably won't relax properly until we get to the hotel!

 

[wilma-bride]

I have to say, for somebody who worries about pretty much everything, I am surprisingly relaxed about our holidays. I suppose I figure it's not worth stressing about as you can't do anything about it. I did stress quite a bit when we went the first time and the airport was closed and flights cancelled due to Hurricane Jeanne - I was quite stressy for a couple of days. Other times, I am fine

 

[Julia Ann]

oh yeah i remember the first trip and there was a hurricane and people (not friends) at work were winding me up about being blown away - the second trip was 3 weeks after 9/11 so that was an added stress too, thankfully nothing untoward was happening before the last 2 trips

 

[Disneymad]

I'm not sure I get stressed over anything about the actual holiday though I do get twitchy when I:-

a) hit final submit button when buying my flight tickets because I know if I've made a goof it would cost me big time (if I had a quid for every time I checked and rechecked the dates and spelling of names I could probably afford another flight )

and

b) the time when I leave the house to head to the airport. I tend to get twitchy that I've forgotten something really obvious that means I won't be allowed to fly for some reason. It's totally illogical, I've never forgotten anything or had trouble with my journey in the past - I have no track record with disasters - but I still fret. This means I check my paperwork and passports enroute...which then means I have to re-check my paperwork and passports enroute to make sure nothing dropped out my bag when I last checked. Which means that I then have to later re-check to make sure nothing dropped when I re-checked the check....you get the idea! That said I'm not as bad with that these days but it's definitely a relief when I've checked in for the flight and I know everything's ok and can relax.

Only real stress I get is actually due to work. The last afternoon where I'm running around like a loon trying to get everything in order before I leave for 2 weeks.

 

[Disbabe]

My stress starts as we arrive at the airport parking until the suitcases are handed over at check in and then starts as we land until we've cleared picking the car up.
If I could just snap my fingers and be at the destination there would be no stress whatsoever!

 

[ChipnDaleRule]

I'm so glad to see that someone gets stressed about the same things as me
Last trip May/June i had the volcano to stress about.Manchester airport was shut 36 hours before the flight(now thats stress) I was on every website known to man watching the developments plus having the news channel on 24/7
I usually stop stressing once i have gone through passport control.Then i have a glass of red wine and all is well.But it is worth every minute of worrying

 

[Dimplenose]

Stress starts about 2 weeks out when waiting for tickets and doesn't subside until I'm in my hotel room.

1st trip I hardly stressed at all (it's so nice to be naiive.)
2nd trip in 2002 was all keyed up because of 9/11.
3rd trip in 2005 we had problems with villa booking until 2 days before we flew.
4th trip last year someone at work had swine flu a month before I went and I was constantly disinfecting my hands and taking my temperature until I was on the plane!

 

[kevin harrison]

The only stress I have is that my sons medical supplies don't get held up at USA customs. If it doesn't arrive he could be in trouble. Puts things in perspective for us.

 

[Pooh's-Honey-Pot]

I am fine right up until the night before we leave home, then the most terrible gloom comes over me. I don't know what it is - worry about flying, leaving the dogs, worrying about what I'll forget to pack - but it comes over me and doesn't go again until I am checked in at the airport and heading off to breakfast. Then all of a sudden I'm fine and ready to holiday!!!!

 

[Dimplenose]

Puts things in perspective for us.

It's not really a case of putting things in perspective, though - it is irrational stress.

When I go to WDW I know I'm going on holiday and it will be fun. I know, for me, there is nothing really to get worked up - or if there is it is stuff that is out of my control.

I hope I am sensitive to other people's more serious issues before they can go on holiday.

But it doesn't stop the knots in my stomach from appearing.

 

[kevin harrison]

It's not really a case of putting things in perspective, though - it is irrational stress.

When I go to WDW I know I'm going on holiday and it will be fun. I know, for me, there is nothing really to get worked up - or if there is it is stuff that is out of my control.

I hope I am sensitive to other people's more serious issues before they can go on holiday.

But it doesn't stop the knots in my stomach from appearing.

It wasn't meant to diminish other peoples worries. But you can see how we feel, if we forget to pack socks or something, really it's nothing is it?

Here's a a story which changed my life..

I was very superstitious about certain things, if I dropped something, I would drop it two more times - I had something about things happening in threes.

I would turn lights on and off three times at night.

I would count up in threes to get to sleep at night.

I would get off the bus and go home to check the doors, when I knew full well they were locked.

I wouldn't throw things away, because I believed something would happen if I did.

When Catherine became pregnant I got worse, much worse.

I believed that these things would keep me from bad luck.

Catherine had a miscarriage

I was cured. It all stopped that day.

 

[Disneymad]

It certainly does help to have some perspective. I've actually found that it's been a lot simpler once I sat back for a moment and thought "well what if that DOES go wrong? What's the real consequences?" And once I realised that the bottom line was I'd basically just get a bit grumpy I stopped beating myself up a lot more over the little things.

I think most of us know that half our worries are irrational and I also think most of us secretly know that we're very lucky that if forgetting our passport is the worse thing that can happen then life isn't really so bad for us.

Then we go back to stressing

 

[scojos]

kevin, i know its not for sympathy, but thats a heart touching story
my stress levels are rising at the mo, work pressure is building rather than decreasing towards the end of term, josh is struggling, end of term/no routine/autistic meltdowns, kids are sruggling to sleep due to heat, thats before you start thinking about our hols...
all those people who laughed at me for packing at whitsun
thats done
nned to pack hand luggage and im good

 

[2Tiggies]

all those people who laughed at me for packing at whitsun
thats done
nned to pack hand luggage and im good

You know, we all had a good dig at you with your packing cases 3 months out but I spent an hour or so this evening re-typing my packing list (the old one went with the hard drive of the other computer and fortunately I have the old tatty book where the original list was marked out a few years ago). I can't believe I am being so organised. Must be the positive inspiration.

 

[howlongtillsummer?]

Totally OT but I was looking at last time's photos today and noticed DD in a waterproof rainjacket in some. Remember she liked that better than ponchos if cooler in the evening - onto the packing list and into the case

Love all the stories - I am "what's the worst thing that could happen?" type of a girl too!

 

[paul_toria96]

I've only got 3 weeks to go and I've starting to worry that I won't get the fly/drive tickets (had many,many problems with GP), DH says as long as I have my medication we can buy everything else we forget at Walmart.

I'm starting to calm down and worry a little less as I types this

I think my biggest worry will be if we are still talking to our very good friends when we get back from our 3 weeks in the same villa.

 

[kevin harrison]

kevin, i know its not for sympathy, but thats a heart touching story

Exactly, it certainly wasn't for sympathy. It was all about me getting things into perspective.