It is bedtime Sunday evening? Dang, I knew I was off (couldn't sleep last night), but I didn't think it was that late.

I'm extrapolating here. Or maybe forecasting. EL

You too? I was up late molesting my neighbors' sheep.

I may get in trouble again for this one but.....

OMG
You do know how to practice safe sex with sheep don't you???

Put a big X on the ones that kick!!

Well, at least we now know where Gailor acquired her trip-packing procrastination habits. ;-)

Foreshadowing? I like it dark when I sleep.

Then there's the way my DW does her packing: Two weeks before we leave, even for the five-day-four-night trip we took last weekend, she starts making lists of things to take. This goes on for a week, them she starts assembling things. Three to four days before we leave she starts packing her suitcase(s). She's done by the night before we leave. I, on the other hand, wait until the night before, or the day we leave if it isn't early, and put my stuff in my (smaller) suitcase. Just as I've been doing it for the last forty years or so when I was traveling doing the Government's business. You find out quickly what you need and what you don't, especially in this country where you are rarely more than 10 minutes away from whatever you need. YMMV, especially if you're into outdoor stuff and adventuring.

My method is to lay out what I want to take and my husband (the master packer) packs for us. Works like a charm.

Then there was the former boss who was moving from an apartment she had had for decades. She started packing up the night before by deciding to organize 20 years' worth of slides. Needless to say, she wasn't ready when the movers arrived.

List maker here! I start my list about a week before leaving. I pack everything that's clothing and shoes (except what I'll be wearing) 2 days before. I pack my overnight bag with all my shampoo and stuff after my shower the morning I leave. I've only once forgotten something and it was a toothbrush.

I'm going to have to cut down on the shoe suitcase this winter if I have to pay by the bag. I may have to make due with (gulp) 2 pairs of shoes!

Shoes are definitely the bane of trying to pack small. They're just too darn bulky.

Everytime I forget something I vow to start making lists for packing. But I never do.

Man, you all should have grown up with divorced parent. All that going back and forth means you learn to pack quickly and accurately. It took me 15 min. to pack for a year in India, and I was mortified it took that long.

I normally have to pack for both my wife and myself. Oh my wife packs a lot of stuff for herself, such as multiple hats or ostrich boots; however, I always have to double up on things I know she will need and borrow from me, such as socks and fleeces. If I don't, I'll just end up going sockless and fleeceless.

I was forced to participate in one of those personality inventory programs, called Emergenetics, which supposedly determined how I think and how I behave. The only exercise I can recall a decade later was one around planing for and going on vacations: how much do you plan, what do you pack, do you want to go alone or as part of a group, etc.

I came out as one who throws a bunch of stuff in a bag right before I leave, then check my wallet to make sure I have a credit card, just in case.

I remember this (as opposed to all those other personality inventories I was forced to take over the years) because that is exactly the way I prepare for a vacation.

My experience, RiE, is that whatever I need might be technically 10 minutes away, it might take an hour to determine in which direction that 10 minutes would be. It will also reuire at least 2 left turns across heavy traffic in the rain while driving a rental car.