Traveling with Your Spouse: No Fighting Allowed

I have to admit, my husband and I have a great time vacationing.  We are so in sync on what we love to do, and we always seem to get tired or get bored at the same time.

However, when it comes to traveling to our destination or getting ready beforehand, it's a different story.  There’s always too much to do. 

I’ve only taken two trips since I’ve been employed full time, and since I freelance and run blogs too, every year it takes me longer to prep for my vacation, in terms of technical things I need to do.  The end result is that getting together what we need to make the travel portion bearable with two children gets pushed down to the last minute.  Invariably, we are exhausted, stressed, and remember what we forgot by the time we are in the airport terminal.

I’m in the midst of this right now.  We need to leave at 7AM Saturday morning, and right now it’s 2:30PM Friday afternoon, and I haven’t even finished the laundry, never mind start packing.  I had been planning all week, but a computer blow up threw me off schedule, and I have a ton of work to do as I wait for the laundry to dry.  There are some tricks that help me reduce the stress of planning for a vacation:

• Write a list.  This ensures that I pack makeup, toothbrushes and paste, medications, camera, electronics, plane toys, flight snacks, and all the other stuff that prevents that “oh crap” moment when I realize I don’t have something.  I learned to do this after the year I forgot my pills and went crazy calling my doctor and the local pharmacy to replace them.
•  Inform your partner of what you need to do.  If he knows in advance that something drastic will happen if you don’t do something (like lose money), he’ll be ok with you taking the time to do it while he preps other things. 
• Do it when you get there. If you run out of time, do stuff when you arrive, like clearing out your digital camera if you’ve brought a laptop or iPod.

If you have any tips on making travel planning easier to avoid the arguments, please share it here!