What's the first thing you do when returning from a vacation or trip? I unpack the bags and wash the

[debm55]

clothes. What about you?

[Ocelot II]

1. Go to the bathroom.

[debm55]

2. HAHAHHAHA ---true.

[Ocelot II]

7. Or feed the cat, whichever situation is most desperate.

I don't leave the cat for more than a day or two, though.

[hlthe2b]

6. Absolutely!

[hlthe2b]

3. Depends (as with ALL travel) if there is any risk of bed bugs being brought home...

I have quite the "drill," on the latter that involves transferring clothing (usually from the car) to a large-sized clear plastic trash bag which is either immediately transferred to laundry or separated in another bag for dry-cleaning. Or if it is hot enough, left out in the intense heat in the car for a full day. Anything heat-labile (toiletries, electronics, etc) and not conducive to harboring bed bugs come inside after inspection and the empty luggage/bags stay in the car (with heat) for a day or two or if cold, stay sealed in a clear garbage bag for several days inside. I take no chances.

[debm55]

26. I hear ya.

[badhair77]

4. Sit down and look at the mail.

Then I start the laundry, even if it’s just sorting it.

[bottomofthehill]

8. Mail, have to go through the Mail

I may not get to the car until the next day. Its usually a late afternoon driving into the night trip down the east coast for us.

[debm55]

27. That's a good idea--all of our bills are online, mostly junk mail.

[redstatebluegirl]

5. My husband teases me about it but I do the same.

I channel my mother who would always empty the bags the minute we got home and wash the clothes.

[debm55]

28. me too.

[PJMcK]

9. Start planning the next trip! (n/t)

[debm55]

29. Great answer

[we can do it]

10. Pet the cat, go to bathroom, unpack and put away things.

Always do laundry nite before flying home, can’t even pack icky clothes.

[debm55]

30. We take a laundry bag with us for the dirty clothes. Somehow all clothes get washed

[DFW]

11. That's what we do, too

With one minor variant. Our vacation is almost always in July. My wife then goes back home to take care of her mom, who is 96 and virtually blind.

I usually stay on in North America (usually USA) for work, routine medical stuff, and a week with my brother in Langley, with visits with various friends in Washington. I then head home from Washington, usually changing planes in either Paris or Amsterdam, but this time happily in Atlanta, now that Delta has FINALLY revived their nonstop flight from Atlanta to Düsseldorf.

[debm55]

31. That's great that you and your wife can do all that

[DFW]

41. Do all what? Visit the USA from time to time?

We like visiting exotic, dangerous uncivilized countries. It keeps us awake and on our best vigilance!

[debm55]

51. visit family and different places, Sorry if I misunderstood your previous post.

[DFW]

53. Ah, now I see what you meant. My family is, in fact, rather spread out

We live just outside of Düsseldorf in a small medieval town not far from the Düsseldorf airport. My wife is from the far northwest of Germany, in the Pladdütsch-speaking area. Our younger daughter now lives in Frankfurt, but goes back to Hawai'i frequently to see her former classmates from when she went for her year "abroad (from her German high school)" and stayed on to graduate. I guess she must have liked Hawai'i or something. She is an international attorney, and makes more money than I do--by a factor of five, or something. She has two daughters who understand English and speak it somewhat, thought their native language is German, which they speak at home.

Our elder daughter lives on New York City with her husband and two sons, to whom she speaks mostly German and a little English. Her husband speaks to them in English though his native language is Russian. They both work, so the boys' nanny speaks to them in Spanish, so that they learn all three from childhood up (and can speak to the German cousins later on). We raised both our daughters to be fully bi-lingual, and they have dual citizenship (Germany-USA), so they have the rare option of being able to live and work in either the EU or the USA, as they wish.

My brother lives in Northern Virginia with his wife, who is from Japan. They have two sons, one of which lives in the Bay Area of California. The other learned to speak and write Arabic in college and grad school, but now lives in the Ukrainian capital of Kiyv, doing who knows what. This is after a previous posting in Kano, in the Hausa area of Nigeria.

My sister lives in northern New Jersey with her husband, who works on Broadway shows in Manhattan.

Different places is putting it mildly!

[viva la]

12. Take a nap

Have to get over all that relaxation.

[debm55]

32. Hahaha-- isn't that what vacations are for?

[WestMichRad]

13. Tend to the cat.

He’s always quite upset that we’ve been gone too long, and very vocal about it. So he gets lots of attention and love. He settles down after a couple hours (usually!).

[debm55]

33. That's so nice and kind of you

[RainCaster]

14. I feed the dogs while she starts dinner

Then I can turn on the TV if it's baseball or football season.

[debm55]

34. Sounds great

[lastlib]

15. Been so long since I've had a vacation, I have forgotten what to do.....

Haven't been able to get away from home for more than a day and a half since 2011. Had a three-week vacay scheduled in 2019; three weeks before, I broke both lower leg bones in right leg, still haven't fully recovered from it.

[debm55]

35. I'm sorry, Maybe you will get a little getaway in the future. Even over the week end.

[kimbutgar]

16. yes I unpack them and immediately wash them unless I get home late at night

My parents always did that.

I had an aunt who was a travel agent and she wouldn’t unpack her bags when she returned home. Instead of washing her clothes she brought new ones. As a kid I used to sleep over at my cousins house and once when she was away we opened one of those suitcases and a bunch of bugs came out! She was such a slob she’d just leave her clothes on the floor. When my cousins got old enough my uncle ( my mothers brother) divorced. Funny the girl cousin who was near my age is a slob like her mother but her younger brother is a clean freak! I remember seeing dirty dishes in their sinks unlike in our family you better rinse and wash that dish immediately and towel dry it and put it away!

[debm55]

36. That is gross.

[Niagara]

17. I bring in all the food items first.

For me, long distance driving is exhausting. It doesn't matter if I'm the driver or passenger or alternating between driver and passenger every few hours.



Once I get into driveway, I grab all travel food and place it in the refrigerator, cabinets or wherever it needs to go. Some of the refrigerated items I bring are hard boiled eggs, cheese sticks, cottage cheese and containers of premade salad. I dump the ice from the cooler in the bathtub as well.



I'll leave the rest of the luggage in the vehicle until after I get plenty of rest and then I start working on laundry after getting it unloaded. This is generally the day after I get home.

[debm55]

37. That is true--can be very exhausting to travel. I like the wait until morning for the clothes.

[DFW]

50. I absolutely hate long distance driving. My neighbor thinks I'm crazy

He‘s from Austria, about 150 KM west of Vienna, and he drives home all the time to see his family. About a ten hour drive. Other friends of ours think nothing of taking two days to drive down to Southern Spain, Sicily, Croatia or even Greece, and yet they think WE are the ones making the long trek! Just because North America looks farther on a map doesn‘t mean we have the most stress.

They take two days of dense traffic on the Autobahns of Bavaria and Austria, plus the iffy roads and relentless thievery of tourists in points farther south. Plus the same thing in reverse to get back home! All we do is fly 50 minutes to either Paris or Amsterdam, and then 7.5 hours in a plane with two meals and 3 movies, and *poof* we‘re in Boston! And WE‘RE the ones with the stress? We sure don‘t see it that way!

[GreenWave]

18. Plop on floor! Leave car doors open and front door too (not on purpose)

It seems I just need one more ounce of energy.

[debm55]

49. Yes trips can be tiring especially if you have kids

[sinkingfeeling]

19. I do the same: empty suitcase and do laundry. Then a trip to the grocery.

[debm55]

48. I wait for the next day to shop

[whathehell]

20. Plop on my couch..

I take a few days to get to unpacking..

[debm55]

47. Isn't that the truth--vacations can be tiring

[whathehell]

52. Absolutely!

Especially if you're dealing with air travel. I used to love long distance travel..Now not so much.
..

[piddyprints]

21. Vacation trip?

What is this thing? Can it hurt you?

[debm55]

45. Does that go with my thread :Do you call a fly with no wings a walk?

[DFW]

46. It sure can!

Make sure you take great precautions before embarking on such a dangerous endeavor!

[Polly Hennessey]

22. Hide the suitcases🧳 and hope I don't need

anything from them. Three months later, I discover them in a closet and unpack and wash.

[debm55]

43. Polly, that's funny---you go camping right?

[Trailrider1951]

23. Since I just got back from a family camp out

I first unpacked the cooler and put the leftover food away. The sleeping bag and air mattress can wait until tomorrow.

[Mark.b2]

24. Yesterday, we returned from our annual three-week FL beach trip, and...

I culled the junk mail and pointless mail from the bag of mail USPS held while we were gone. Even tho 90% of it goes direct into the garbage, I'm still compelled to go through it first thing...every year :-/

[debm55]

39. I do that second as most of it is junk mail. Have to wash those clothes.

[Mark.b2]

44. We now will stay only at houses or condos with a washer & dryer...

We wash clothes before we come home. Otherwise, we would do laundry first thing when we got home.

One huge benefit of having a washer & dryer on vacation is we need MUCH fewer clothes.

Airbnb and VRBO are God-sends!

[debm55]

40. Yes, for camping trips putting the food away is first on the list, Other things can wait but for me

washing the clothes comes first or second,

[debm55]

42. Camping trips, food comes first

[Floyd R. Turbo]

25. Turn on the WiFi!

[debm55]

38. True, very true