Have Car, Will Travel

By Cyndi Seidler
05/15/06

Have you ever wondered what kind of planning it would take to go around the world in eighty days? For most, I would estimate that it would take 80 days just to plan an eighty day trip. And, that's not counting the detours to get those things we forgot to bring, despite all our careful planning.

I know some people can't even plan an errand trip around the neighborhood, let alone a full blown trip around the world. As for me, I'm afraid to get in my car without my list, even if it has a couple things on it, like go to grocery store and get car washed.

You see, there are times when we get side-tracked. A "50% off Sale" sign could cause one of those off-course deviations. I'm sure there might be other reasons we don't get where we intended to go (although I think I mentioned the most important reason).

Ok, so sometimes we don't plan on certain things that take us somewhere else when we begin to go somewhere. Minimal side-effects, right?

However, running around the neighborhood isn't like heading out of town, which requires a more disciplined approach. And the "travel checklist" is just the kind of thing any professional organizer would prescribe for such an event.

As organized as I am about my travel plans, I still have to expect the unexpected. It's the nature of my life, I believe.

My daughter and I were going to leave the bustle of Los Angeles and go to Palm Desert to visit my folks. All was taken care of for the two-hour trip; I was sure of it. My daughter stayed the night so that we could get up early and beat the heavy traffic. To be even more organized about it, we set out most of the things we were taking with us the night before, so we would be ready to get up and go.

It didn't take much to load up the car. The gifts were in a couple bags set out the night before, and the cell phones were charged. I wore my tennis shoes with my skirt just for the drive and would bring a sweater, just in case (yet I knew it was like taking a fur coat to the Mojave Desert).

I made sure to look at my checklist before departing. Then I checked for things that weren't on the list. "Got the bottled water?" I asked my daughter. "Check!" she answered. "Music CDs?" "Check!" "Kotex?"

She left the room without answering.

As we headed out, I made a planned stop to gas up the car. That's when I noticed I didn't have cash. But, a trip to the ATM wouldn't be so bad (if it weren't for the fact my bank was not on the way).

Another stop had to be made before getting on the highway because I had to have a Starbucks latte. It was then that I noticed my tennis shoes and realized that I forgot to bring a change to dress shoes. "Why didn't dress shoes get on my list?" I asked myself in disgust.

I had to decide whether or not to stop at a shoe store to get shoes. No, I would just hope that my folks wouldn't notice.

Next, we headed to the florist shop to get flowers. This was planned. But, with such a plan, you would think I would plan how to keep them wet for two hours. But no, the thought hadn't occurred to me.

Luckily, the florist gave me a bucket and put a little water in it for the flower bouquet. At least one aspect of this trip was saved. I mean, arriving in tennis shoes and wilted flowers would be too much, I'm sure.

We got on the highway and made our way toward our destination. "I'm hungry," my daughter informed me ten minutes into the trip. Ok, so we were too busy to eat breakfast before leaving; it happens. I knew I would have to feed her or else suffer dearly for not.

I found an exit that seemed to have what we would need for food, and found a fast-food place she agreed to. We ordered breakfast sandwiches to go and headed out again. After she poured the syrup over her French toast, she informed me that she didn't have any place to put the rest of it, and then asked me where the napkins were. We didn't have any.

I tried to solve the syrup problem, but ended up getting it all over my hands and stirring wheel, and didn't have any napkins. Ok, so now we'd have to pull off the highway and find napkins.

By the time we arrived at my folk's house, it was a few hours later than scheduled. But, they greeted us with a smile and didn't say a word about my tennis shoes.

The moral of this story is, no matter how well we plan, we still might forget our shoes.