On The Road Again

Well, here we are traveling again.  But by this time next week we will be settling in to our new home in the Netherlands.

As you can see, posts are still spotty, but I'm still here.  It all just depends on my internet access and when I can find a spare moment.

As I'm traveling with young children (and until today no husband), I am reminded again of the benefits of planning my packing.  I typically don't like to pack ahead of time.  I kind of go with the mantra, "If you wait until the last minute, it only takes a minute."  Which is true, but throwing things together at the last minute is a guarantee of chaos at some point.  And nothing is worse than frantically throwing the suitcase open to find the beloved stuffed animal while kid #3 is crying because she's overtired and needs it right now.  Not that it's ever happened to me...

The point is, it pays to plan ahead.  We have several bags with us, but our 1 night in the hotel room tonight does not require us to unload the entire car.  Taking the time to plan 1 or two nights' worth of supplies and putting it all into 1 bag goes a long way to keeping the trip smooth and chaos-free.

Oh, and my absolute necessity for the children?  Packing cubes!  1 large cube for each child (or maybe two each for the older ones, depending on size of cube and size of child's clothing) makes for a super easy pack job!  And each child can access his or her own clothing without dismantling the entire suitcase.