By Renee Martinez
We were away for 3 days at Fern Resort in Canada (be sure to come back later this week to see my complete review of the resort). What I find frustrating is that you can have a wonderful trip, and coming home return to such craziness. If you’re going on vacation this summer, here are a few tips for ways to make your return home an easy transition.
A lot of creating an easy travel experience starts before you leave.
Packing: On one of the trips we went on, we packed so that two of the boys shared a bag and the baby at the time shared with me and hubby. What I discovered is that our clothes were less organized and in the end, we wound up with more of a mess. Ideally, I like to use the closet and drawers at the hotel to keep things organized, but I believe for the trip I’m thinking of, we were at someone’s house so we were living out of the bags.
What works for me is for the 8, 6, and 3 year-old’s to have their own little roller bags, the baby and I share a bag and hubby has his own. They all help with the packing process and are responsible for toting their bags – meanwhile, everything is organized and easy to assemble for the return. When we’re leaving, I consolidate all the dirty clothes into a bag or two (preferably sorted and in individual plastic bags) so all I need to do is toss the contents in the laundry room and begin washing. The remaining clean items are in one bag and can easily be put away.
Eating: Unfortunately, our ride home was several hours of bumper-to-bumper traffic. It was a parent’s nightmare. There were moments of craziness, but for the most part, we had it under control. Packing snacks when you leave for your trip is easy, but for the return, you’ve usually consumed the remaining snacks during the trip. I set aside snacks and activities for the return so that we don’t need to shop for snacks for the return and we keep the stress to minimum. You never have too many snacks for a trip. As a side note, I never bring candy or sweets, all you’re doing is asking for trouble. There are plenty of healthier options. One thing I did bring that in my real life, I would never buy was Oscar Meyer turkey and ham lunchables. Not the kid version, but more for adults who want something for work (seemed a little less junky). The boys were excited to have their lunch package on the way to Fern, it was a contained mess, reasonably healthy and easy.
I could go on and on with travel tips and suggestions, but I’d love to answer your travel questions or hear your suggestions. Submit your comments so we can develop a comprehensive travel resource for parents.
Whatever you do for your vacation plans, remember to have fun and enjoy the time together. One last note, on vacation sleep schedules are off, so there’s a lot more whining. What we do is make sure that we try to balance a late night or lots of activity with some rest time so that the kids aren’t completely out-of-sorts to the point of spoiling the parent’s vacation. It’s important to recognize when to remove your child from a situation because he’s exhausted. Even though I might rather sit by the pool, if my child is screaming and carrying on because he’s overtired, it’s my job to get him to nap. In the end, everyone will be happy.
About the Author: Renee Martinez consults and speaks professionally on social media marketing, integrated marketing communications, public relations and branding. She is the president of Ruby Marketing Communications (www.rubymarcom.com), a boutique marketing communications company that specializes in providing branding, social media strategy and integration, and creative services. Her blog (www.lisac95.sg-host.com), provides resources on everything marketing and social media for her active audience.
Renee has contributed as a featured monthly columnist in the monthly jewelry industry publication, JCK on matters related to internet marketing as well as in InStore Magazine as a featured blogger where she writes about developing effective marketing strategies for the jewelry industry using social media. She is the founder of: Social Media Biz Summit (www.socialmediabizsummit.com), the first large-scale SM conference to come to Buffalo, NY; #jewelrychat, a weekly twitter chat for the jewelry industry and www.RaisingBoysWorld.com. Renee teaches social marketing courses at Canisius College in Buffalo, NY for the business school as well as offers small group social media marketing training and educational seminars for businesses in Western New York and beyond.
Renee has dabbled in internet marketing arena since the early 90′s and is not ashamed to call herself a “marketing geek”. From chatting in AOL, “sharing” music on Napster, and teaching HTML classes before it was considered “cool” to developing comprehensive social media strategies, effective public relations campaigns and managing online communities (most recently Chevy Girls Buffalo).
She enjoys being able to help people find their voice online and to create buzz about their product or service that will give them the results they desire.
Renee can be found on Twitter (@reneemmartinez) and Facebook (http:/www.facebook.com/RubyMarCom).
