- Run to the store to buy juice boxes, goldfish crackers, raisins, assorted cheaply made toys designed to be hurled into the backseat at the first sign of a tantrum.
- Eat all the leftovers in the fridge, even the questionable ones, over the three days leading up to the trip. The ancient pizza, the fossilized Chinese food, the milk on the verge of going bad, the giant vat of bean soup everyone hates but mom keeps making because it’s cheap and has at least a 2 percent nutritional value. Eat it. Eat it all.
- Do everyone’s laundry because every single person in the household only wants to bring the outfits they wore for the past five days.
- Run back to the store because you just realized you are out of dish soap and need to run the dishwasher before you leave.
- Spend 45 minutes looking for suitcases in the attic.
- Realize suitcases are still in the corner of the bedroom where you left them the last time you took a trip and still contain the dirty laundry from said trip.
- Unpack suitcases.
- Do laundry. Again.
- Run back to the store AGAIN for Little Swimmer diapers because the hotel has a pool. Pay $10 for an entire pack even though you will likely only use one. Cry briefly in the car.
- Gather all the chargers for everyone’s electronic devices. Keep removing chargers from the pile of chargers because everything needs to be charged.
- Look up route on Google Maps. Cry again.
- Drop dog off at the dog-sitter’s house, who you found off of Rover.com after surfing the website for five whole minutes. Feel huge waves of guilt you are abandoning your dog with a complete stranger. Try not to look too concerned when she opens the door and looks 12.
- Run back to that godforsaken piece of crap store AGAIN because the Little Swimmer diapers were the wrong size for your toddler. Also fork over another $10 for another pack because what if your freaking 4-month-old wants to swim too? Give $3 to a bum in the parking lot so you can take a swig from his brown bag whiskey.
- Pack. Or more precisely, try to fit basically everything you own into every suitcase, backpack, tote bag and ridiculously large purse you own.
- Drag all the luggage to the car the night before. Play the world’s least fun game of Tetris.
- Start drinking heavily.
- Wake up hungover at 4 a.m. Throw everyone in the car with their pajamas on. Get snippy with your significant other over whether the coffee pot is still on.
- Run back into the house to search for Mr. Doody, the stupid stuffed monkey your toddler can’t live without. Give up search after 20 minutes. Go back to the car and see your toddler holding Mr. Doody.
- Try not to murder your significant other when they ask if you checked the coffee pot while you were in there.
- Climb into the driver’s seat.
- Re-enact Ryan Reynolds’ car scene from “Just Friends.”
- Calmly put the car in reverse.
- Take a deep breath as you pull onto the highway and both children immediately start crying.
Checklist for the return trip home
- Hurl everything into the car.
- Throw suitcases into the corner of the bedroom and unpack eight months later when you need the suitcases for another super fun family bonding trip.
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