Posts Tagged vacation

What to Bring (and What to Leave at Home) for Your Vacation Rental

We love staying in hotels when vacationing. With room service, daily housekeeping, and various cool amenities, you get to feel spoiled and luxurious. We have also discovered, when traveling with family or a group of friends, that a vacation rental can be hugely advantageous and fantastic. There’s so much more room to spread out and carve out some privacy, there’s a kitchen and dining room so you don’t have to eat out for every meal, and there’s a washer and dryer so you can pack less clothing. If you’ve got a rental with some cool features, such as a hot tub, swimming pool, game room, or a beach/lake nearby, then it’s even better. Here’s our guide on what to pack and what to leave at home when heading out to your fabulous vacation rental.

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Packing Tips for a Well-Organized Suitcase

Travel these days has a lot of potential pitfalls, whether it’s a delayed flight, a long security line, or an issue with your reservations. You have no control over some of these situations; you’ll just have to hope for the best and adapt a Zen travel mantra. However, one of the things you can control is how organized and well-packed your suitcase is! Last-minute packing, over-packing, missing several necessities, having stuff leak, difficulty finding things in your suitcase? We’ve got these and many other issues covered with this list of packing tips to keep your suitcase well-organized.

Before You Pack

  • Make a packing list. Consider your destination and purpose—are you spending a week on a beach in Hawaii, two weeks biking in Europe, or five days at a work conference?
  • To streamline your wardrobe, use the 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 packing rule. Assume there is a place to do laundry or have it serviced. If visualization is helpful to you, lay out everything you want to bring on your bed—then cut it down by half. Put together outfits on the bed; even better if pieces go with more than one outfit.

Clothing and Shoes

  • Plan to wear your heaviest items on the plane. Items like boots, a heavy coat, or a bulky sweater—these take up a lot of precious real estate (and weight!) in your suitcase.
  • Rock ‘n’ roll, baby. The roll method makes the most of your suitcase space and minimizes creases. Lay your shirt face-down, fold in and flatten the sleeves, then roll from the bottom up. Lay your pants with legs together and roll from the waist down. If you really want to save space, use these amazing compression bags. Certain items—blazers, starched dress shirts, a cocktail dress—should be folded carefully or placed separately in a garment bag.
  • Roll your underwear as well; use these to fill in any gaps between clothing. Bras with underwire or molded cups should be stacked and laid flat together.
  • Fill your shoe cavities with socks, tights, or folded stockings (in a Ziploc), then put the shoes heel to toe (even high heels). Place them in a plastic bag to keep your clothes from getting dirty.

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Keep Your Home Safe When Leaving for the Holidays

If you are heading out of town for the holidays, for a long weekend or for a week, it’s a prudent idea to have a checklist of To-Do’s to ensure your home’s safety. Unfortunately this most wonderful time of year also brings about a rise in theft and burglaries. According to CNN Money burglaries peak during December because would-be thieves know people are on vacation, or are out shopping or visiting all day. Here’s our thorough guide to keeping your home safe and looking “occupied”.

Use these sectioned checklists:

Electronic

  • Put timers on several lights around the house, including your holiday lights and front/back porch lights. Have the timers go on and off at varying times, so an obviously unoccupied, dark home doesn’t suddenly all light up at 4:30pm. Winter hours mean dark mornings–set timers to also turn on 6:00-9:00am.
  • Double-check indoor/outdoor holiday lights and wiring. Don’t leave any fire hazards.
  • Unplug your automatic garage door opener so thieves can’t open it with a universal remote.
  • If you’ve got a security system, a video doorbell, or motion detector lights, check to make sure it’s working properly.

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7 Simple Ways to Protect Your Home When on Vacation

protect your home

In early spring each year, Seattleites trade their winter boots for flip-flops, and take off in search of warmth and sun. Before you order your Uber to SeaTac, use these 7 simple strategies to protect your home while you are away.

  • No one wants to come home to find out that a pipe burst and flooded the interior of their house. Turn off your water before you leave to go on vacation. Find your main water shut off and turn off the water on your way out the door.
  • Some kitchen stoves have a safety lock feature on the control panel. You can temporarily disable the gas flow to the stove, should something unexpected, like an earthquake, happen while you are away.
  • Set a timer, so that a lamp or two turns on every night,
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