Creating a Travel Checklist or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Get Shit Done

Dan and I decided on our departure date in mid-June. We would leave August 3rd, in about six weeks. But we hadn't yet taken many steps to make our leave possible.

We had researched for months, looking into necessary supplies, types of RVs, how to handle dogs in tiny spaces, as well as pros and cons of working from the road. But we hadn't bought our RV trailer, traded in our car for a tow vehicle, or figured out how to reliably stream Law & Order: SVU. So when we set the date and started talking about it, the conversation became overwhelming pretty quickly.

Over a couple of hours (and a couple glasses of whiskey) that night in June, we analyzed all we still had to do. We discussed tow vehicle options: Ford F150, Volkswagen Touareg, Toyota Sequoia...all of the stuff we needed to buy: portable speakers, beans and granola bars, dog poo bags (in bulk)...and all that we had to do: pack, find a storage space, figure out insurance....

Clearly, we couldn't accomplish everything in a day or two.

So the next night over dinner (and a couple glasses of whiskey), we made an exhaustive list of every single thing possibly required of us before our departure date. Then, I divided the list up into three: mine, his, and ours. 

I actually make myself a to-do list every day before starting work, because it works. Putting my goals for the day into writing keeps me focused.

The same has worked for us and our travel checklist. Now that we have these bright pink, tangible to-do lists, we don't have to waste mental space worrying about forgetting something important. Instead, we can focus on getting shit done, working through our individual lists at our individual paces.

The lists hang on our fridge, so we're constantly reminded of what's left to accomplish. We can also see where the other one is in the process and check in regularly on our joint (ir)responsibilities.

Twenty-eight days to go and exactly as many items to check off our lists. May the force be with us.