Fun with Travel Types

My family is getting ready to go on a vacation together. Not just me and the kids, mind you, but the WHOLE family: Dad, me and mine, Kathy and Adrianne, Dick and Trina. My Dad turns 75 in November, so in honor of him we're cruising to Alaska.

When we tell people we're going on a family-cruise, we typically get one of two reactions: People either think we're CRAZY to spend so much time together, or they are amazed that we will, willingly, spend so much time together. I know we're not unique (Trina's family is, if anything, even crazier than we are!), but it does seem that in most families once the kids are grown they basically get together when they have to.

Which is sad. Sure, I love my brother and sister partially because of biological/chronological reasons: they're my siblings, and they've been around my entire life. But those are not the ONLY reasons, and more to the point, I LIKE them for a variety of reasons: they're good, fun, intelligent, funny people. Oh, and exactly like me (grin). And, yes, for the record, we've already divvied up the physical part of my Dad's stuff (furniture, pictures, etc), and we STILL like each other!

But, yeah, travelling with others is funny. I'm realizing that there are many travel types in my family.

Dad: Dad loves to travel, but it used to, not stress him out exactly, but he got very focused leading up to the trip, as he planned, made lists, etc. I think this whole retirement center living has gotten to him, though; he's abdicated all responsibility and is letting others tell him where to be, when to be there, and what to wear (he still practices packing, though)!

Kathy: Kathy is Queen o'Travel. She's been planning excursions for 9 months, hotels for 6, and her clothes for 3. She has documents, lists, and lists of lists to help her in this process. And she's a demon on convoluted web sites -- I was trying to figure out if the boat had hair dryers; it took me an hour before I declared defeat. Kathy found it in 10 minutes.

Dick and I are a little more.....well, laid back would be one way of saying it. Slack would be another! I do get everything done, I just have a tendency to leave it till the last minute. And, yeah, I ask Kathy a LOT of questions, because I know she'll know the answers! I did some commando shopping this weekend, and turns out Dick and Trina did too! I'll have everything I need (probably WAY more), but to be very honest, I have no idea yet EXACTLY what I'm packing, just a general idea of the types of things I'm bringing.

But, we manage to get along, even with our differing travel styles. Should be a fun trip.