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A 100 item checklist? I just throw some stuff in a bag and worry less. Never fails. If I forget something it probably was not that important and I can just buy
by tudelo 8y ago
A 100 item checklist?
I just throw some stuff in a bag and worry less. Never fails. If I forget something it probably was not that important and I can just buy it at the airport / when I land.
- 0xffff2 8y agoThis is my approach too. My time in the military got me into the habit of checklists for everything and I carried it over into my personal life for many years after I got out. I never forgot anything, but I was perpetually lugging around a ton of stuff the I never used. It's been many years since I stopped worrying about it, and I've yet to have even a single instance come up where I forgot something important enough to be a real hassle. Checklists are great for surgeons and pilots. The cost of missing something in those professions can literally be life or death. If I forget to pack something when I go on vacation, the most it could possibly cost me is money.
- KineticLensman 8y ago> If I forget to pack something when I go on vacation, the most it could possibly cost me is money I was in an airline check-in queue behind some people who discovered they had left their passports at home. Cue near-coronary and marital strife. A relative had to break into their house and make a mad dash to the airport. (I'm also a checklist person)
- 0xffff2 8y agoYes, if I forgot my passport it might be a lot of money that it cost me. Maybe one day I'll forget my passport, but I rather doubt it. The exact same reasons that surgeons resist following an explicit checklist (which are terrible reasons if you're a surgeon) are perfectly fine for me because the stakes are much lower if I mess up, and in the mean time there are concrete benefits to winging it. It's a lot easier for those benefits to add up to be greater than then downside of a mistake when the mistake costs $2000 rather than someone's life.
- degrews 8y agoHaving 100 items on the checklist doesn't mean you need to act on all of them. You can go through your normal packing, then take a few minutes to scan through the checklist for anything you may have forgotten. Most items may be irrelevant to that trip. Just skip them.
- afarrell 8y agoDoes your local airport sell passports and prescription medication? I just fundamentally don't understand the statement, "If I forget something it probably was not that important". How does one follow from the other?
- tudelo 8y agoMan, if I was travelling to a different country and needed a passport AND forgot my passport, then I would agree with you. I guess my life is not so hectic that I don't forget the absolute necessities (you can't fly without that or you can die without that).
- bluGill 8y agoIf you travel often but only sometimes to other countries the travel part becomes routine and the need for a passport can be forgotten.
- tudelo 8y agoI could see that being problematic.
- ddoolin 8y agoMy life is not that hectic and I often travel to other countries, yet I have forgotten my passport once and only once. Part of me thinks that once it happens it's very unlikely to happen again. I still don't use a checklist for traveling, but I do use a to-do list religiously for...actual things to do. After this thread, I may just add a few more lists.
- megy 8y agoPassport. Credit Card. All you really need.
- Zarath 8y agoThat's what I tell myself. If I can travel freely and spend money, don't have anything to worry about.