Last weekend, my family went to Memphis to attend Memphis in May which is a national barbeque competition.  My husband is a HUGE barbequer/smoker of meat and whenever we travel he HAS to find the local “great” barbeque restaurant so that we can sample.  Needless to say…we went to the event anticipating sampling some awesome barbeque and that did not happen.  Not at the competition that is.  Unbeknownest to ALOT of people you could not eat ANY of the barbeque from those competing, but you could purchase from vendors (who weren’t any better barbequers than my husband who is really good at it).  We did end up eating barbeque along with some other good eats that I will talk about later and provide pictures, but I need to edit the pictures (I have taken a little over 200 pictures over the past three days). 

What is the title of this post about?  I don’t know about you, but whenever I travel, I try to make a list of the items that we need to take with us, so that I don’t forget something important.  Although I knew about this trip ahead of time, it still seemed like last minute because I didn’t have time to pack the night before like I usually like to AND I had to get up and head out early on Friday morning AND we were leaving right after Kristian and I returned home.  My husband didn’t work on Friday, but he’s one of those guys that you do n’t ask to pack for you.  There is a method to packing and he doesn’t know it yet. 

So I’m rushing and to get everything packed and looking at my list thinking I’m doing good.  I have put everything in the bag that I had on the list.  EVERYTHING THAT I HAD ON THE LIST.  So why was it that when we got to the hotel, there were missing items that were essential?  Because I didn’t have them on the LIST!  We had to find a Wal-Mart to get a hair brush (I  have short hair that needs the assistance of a brush to help it lay down, especially since it’s a little too long right now) and the hubbies belt was left and my face wash (and I had one make-up remover wipe in my make-up case and a completely made-up face).  I was in the car telling my boo that I needed to make an extensive packing list that I could always print out whenever we are about to travel that I could use as my checklist.  If there are others out there that are as list-crazy as I am, you probably already have this list; but for those of you that do not…you’ve got to save this for future use.  I’m telling you, packing will become so much easier if you have this list.  I have it set up so that you can put the quantity of each item you need to pack and then you check off when you have them for each member of your household.  I didn’t include papers that you may need for the trip, because I’m thinking of items that you are actually going to put into the suitcase – I don’t usually pack my transpo tickets nor my passport; those are items that you typically have on your person.  Here’s a look at my list, and I will have a link so that you can download the printable version. 

Tell me what you think and I would love to hear your stories of getting to your destination and realizing you’ve forgotten something.  Like your cell phone charger. 🙂

Travel Pack list