Packing and reviewing the checklist

No matter how often I travel, it always seems to take longer than it should to do the last minute stuff before heading off on business or personal travels.  I'm off to Maui on Monday morning to participate in a Maui Study Tour co-hosted by the Maui Visitors Convention and Virtuoso - lucky me!

• pack clothes for destination...then remove 1/3...I still take more than I can wear....never get any better, even with lots of practice.  This trip has been the most difficult to pack for, since we are doing a ton of touring and hotel site inspections.  Lot of casual touring, but still have to maintain a business casual dress code since we're touring some of the finest properties in Maui!  I think I have 3 outfits for every day and at least 7 pairs of shoes...you know - one of every color and style to match each outfit...and I'm sure it way be way too much as usual!
• update all the techo gadgets - ipad and ipod for the long flights over...need my music and my work to keep me busy and pass the time....download a bunch of new music with a recent Amazon gift card I won for participating in a supplier webinar.  $50 goes a long way towards $.99 albums and songs...lot of relaxing yoga a meditation music to help me sleep on the plane - yeah right!  Who am I kidding?...only gravol - lots of gravol will do that trick!  But seriously, many of the airlines now have their own app for wifi/entertainment system onboard.  I'm flying Air Canada and made sure to update my Air Canada app so I can watch movies right on my own ipad.  The airline will rent them for $10 if you don't have your own...but these days, who doesn't have their own?
• Set my out of office responses for e-mail, phone and cell phone...can't leave my clients without access to me or my vacation relief person while I'm gone!
• Notify the credit card companies that I'll be out of country...they have such tight security these days - any unusual activity alerts them and they lock the accounts...happened to me on the last trip - forgot to notify one credit card and whammo....first time I used it they froze the account...good I guess for security purposes, but a bit of an inconvenience to get it re-activated from another country...especially when you have a transportation company waiting to be paid!
• Travel documents...do I have my itinerary?  Hotel reservations?  Contact #'s of people I'm meeting in the event I get delayed?  Do I have my PASSPORT??  Yes, some people actually forget to take their passport...Make sure to leave a photocopy of it at home and one extra one in my luggage in case I lose it (the original)...will be quicker to get a replacement if I have a copy of it.
• Camera, cell phone and charger, laptop (it's a working vacation, so need to stay on top of things)....check.
• Last of all...make sure I leave some food in the house for hubby who will be alone all week...and thanks to my Chef daughter, that is all taken care of too!  Fresh produce and milk and bread purchased today, freezer meals in the freezer.
• Hmmmm...what am I forgetting...no matter how many checklists I make, it always feels like I'm forgetting SOMETHING....wonder what it will be this time?
• Monday morning can't come soon enough....hurry up and wait now....next stop - Maui!