Preparing……for Your Vacation

It’s almost summertime!  It’s a time of baseball games, camping, swimming, outdoor fires in the evening roasting marshmallows, and taking a vacation!  For our family, vacations are a highlight of our summer when we are able to take them.  But, if you’re like me, that presents us with a little bit of a dilemma.  How can I best prepare my family for emergencies when we’re on the road?

1.)  Start by Preparing Your House for Your Vacation

So often when we go on vacation, we remember most of the things that we need to pack, but we forget that there are things that should be done at our homes before we go too!

– Talk to your neighbor

If you are taking time to get to know your neighbors because they will likely be your survival group, hopefully, you’re getting to the point where you can trust one of them.  Ask them to keep an eye out on your house, move trash cans, or water your garden for you.

– Turn off your water

I had a friend who went away for vacation and when she came back, her whole house was flooded.  One of her toilets on the second floor overflowed while they were gone and ran down through the main floor to the basement even!

– Set your freezer to check for an extended power outage

So what am I talking about?  If you go away for a week and two of the days during the week, your house loses power and you are unaware of it.  When you get home your alarm clocks may be blinking, but you’re not going to know how long your power was out for.  The meat or other items in your freezer may have completely thawed and refrozen before you got home.  How do you know if you can eat your foods in your freezer safely?

Take a bowl of water and fill it 1/2 full of water.  Put it in the freezer 1 or 2 days before you leave.  After the water is frozen put a quarter or nickel on top of the ice. If you get home and your alarm clocks are blinking, check out your bowl of water.  If your quarter is on top or right at the top of the bowl, you should be safe eating your food, but if your quarter is at the bottom of the bowl, you know that the water thawed and refroze.  This means the food in your freezer is probably not fit for consumption.

– Adjust your thermostat

Save yourself some money.  If it’s summer, adjust your thermostat to somewhere around 80.  If it’s winter, make sure you set it above 55.

– Hide your valuables

Did you hide your valuables in a place that people won’t find?  Do you have a secret hiding place to keep your things safe?  Want some suggestions?  You can disguise things, like installing this wall safe that looks like a heat register or this one, or an electrical outlet.  Another option is to hide them in plain sight.  How about a water bottle hiding place,  a “dictionary“, or a clock?

– Lights, Electronics, Stove

Make sure that your lights, electronics that can be turned off, and your stove are turned off.  Even if they are off, you don’t have to worry about whether or not they are off.

– Windows and doors

Take a last walk through your house to make sure that all your windows and doors are shut and locked.  Also, make sure your shades are pulled.

– Set a Timer

Set a radio and a light on a timer.  This will make it look like and sound like you’re home even though you are not.

2.)  Remember Your EDC

What does EDC stand for?  It’s Every-Day Carry.  This is what you carry with you day in, day out. I carry several items in my pockets and a backpack with me on a daily basis so that I have what I need at my fingertips.  It has saved me on a number of occasions. On various trips we’ve taken, I’ve needed my flashlight, pocketknife, duct-tape, cigarette lighter (and I don’t smoke) and so many other things.  EDC is the best way to start your preparedness journey, and it is a great way to make sure that you and your family are taken care of.

Not sure what you should carry every day?  Check out this article here.  It walks you through things step-by-step.

3.)  Preparing Your Vehicle for Vacation

Your vehicle should be prepared for day-to-day needs and emergencies.  When it is, you have a great base for what you need to prepare for your vacation.   Preparing our vehicles include – safety, mechanical issues, comfort, sanitation, food and water, and first aid.  These need to be taken care of now when it comes to getting ready for a vacation.

– Expand on Food and Water

When we travel – because we have seven of us – we always take a case of water.  Going on a long trip, make sure that you have high-calorie snacks.  If you ever got stranded, then you have food and water to take care of yourself and your family.

– Expand on Medical

It amazes me just how often we need an expanded medical kit when we’re traveling.  Last week we went to Iowa to a camp.  I was waiting with my youngest son for his horse ride when I got a call from another mom who was there at the camp with us.  She said that my 16-year-old daughter fell and hurt her knee.

I headed over to the dining hall where my daughter was sitting with this other mom waiting for me.  I checked her knee out, and no, I’m not a doctor, but my husband has dislocated his knee three times and my son has dislocated his knee twice.  I’ve had lots of experience with it, and in my not-so-medical opinion, she dislocated her kneecap.  It popped out and when she went to move, it popped back in.

I had a special ace wrap, a quart-sized Ziploc bag (for ice), Advil for swelling and pain.  And that’s just for that.  There’s always the bug bite, the regular sunburn, the scrapes, and bruises.  Having a slightly expanded medical kit is necessary for a long trip.

– Shelter

When I say shelter, I’m not saying that you need to carry a family-sized tent with you.  Shelter can be as simple as a tarp and cordage, but having something just in case.  You never think you’re going to need it until you don’t have it.

4.) Shoes 

It sounds so silly.  Something as small as shoes getting its own category, but everyone needs to have sturdy walking shoes even if your vacation doesn’t include much planned walking.  Even with little ones, make sure their shoes are sturdy and broken in.

What About You?

How do you prepare for vacation?  Are there other steps that you take to make sure that your family is taken care of in the case of an emergency during your vacation?  Something that could be taken care of simply if we’re prepared, could be catastrophic if we’re not.  Leave a comment below so that we can learn from each other and all become better prepared.

Together let’s Love, Learn, Practice, and Overcome

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