Adventures in Vacation Rental – Part II

If you read my last post on renting a house for your next family vacation instead of staying in a hotel, you may remember I promised to give you my packing list.  I’ll spare you all the details, but if you can drive to your rental and have room in your car, these are our essentials.

•  A laundry basket.  You will need it to do laundry while you’re there, and you can pack other items in it for the car ride.  I like to put my dry goods (onions, granola bars, Joe Joe’s), video camera, etc. in there.

•  Paper Products and Trash Bags.  I capitalize them here because of their importance to survival!  All of the rentals we have stayed in have provided these things, meaning there is one roll of paper towels on the holder and one trash bag in the can when you get there.  Rarely has there been an abundance.

•  Laundry detergent and dish soap.  Sometimes there is detergent provided, but we use a certain brand because of allergies.  Also, why have to buy dishwasher pellets at the store when you get there?  Just take a few from home with you in case there aren’t any under the sink.

•  Antibacterial wipes.

•  Your cooking tools you can’t live without.  For me, that means my Pampered Chef chopper.  I forgot it last time, and have to tell you, the knives at the rental house were practically useless.  I’m not the type to go all Top Chef and take my little bag of knives with me, but for most food prep, a chopper like this does the trick and it’s compact for packing.  If you have room, a good cutting board is a better-safe-than-sorry item.

•  Salt, Pepper, spices, and photocopies of recipes.  A game plan before you go makes for a much quicker trip to a grocery store you aren’t familiar with.

I hope that’s helpful to any of you who are contemplating renting for the first time.  If you have any other suggestions, or want to share stories from a rental vacation your family has been on, please comment!

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