It takes a day or two to get back into the swing after travel. I have to catch up on email, regular mail, and all the other paperwork that running a household and business entails. And I’ll need to unpack, process my receipts, and follow up with all of the people I met.

You see, I’m the paperwork person – I handle the tedious tasks that a household requires, since I have more of an affinity for it than my husband does. So after traveling I have to catch up on a lot of things.

I need to pick up where I left off with projects, things that I couldn’t attend to when I was gone. And that means sitting down for a few minutes and remembering where I was the last time. Switching gears is sometimes where we lose a lot of traction. Where did I leave off…? It can be even harder when you’re a mom because you have so much more to keep track of.

Additionally, there’s laundry for me and the baby (since he’s too small to stay home, he goes with me). Somehow I have to squeeze all of this in around his schedule (usually naps).

I tend to feel out of sorts for a bit after I get home, but that could just be me. I don’t do a ton of traveling and I rely heavily on routine to keep myself organized. And sane. So something that’s out of the ordinary can really throw me for a loop. It takes a day or two to settle back into a normal routine. (As normal as a routine can be with a baby.)

Does it seem to take a bit of effort to get back on track after you’ve been traveling? Or do you jump right back in with little down time? Is it different when you travel by yourself, compared to when the whole family goes?

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Travel throws off my organizing routines, too. Mail lies unopened. Emails can go unanswered (spotty internet access, and all that jazz).

But the main thing that gets me is things aren’t in their ‘place’. I like to put items in the same spot each time. It helps my poor memory. If I move things around too much I forget where they are supposed to be. When you can’t put your hands on something, you waste time looking, right?

(And yes, this is especially hard with children around – do they ever put things back where they got them?)

Happens to me a lot in hotels. Where’d I put that notebook? What happened to that report – it was right here!

Most hotels have the same type of setup, so it’s not too hard to work up a ritual/routine for keeping yourself organized during travel. I try to put my things in similar places each time, so it feels like some bit of normalcy.

You can use the same ideas when you’re traveling for a family vacation instead of work. If you put everything in the same place each time you’ll be less likely to leave something behind in the hotel. Because if you forget Jimmy’s favorite stuffed animal, you won’t hear the end of it until you go back and look, right?

What’s your favorite way to stay organized when you’re on the road?

Image: morguefile