We do a family beach trip every year, and I have noticed that there are a lot of differences in how fathers and mothers do beach travel. One of the conclusions that I have drawn is that dad’s approach is so much better than mom’s and dads seem to end up with a little more vacation in their week. Here are the tips that I have picked up from my own husband:
1. Preparation for beach trip should be limited to two things: packing the car and packing the cooler. All other preparation is extraneous.
2. Save your wife the pressure of driving by agreeing to do all of the driving. This will spare you from having to tolerate her poor driving style and give you total control over all stops and route choices.
3. Sunblock is limited to wives and children. Intense sunburn on day one saves you from intense child coverage for several days. Soothe sunburn with a cold beer.
4. Buy a new fishing pole to replace the one you didn’t pack (see item 1).
5. Volunteer to contribute to the family meals through catching fresh fish for dinner. Return after 5 hours sunburned, drunk, fishless. Buy frozen pizza.
6. Anytime at the beach is an appropriate cocktail hour.
7. Dedicate an entire day to developing the perfect beach-themed cocktail.
8. Load the car for the return trip to save yourself the rounds of checking to make sure that nothing has been forgotten.
9. Repeat #2
Here’s to making the next trip much more like the Dude!
