I do expect toiletries. It’s such a pia to travel with liquids through TSA that I’m not packing shampoo/conditioner.
I have full sized, nice quality shampoo/conditioner in the guest shower, body wash, and bar soap. I also have a basket of “oops I forgot” items in a basket - toothbrushes, toothpaste, sewing kits, body lotion, and travel sized deodorant. There is also a hairdryer for guests to use. We have enough overnight guests (we live many states away from all our family), that I want them to be comfortable when they come visit.
If we are staying more than just overnight I always unpack. I hate living out of a suitcase.
My guest room has a 6 drawer bureau and about half a closet to hang things up. My mom comes for several weeks in the summer so it is important I have space for all her things in my guest room.
I also have a basket filled with toiletries I put out for house guests and two sets of towels specifically for guests.
Am I the only one that has forgotten to take the clothes I put in the drawers in a hotel? Never used drawers again. They were nice enough to put in a box and send to our home for shipping fee.
Actually the first thing I do, unless it’s truly an overnight, is unpack. I want to feel more at home, and for me that means unpacking…in whatever space is available to me. Once I even used an ironing board as a table because there wasn’t any table space.
I usually only put things I plan to give away and my medical gear in drawers and then hand my jacket/blazer/coat and dresses. I may hand shirts that wrinkle (if I’ve brought any). I try to only travel with wrinkle-free items.
@eyeamom - I have soap, shampoo, conditioner, and a hair dryer. Always have a spare toothbrush, toothpaste, and razors, on hand, just in case.
Funny. My mother-in-law complained about my more expensive shampoo being too “sudsy.” She also didn’t like the fact that I had separate shampoo and conditioner since she uses a combo. So rather than using my provided, salon-purchased products, we had to run to CVS to get her some of her usual Pantene shampoo and conditioner combo.
Unless it’s a one-night stopover, I’ll usually unpack. I feel a lot less comfortable at Airbnb than hotel. The hotel room feels more “mine.”
On one visit to see DS2 and now-DIL, I was in a pretty tired Airbnb setup. I was already staying almost completely packed because of loud arguing I’d heard in one of the other apartments overnight. (Not call-the-police, but my reptile brain kicked in as an emotional reaction anyway.) The following day my hostess texted me with “if my landlord comes around and asks you if you’re renting from me just tell him you’re a friend and staying with me.” I walked over, grabbed my bag, and was done. The kids put me up for a day or so until a hotel room came free nearby. Treating my luggage as a go bag served me well that time.
We keep toiletries around for guests; it’s our two sons and their wife / girlfriend who come visit. There’s a drawer in the bathroom with toothbrushes and travel size toothpaste, disposable razors, floss, basic first aid supplies. Plenty of soap and shampoo to share or break open if they want what we’re not using. One couple flies, one takes long bus trip, and all travel light.
So far, we have stayed in hotels instead of Airbnb because we prefer that and it tends to be vacuumed more regularly. Especially with all these mini cameras popping up all over, we aren’t interested in staying in homes.
I have guests like that too. I’m thinking if you need specific products perhaps you should bring them.
I have asked people to stop bringing pool towels, I have a ton and we just pick them up and throw them in the wash nonstop. Trying to sort towels becomes difficult.
I can have upwards of 20 guests at a time, it can get to where I feel like the inn keeper.
For our summer beach vacation, we drive…and the stuff is transported in laundry baskets…so we do unpack there! Using closet and dresser. And we can do laundry too.
Any time I take a suitcase, I live out of the suitcase, except that I put my toiletries in the bathroom, and any nicer clothes that need to be hung up in a closet.
@Hoggirl , regarding hotel, it depends how long i’m staying. If it’s just a night or two, suitcase. If iit’s longer, I unpack. I traveled for a month two years ago. Can’t imagine doing that out of my suitcase!
I do have a full sized dresser in my guest room at my house. Top two shelves are empty. Third one has towels for the bathroom. Fourth and fifth have spare blankets and the bottom one has extra sheets.
I actually have a cedar chest I plan on putting in there to house the bedding but it needs to be refinished so it’s currently in my garage.
I’ve had long term guests (few wks to a month). I presume they used the drawers but never asked.
If I am flying (which means I have a suitcase) and staying in a hotel I will hang some stuff and leave the rest in the suitcase - never even dawns on me to use drawers. If we are driving to a friends house - or even a hotel for a short stay - or really even our cottage which is very small, I pack in a big Vera Duffle and only hang what really should be hung. Otherwise I’m really cool just using things out of my duffle. I’m a casual girl.
At home I do happen to have an empty dresser in our guest room. If my out of town D is staying for more than an night or maybe two she will unpack into it.
We don’t have lots of overnight guests besides our own kids/SO’s.
I typically don’t unpack. The thought of putting my clothes in a drawer that other people used is not appealing to me. My husband always unpacks and he is vigilant about checking all drawers before we leave.
On a recent trip, due to changeable weather, I unpacked because I had so many different outfits depending on the weather, that I didn’t want to root through my suitcase to look for what I needed.
In my pre-husband days, I pretty much lived out of suitcase. My husband is a little neurotic and when we are traveling on vacation, he really wants to get to the place and unpack, before he does anything else. I’ve learned to live with this. I’m fine unpacking or not.
When guests stay at our home, we don’t offer them drawer space, but they are welcome to use the space available in any closet. We always have shampoo, soap, etc. in the bathroom, because a couple of our kids still come home fairly regularly. When my mom was alive and would come for weeks at a time, we usually kept her suitcases open as “drawers” but gave her significant closet space.
I unpack completely if I am staying two nights or more, otherwise I may just hang a few things. Right now I have a sort of rolling backpack and it’s much easier to get stuff out of drawers. We have our relatives as guests a lot. The guest room used to have a dresser with empty drawers, but I took it away because the room felt so crowded. I like the idea of emptying the closet and making it more usable. The basement has a futon and the dresser that used to be in the guest room. I’m not convinced the guests who have slept there have used it.
I have shampoo, soap, toothpaste, sanitary supplies, and even new toothbrushes available for anyone who has forgotten something.
I’m with the crowd that only uses the drawers for a several day hotel stay. Some rooms have not had enough drawer space. We typically will pack three days worth of clothes in our carryons with the rest in the big suitcase(s) which I refill periodically. I take a laundry bag which used clothes go in. When we travel to relatives we never expect closet or drawer space. I take a hair dryer and my preferred toiletries and don’t count on a towel for my hair in homes. Moving in too much means packing to move out.
At our house guests get towels, access to our brands of toiletries and the old hairdryer. Our current (retirement) house has a queen bed in the smallest bedroom (meant to be the den) plus a dresser (one from son’s old bedroom that we chose to keep) long term guests (eg several weeks for his mother). There is some hanging space and hangers that can be used. People who want hotel amenities can stay at a hotel. Not much space but we use the bigger bedrooms for our den/computer rooms. No need to use valuable real estate for guests and see an unused room every day. When extra people are here we have the queen and twin double high air mattresses that go in our dens. This usually happens when son and his grandma are both here- the tiny lady prefers the twin bed and gives him the queen.
Thus far no one has addressed food items. On road trips we put beverages and picnic supplies in the trunk plus PBJ sandwich fixings. There is also a snack bag and assorted books et al. For plane trips we may pack some snacks and count on a store trip for foods and beverages that we can’t pack. Recent visitors have not only brought us some host food gifts but too many snacks and fruits- I always stock up for visitors.
We also try to pack lightly, leaving expensive stuff at home. H underpacks, I overpack with enough shirts and underwear et al for the trip. I do not want to spend time on a trip doing laundry if possible. Plus, I like variety and not wearing the same clothes multiple times in a two week or less trip. H could wear the same things without regard for that. Son visits for up to a week with a backpack and computer case. Of course he isn’t bringing gifts or dressy clothes and often does his laundry during the stay the advantages/expectations of visiting mom and dad- we moved from his childhood home). It helps to live casually then and now.
When visiting relatives for more than a few days do you try to do laundry there? Do you encourage guests to take home clean clothes and use your machines? We usually go home with the suitcase full of dirty laundry and encourage guest to clean theirs here.
@wis75 - interesting that you mentioned grandma and your son visiting at the same time. That was not something I had anticipated when we did our downsize. However, when grandpa died last summer, both grandma and our son came for Thanksgiving… Thankfully, our friends who live in the same building were traveling, and we used their second bedroom for ds. BTW - We were able to reciprocate at Christmas when they used our condo for overflow for their family when we were traveling. The timing of our travelers/visitors is probalby not always going to work perfectly like that. We just don’t have room for two people unless they are a couple. Our place is only 945 sq ft. So if the grandma/son visiting together happens again and our friends our not traveling, we will have to put someone up in a hotel/other condo.
I don’t travel with a lot of food. Maybe just a Luna bar or something. When guests come I always ask what they like to have for drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic), how they take their coffee, breakfast food and snack preferences. Most people are only here three days or so, and they all want to go eat fresh seafood, so we typically eat out a lot when we have company. If we have a beach day, we fix sandwiches.
We’ve never unpacked - even for our month long stays at places. Living out of a suitcase is entirely in the “normal” range for us.
We will use drawers for dirty clothes since they don’t have hampers and I don’t want them back in the suitcase until they are clean.
It’s not uncommon to find things people have left in drawers - once even a cell phone. My guess is they don’t get cleaned very often by staff.
Sometimes H will hang shirts in the closet or if it’s coat season, our coats will go there. I don’t wear dresses (except for my kids’ weddings) so that is never a problem. We will hang wet suits if we use them.
Our guest room has a semi-used closet and some empty drawers so visitors can do as they wish.
Our bathroom has our things in it and guests are told they can use them if they wish (except toothbrushes - those are never shared) or there are shelves in the shower for their things. We still have the shower “stuff” from one of my lad’s friends when he spent the summer with us last year and forgot to pack them. He’ll be getting them back next month when he returns for the lad’s wedding.
