ESSENTIAL CHECKLIST for travel during pandemic
By Skye Joiner contributing columnist
Traveling today is more comfortable with planning and creativity .
Last summer , after staying at home for several months during the spring , I decided to attempt a trip to visit my granddaughters and celebrate their second birthday . I planned to pack a picnic and snacks for the day-long drive to Dallas . That part would be easy . The day before leaving , my husband came home smiling with a five-gallon bucket .
Puzzled , I asked him why we
Joiner needed that . You can imagine his answer . His plan was for the use of the bucket to decrease our stops on our drive . So far , it has been used only for holding supplies . It is good to have it just in case though !
On the road , a person cannot always know what will and what will not be open . That is why I usually , even before the pandemic , pack foods for my meals . It is a lot of fun to stop at a rest area when the weather is nice and have a picnic .
You can download apps such as Waze and Yelp to help you with travel planning , especially with locating places to stop along the way . Finding a playground on the trip is fun for travel with children . An excellent place for all ages to stop is Bonita Lakes right here in Meridian .
To help me be sure I pack what I need , I made a checklist . Create your plan and list before you venture out next time .
• Sky Joiner , RDN , is clinical nutrition manager for Anderson Regional Medical Center .
26 • TIMELESS MERIDIAN