Anticipate those voices to keep them at bay

Do you ever hear voices when you go on vacation? I do. When I leave for the airport, a little voice invariably asks me, "Did you turn off the oven?"

It's a stupid question. I hardly ever cook. Even if I had left it on, my oven is trained to turn itself off after one hour.

But last week, while I was waiting to board my flight to Colorado, the voice asked a pressing question. Literally. "Did you turn off the iron?" it repeated over and over like a 2-year-old child.

I finally succumbed to the pressure and called a neighbor to check. Turned out the little voice was on fire. And if I hadn't called, the ironing board would have been, too.

According to psychologist Cinda Wells, those little voices often know what they're talking about. When they speak, we really should listen.

Amelia Cortez learned it the hard way. When she left for the airport in Guadalajara, Mexico, to fly to Chicago, the little voice asked if she was missing something important. Sure enough, it was her passport.

Amelia had to drive three hours back home to retrieve the document and pay a $100 rebooking fee before she was able to continue her journey.

When Lynn Johnson headed for the airport to join her husband for a convention in Bermuda, those little voices nagged her all the way to the ticket counter. She thought they were the voices of guilt caused by her three sobbing children, who didn't want her to leave. So she ignored them.

Turned out it wasn't the children she had left behind that made her feel something was missing. It was her luggage.

Lynn arrived at the five-day convention with only the clothes on her back. Her husband claimed she ignored the voices so she would have to purchase a whole new wardrobe. But she didn't listen to him.

The key to keeping those nagging voices at bay isn't to tune them out, but to anticipate their questions and answer them before you leave for your trip.

Here's how:

•Did you forget something important?

After flight attendant Cynthia Pringle forgot her phone charger on a five-day trip, she created a checklist. It includes checking appliances and leaving phone numbers and keys with neighbors and relatives. It also details everything she could possibly need for a trip. Her packing list stays in her suitcase.

•Did you pack everything you need?

Mary Ann Ferguson, a sales representative, takes it a step further. Mary Ann travels as much as a flight attendant and hates packing every week. So she doesn't. She keeps her suitcase ready to go with its own separate travel wardrobe and cosmetics. Her passport and travel documents remain in a carry-on that also holds her laptop.

•Did you move too quickly?

Carol Cross heard the voices while she waited at the gate for a flight from San Diego. She decided to call home to see if there was a problem. Turned out that was the problem. Her phone was gone. In the confusion of getting through security, she had left it in one of the bins. Now, Carol takes her time. She packs her suitcase the night before a trip and arrives early at the airport. Before she leaves security, she makes sure she has all her carry-on luggage and travel documents.

•Do you have alternative plans?

Martha Clough's voices used to play the "what if?" game with her. What if the flight cancels? What if you lose your luggage? What if the plane is overbooked? Now Martha anticipates those questions and answers them before she leaves. She packs a carry-on with her necessities. She carries a list of alternative flights. And she always has a backup plan.

If, after taking all those precautions, a voice badgers you, answer it. As I found out last week, ignore the question and you might get burned.