Prepping for Guests

Living in a popular tourist destination, we get a lot of guests.  Our preps for them are basically two-fold--prepare for them to have a comfortable stay while they are with us and prepare to take care of them if there happens to be an emergency while they are here.

The first part of this--ensuring they have a comfortable stay with us--is fairly simple.  Guestrooms clean and ready, check.  Guest bathrooms clean and ready, check.  A vehicle they can use which is clean, in good repair, and has a full tank of gas, check.  Extra food, extra toiletries, a meal plan outline, and ideas for things they may enjoy doing while they are here, check check check.

The second part of our preparedness for guests is going above and beyond to ensure that if a disaster happens, we will be able to take care of ourselves as well as our guests no matter what may be happening.  This includes having plenty of bottled water stockpiled (we always send them out each day with extra bottles of water which is pretty important here in the desert).  It also includes having flashlights in each bedroom for emergencies, extra sunscreen and sunglasses (some of our far-north relatives don't think to bring such things), having plenty of gear to use in the event of a bug out--or if they want to head out hiking in the desert (a couple of the guys who are currently visiting wanted to try hiking in the desert so with plenty of extra gear I was able to fix them up with packs, emergency supplies, water, and a group to hike with this morning). 

It's also important to point out things that are common knowledge for the locals but may be new, lifesaving information for guests (we warn people about the high heat here and desert wildlife.  In Florida guests should be warned about alligators and rip tides and sharks and other Florida-ish dangers.  When I was in Chicago once for a conference, a local warned me about how far south I could take the L before proceeding would be dangerous).

Other things to consider when hosting guests: expanding the capabilities of your basement tornado safe room if you live in a tornado-prone area so that you can shelter yourselves and your guests, knowing whether to lock up firearms (if guests have kids) or telling guests where accessible firearms are for use in an emergency (some guests I trust with this information, others not so much), providing spare house/vehicle keys as well as security system codes to guests who need these things, and having a list of resources for use in an emergency (the number of a good local vet, the location of the nearest pharmacy, and one guest needed a new bathing suit in the middle of December which you would think would be easy in a year-round summer place but which was surprisingly hard to find).

Prepping for ourselves is so ingrained these days that we don't really need to give it much thought but it does pay to put some thought and effort into prepping for guests who may visit you which is a benefit both to you and them.