If you've been within earshot of me in the last month, you know I have a thing about packing. I was excited to tell anyone who seemed willing to listen about my "practice packing" and just how well it was all going. I appreciate everyone who endured the long ramblings on the difficult choices involved in the optimization within a 22"x14"x9" space, for the kingdom of heaven is yours.
When the day finally came, I felt fully prepared. We had purchased the perfect suitcases, packing cubes, and tiny bottles of things. I had even convinced Jesse to do a practice pack, which despite his very polite grumblings, was very enlightening and gave us real insight into what was realistic within our "carry-on only" policy. I did three official "practice-packings," which made day-of packing quite simple, as I had adjusted the official list to reflect only the things definitely going in the bag.
In case you are curious, I am excited to show here what I ended up packing in my carry-on and personal item for the trip. These pics were taken immediately before the items entered the suitcase, so they represent hours of deciding and selecting down from the original list.
CARRY-ON SUITCASE
- 3 pairs of leggings: one long, one capri, and one pair of bike shorts. These are indispensable for me when traveling. Sometimes they are part of an outfit, but many times they are invisible and are solely for comfort and/or modesty.
2. 5 tank tops (+1 on my body). Tank tops are like the leggings of your upper body. They do many things for many people, but for me, they serve three main purposes: a) cleavage management b) undershirt-style sweat-gathering and c) ability to strip down to tank top and aforementioned leggings for immediate loungewear upon entering the hotel. I will put on a tank top in the morning when getting dressed; it will serve as an undergarment for the entire day, as cozy loungewear in a private setting, and sans leggings is my sleepwear. In this case I brought 4 black (incl the one on my body) and two colors that work with other items).
3. Three dresses. One colorful maxi, one tea-length versatile black dress, and one short pink recreational dress. In a perfect world, I would only wear dresses. I love dresses. It was hard to get it down to three. All three, when accessorized appropriately, can serve in almost any setting.
4. Two pairs of pants and one maxi skirt. All three are from Chico, my absolute favorite store these days. All three have an elastic waist (to deal with typical body changes during a month-long excursion), are flowy, comfortable, and versatile. The skirt is from their "Travelers" collection, and is a standout in the wardrobe so far. Those paisley pants are only one of two patterned things I brought, but they are so lightweight and lovely that I couldn't resist.
5. Five tops - one flowy black and white poncho thing, one striped warm 3/4 sleeve tunic, two soft long sleeve shirts (one black, one grey), and one grey v-neck tshirt. I've already worn the flowy poncho (with black tank underneath) and love the way it looks. This is my only area of concern, as I just don't have that many tops and might find myself wanting more.
6. One bathing suit and one cover-up. That is the best cover-up, ever - it has been with me in many bodies of water around the world. Simple cinched/elasticized at the top, flowy at the bottom.
7. This picture is incorrect. I only brought the 3/4 sleeve black cardigan; the jeans were a last minute casualty of space. I'm a little sad about them, but I rarely wear them at home, so I think I'll be fine.
8. Outerwear - I packed my hooded trench and new-ish dark denim jacket with sparkly buttons. I love this jacket and have worn it almost every day since I got it. The scarf on the left is enormous and incredibly soft and versatile, and the one on the right was a staple of last winter's wardrobe, so I think it will serve me just fine. NB: I plan on acquiring a significant number of scarves in Italy.
9. Shoes - I packed one pair of walking shoes, one pair of sandals (which also serve as walking shoes), one pair of house shoes (I find this to be more necessity than luxury on cold stone floors in Europe), and one unpictured pair of hideous bright blue crocs. The crocs are my flip-flops, in essence - lightweight, waterproof, comfy. They are also what I cook in at home, so I plan to utilize them often in Italy.
10. Socks & Undies: 6 pairs of underwear (+1 on body), 4 pairs of socks. Since most of time I won't be wearing socks, I feel this is more than enough.
Here is how it all went down:
One packing cube for tops & scarves, one packing cube for tanks & leggings.
One extra large, two-sided packing cube for pants, skirts, and dresses, and the tiny one for unmentionables. Shoes, extra bra packed in a Croc, Woolite and extra ziplocs for those million unexpected situations, jewelry (mostly earrings) rolled in a case, a bath puff, and a netted bag for washing delicates.
Here's how it all fit in: (and yes, I see the crazy face my suitcase is making in the fourth pic)
Shoes and the little packing cube first to go in the spaces made by the rolling handle
Large cube on top of them, taking up that whole half
Crocs surrounded by other packing cubes
Inside of the lid has everything else, including my trench (and new arrival, brush!) in the pocket
Last small bits, including house shoes, bag of toiletries, and bag of pens/misc placed in spaces around the top
PERSONAL ITEM:
This part was pretty easy, as I've done years of traveling and know what I like to have on hand. DSLR, Grid-It with cords & such, small umbrella, two pairs sunglasses (one nice, one cheap), iPad, Moleskine, Italian dictionary, tissues, case of daily stuff I always have (bandaids, neosporin, credit-card-shaped multitool, etc etc), case of meds (advil, allergy medicine, etc), tiny maglite, two kind of lip balm, case for emergency backup cards (pinkberry card, etc) comb, plug adapter, business cards, deck of cards, pens, baggu-type shopping tote.
All* to go in my new (and already beloved) Tom Bihn tiny backpack!
*Not pictured: passport, iPhone, stuffed peanut, Jesse and his stuff
So here it is, all together and ready to go:
That extra laptop-looking case is my cpap machine, so I don't die.
How it actually turned out...
So...the best laid plans, right? We got to the airport, and the Virgin Atlantic guy just chuckled when I placed my carryon on the scale. I was 4 kg over the weight limit to carry it on. I'd worked so hard on keeping the size correct that I hadn't weighed the darn thing. So under the plane it went. Luckily, our bags arrived, and none of our toiletries exploded. I'd done a bit of prep for us by individually bagging them just in case this very thing happened, but man, all that prep and we had to check anyway!
I'm still glad we focused on this limitation, though, because even after two days, I already feel very unburdened by "stuff." It's easy to pick an outfit when you have the entire wardrobe mapped out in your mind, and it's great to know that we can check for future flights if we need to.
I know I'll have lots of feedback for myself once I've been living out of this suitcase for four weeks, but so far, I feel great about everything we packed and didn't pack.
No comments:
Post a Comment