Travel Thoughts: Packing

While we were hanging out our friends in Cala Gonone, Sardinia, the conversation turned to packing and how packing for a week away can be just as bad as packing for a month (or in our case 6 months away). What we packed for these six months away also incited intense curiosity, especially from the female perspective. Looking good as a woman seems to require more products (skin, hair, nail, etc) and more/different clothes and shoes -- or you are left with what I call my "dork outfit" below-- wool socks, running shoes, and capri work out pants (because I didn't pack any long work out pants).




No room for long-workout pants. Everything I have (excluding our climbing equipment), was packed in the below 2 bags. Note that my backpack is a front-opening backpack. Jen Avery turned me on to the benefits of front entry bags -- easy to access and see everything you packed and it easier to cram from the front rather than the top of a backpack.

In lisbon apartment -- with original paint on the wall

Packing everything I needed in the above required bringing very few items and concentrating on very "useful" clothes. For me, useful clothes are clothes that: (1) can layer easily (crucial now that we are in 50-degree London and I am wearing almost all my clothes every single day); (2) can serve dual purposes (pajama shorts that are also running shorts, a dress that also doubles as a long skirt); (3) are lightweight (they pack into small areas in the above bags); (4) dry quickly (our journey has primarily taken us to humid places with no dryers -- nice smelling dry clothes become a luxury); and (5) can color coordinate (my chosen color scheme was the turquoise of the tom's wedge shoes above).

In lisbon apartment -- with original paint on the wall

Of these useful items -- the least useful has been the tom's wedges. Go figure, heels not useful? Apparently for really comfy heels, I should have gone with "earthies." Tom's wedges are supposed to be very comfy but for they are only ok to walk in for 2 or so miles at a time. Not good for exploring. In contrast to my least useful item of summer heels, my most useful item is the "cookie monster" a fuzzy patagonia fleece.

In lisbon apartment -- with original paint on the wall

In lisbon apartment -- with original paint on the wall

The Cookie Monster is pictured above under my black rain jacket on the Atlantic coast of Portugal at Cascais. The Cookie Monster comes in as the MVP for packing because it doubles not only as warm clothing but also as a comfy pillow on the night travel that Wilson blogged about in Travel thoughts: you grows up and you grows up.

In lisbon apartment -- with original paint on the wall

Wilson's most useful item has been his Tsunga. (Well maybe not really but I like this picture).

Two friends pontificating in the Med

Packing and traveling has also entailed some losing, and for me a lot more than I actually want to admit. But luckily, people world-wide wear clothes and so I have some clothing souvenirs. :) Also more luckily for me, one of the "lost" items, the sunglasses above were rescued by Tanya and are waiting for me in DC. Thanks, T!

In lisbon apartment -- with original paint on the wall