Packing help for 90 day trip

Hi Debbie - will you please reconfirm what time of year will be your 90 day trip, and to which region(s) of France you’ll be going? That can affect whether you’re maybe needing to pack for cooler weather, which can be bulkier, or maybe a for a variety of climates. But it sounds as if you’re planning on going as light and compact as you can.

Debbie, except for adding warmer clothes for cold weather (which you can also accomplish by wearing multiple layers of what you have already packed, or filling in with items purchased in France as the weather cools) packing for 90 days is very similar to packing for 30 or 40 days, which I have done in a 22" rollaboard plus a personal item -- 7 to 10 days worth of clothing, washed and rewashed as needed. And the additional purchases /replacement clothing items can be excellent souvenirs.
Will you need to carry a supply of prescription medicines ? This requires more planning.

As noted, if you let us know when and where you will be traveling we can make more helpful suggestions.

I have traveled for 8 weeks with a 21-inch roller bag and a daypack. I choose lightweight items and layers. 3 pants, 5 tees, 2 blouses, 2 layering pieces like a cardigan or light fleece/track jacket, or hoodie, and a light rain jacket over all. This combo, with one pair of leather walking shoes and one pair of athletic shoes is all I need for spring or fall in Europe. I do not travel I summer but that would be easy enough as clothes are lighter. I have also done significant winter travel with a combo that substitutes long-sleeved tees and merino wool layers and I carry a long puffy coat plus gloves, scarf, boots instead of leather shoes.

We do not take all the toiletries one needs for a long trip. We take small bottles and tubes of things to get us started and resupply along the way. If it is suddenly hotter or colder than expected, I have been known to buy a lighter top or a heavier fleece when needed.

In the addition to the above items mentioned by others, in my lengthy travels around Europe for 30 to 90 days using a carry-on, I've been pleased that I brought long silk underwear and silk knee pants. They take up so little room. Everything I pack except for a merino sweater can be washed out to dry overnight. I don't bring more than two of anything. And I do pack light boots that can be used in rain.

I do this every year. Eastern France for 88 days in 2017 and Andalucia + Western France this year. I think I could go carry-on if I didn't have a lot of bulky pills to pack, but I also have a problem with paper-based travel information. I always run out of time before I get everything consolidated into typed notes. If you don't have issues like those, I believe you can accomplish this quite easily.

I've found slacks are the toughest part of the wardrobe because it's not so easy to layer below the waist (though I take one pair of polypropylene long johns on most trips). If you will potentially face both hot weather and chilly weather, you'll be tempted to take four pairs of pants, but those are often heavy and bulky. On my current trip I've been extremely pleased with how well my 97% nylon PrAna pants do in both heat and chilly, wet weather. They are relatively water-repellant. With a pair of long johns underneath, I was comfortable on raw, rainy days down to the upper 30s F. My feet did end up wet on one (fortunately warmer) day of all-day rain.

The PrAnas are very light to pack and look great out of the bag. They are not cheap, but you can sometimes catch a sale. There's one on now. Columbia makes less expensive pants with similar fiber content, but the fabric is lighter and I don't know how comfortable they'd be in the cold. They also looked very wrinkled when my mail order arrived, and dampening them and hanging them up did not resolve the problem. I hope they'll look better by the time I return home. The Columbias run a little smaller than the PrAnas.

The other things I do are use solid conditioner; figure out exactly how much of each toiletry I will use and take only that much, in a suitably-sized container; take only one pair of shoes; use compression cubes; and not take duplicate outer warm layers--not two ackets or two sweaters.

Thanks for the great information everyone. I was asked to provide more specifics so here goes:
-Travel window is March - June 2020.
- Still refining the locations but here the places on my list now: Paris, Nice, Mount St. Michel, Dordogne region, Cassis, Lyon, Bourdeaux, Toulouse, Montpellier.

Thanks again.

It is good to see that that trip is still on.

Just a reminder - it was also on your previous thread - that arrival and departure days count to the Schengen 90 days. If your plane home on the 90th day were to have a mechanical problem and you couldn't fly until the next day you could have a problem.

It sounds like a great trip. I wish I could just go for long enough anywhere to just settle in and become a longish term temp local. Well done...

I was in Paris in March of this year and it was a bit chilly. I was comfortable layering a LS Land's End cotton/modal Tee with a LS Dri-fit quarter zip layered with a Costco 32 Degree brand down vest. I had a waterproof rain jacket to layer over that. I also had Smartwool glove liners and I used them several times. The locals on the Metro still seemed to be wrapped in winter coats/hats and mufflers but I was comfortable in the shirts and vest combo.

IF you are cold-natured you might need a lighter weight fleece or puffy jacket instead of the puffy vest I used.

If you are interested, Costco has those vests again this year altho they are poly-fill instead of down. They are $16.99 online, a dollar less in the warehouses. Just offering that as it is light and squishy to pack but provides some warmth.

For 3 weeks in March and April in Paris, Belgium and Netherlands, I had 2 LS tees and had packed 4 SS tees. I did not wear the SS tees as much as I thought but you are going south instead of north and are there until later in the year so doubtless will need the SS tops. I usually take 3 pr of bottoms - I like jeans but YMMV.

I'd add a sunshirt as well as a pair of capris.

Along with several of the folks who have responded, I've done 8 weeks in a 22" bag with just sink washing. It would not have been a problem to keep going for another month!

It's hard to find but there is a packing forum here: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/packing

You didn’t ask, but FYI—Nice is the warmest in March, followed by Cassis. It doesn’t warm up west of the Rhone, ie Montpelier and Toulouse until a bit later, sometimes as late as May. This is assuming you are working your way from south to north.

Thanks for the ongoing tips!

• I am aware of the 90 day Schengen rule. I just like to write 90 days, sounds so much longer. :-)
• I did not know there was a packing forum on the site. Thanks a million.

I welcome any and all information.

I answered this question under the packing section of this forum. Posting a question twice doesn't help others who may benefit from the answers.