Need Fabulous packing hints for 2.5 month trip-varying temps

We have done up to ten weeks carry-on: 2-21” roll aboards and 2 daypacks. Here are my tips for a woman.

• Two pairs of shoes, one to wear and one to pack
• Wool tee shirts that do not have to be washed every wearing. I’d bring 3 short sleeved and 1 long sleeved
• One “dressy” tee, lightweight cotton
• One cardigan, lightweight wool, to layer with wool tees or the dressier tee. I make this a nicer cardigan I can wear out to dinner with a nice coordinating scarf.
• One blouse, long sleeved, for dressier wear. Should coordinate with the sweater.
• Three bottoms: one or two of the lightest weight jeans you can find and one pair of dressier slacks like Eileen Foisger crepe or similar.
• 3 bras, 6 panties, 5 pair of socks, nightgown and robe
• A layer for cold days. I like something like this one from Talbots. I find it is just enough as a light jacket and an excellent layer under outerwear for cold days.
• A rain jacket, light gloves, and a hat
• I take a very small clutch so I do not have an extra carryon unless we are in business class and can have two carry ones and a personal item. Then I bring a purse which is handy when daytouring in cities and you don’t want to carry a backpack.
• My backpack usually has only my jacket, iPad, phone electrical cords, earbuds, a few first-aid items for the flight (Imodium, Advil, a few bandaids and alcohol wipes), the clutch purse and an empty 20 ounce reusable waterbottle.
• I use packing cubes like these from Eagle Creek to compress and organize my clothes.

Important: No hairdryer (every apartment and hotel has one), minimal toiletries, and I gave up on make up when I retired.. YMMV. No “just in case” clothes or third pair of shoes.

Assume you will do laundry once a week and sink-wash in between. We are usually no more than 5 days between access to a washer so that has helped me lighten the load. I get sick of my clothes, but so what?

Hubby takes a similar amount of clothes and concentrates on non-wrinkle travel shirts from Columbia and Eddie Bauer.

We had more extreme temperatures on a one month trip which included several European capital cities in August plus a trip above the Arctic Circle in Norway.
For the cities in Europe I brought my usual travel clothing, lightweight, short sleeved tops, a light sweater, black jeans, dressier black slacks, Light wt capris, running shoes, black flats, sandals- one pair each. For the cold part I packed a couple of long sleeved tee shirts and the winner- a merino wool long sleeved top by ICEBREAKER that I put on first. We were completely comfortable the whole trip. My husband and I each bought an ICEBREAKER top and did not need to pack any bulky clothing. We bought them in NYC at an ICEBREAKER store but REI sells them too. We always have them with us.
We each traveled with a 22” suitcase and a smaller backpack(my husband) or tote bag(me.)
You will be doing laundry so don’t think 2.5 months, rather one week!

I have heard of people mailing clothes they don't need on the trip back home; or if they are not priceless donate to charity where you are. I have personally purchased clothing to match the styles while I was traveling. Buy a swimming suit at home. Great Britain is usually rather casual; you can have several climates in the course of a day. You can wear your warm weather outfits; just take a sweater or hoody on daytrips and a lightweight rain jacket or windbreaker on hiking or countryside castle trips. Alway wear comfortable shoes with arch supports. Italy has weather a lot like California and the Italians tend to dress in nicer casual. Take one pair of warmer slacks or tights to wear under lighter pants and a stylish Tech jacket with a removable vest layer. Bon Voyage.

Currently our carry on consists of a soft side cooler bag which actually is quite roomy, a medium size backpack and a very small purse

I have not checked every airline, but in my experience, airlines have a limit of two items to carry-on. You can consolidate/pack the purse into one of the other bags?

To me layering clothing does not have to be bulky. I see several have recommended wool layers but even the Merino, which is supposed to be itchless, makes me itch, lol.

For a trip such as yours I' pack a waterproof jacket with a hood, a puffy vest that will squish down into a quart ziplock bag and a LS Drifit quarter zip layer. Those 2 layers under the waterproof layer would keep me warm down into the 30's. I'm fairly cold tolerant, though.

If you are cold-natured you might consider a light-weight base layer. Many like silk, mine are a poly brand - thin enough to wear under my regular jeans yet keep me warm in the North Idaho winter.

If you are a Costco member, they have their 32 Degree brand puffy vests back in stock and they are quite inexpensive. You can also go to the 32 degree website.

I'd probably take 2 pr capris and 2 pr long pants plus 4 short sleeve shirts and maybe 1 LS tee shirt.

SO many good ideas. Thank you all.
We are traveling where we can each have two cabin bags, yet as small as our actual suitcases are in height and width, they get a bit ‘fat’. I will place the purse into the cooler style bag to make one carryon. My husband will be carrying on the back pack-larger than a day pack. With that, his suitcase would be too much when considering two carry on for him. I think my suitcase would pass muster as my second.
Yes, we will have a washing machine at each of our accommodations where we stay longer than a week. Unfortunately, a lot of my clothing doesn’t necessarily dry quite as quickly as I might like which means if I need to wash it out one evening for wear the next day-hmmm-problematic, so means I need to double up on some articles of clothing-mostly just hiking shorts and a couple of dresses/skirts/pants and then tops too. Trying to modify my travel wardrobe has been fun but a bit perplexing-no, not spending lots of money.
We did do a 6 week trip with the two suitcases (which are Granite Gear backpack-21”x14”x14”(the fat part) and the same actual backpack as this trip. Worked well except the weather was totally fall everywhere, so we could pack lighter due to type of clothing.
MY body temp runs really warm so I feel the need to have a couple of dresses and a couple of skirts, plus dressier Bermuda style shorts. Later I will want long pants. My layering for later will be merino long sleeves, a puffer vest and a warmer quarter zip, plus feel the need for at least two pairs of long pants.
Wearing a dress and jacket on the plane plus one pair of the 4!!!! Pairs of shoes I’ll be taking. However, the three that will be packed take up as much room as about one and a half pairs of regular shoes-very minimal shoes that fold-zero drop shoes. Will need hats-very fair skin.
AND, everything is black, white, a gray and cream! Boring.
I think I just went overboard with info! I used to pack a lot when I was working and think I’ve totally forgotten how to make it work. Will take all your experiences and info into consideration and will soon be trial packing. Thanks all. Keep the info coming.

Presumably you'll be in Venice for a few days, right? If you airline misses your bag, it will in all likelihood make it to Venice later and be delivered to you. I most often travel with a carry-on, but I would not worry so much about the potential for a bag being lost. Flying in coach is SO miserable, I would not make it worse by cramming so much into a carry-on and having to schlep bags through a layover.
For a trip of this length with such varying weather, I would be checking a bag and not worrying about it.
Be early time to the airport to ensure you bag makes it on the initial flight, and pay for premium economy if you can. Of course it is prudent to pack items for both of you in a carry-on, but just do what you can and think positive.

Thanks @valadelphia.
We are traveling premium economy. 9 nights in Venice after 3 nights in Bologna. I would hope that a misplaced bag would get to us by then, but it is Heathrow……think they’ve had bags there for quite some time that have not found their owners.
Mostly, I think this is just my general fear that something not so good is going to happen before or at the start of the trip that might detrimentally affect all the planning and hopes for this trip that has had to be put off for so long. Trying not to jinx it though. We will have all the papers, documents, maps, meds, etc. with us. I’m not much of a shopper, but if need be, then will do.
It is the length of time and the seasonal changes that have me the most perplexed. Have to remember not to take all those ‘just in case’ bits like Laurel said. The trial packing will tell me a lot!

I haven't read through all the answers but this past spring I went from the Greek Islands to Finland. all with carry on. Another from Italy to Iceland in the fall.

My secret--a Scottevest jacket. I don't pack it and it doesn't count towards your luggage limits. I put all my "cooler" weather items in the jacket. Yes, you will have to lug it in the warmer weather but that's just when you change accomodations. Not every day. And when the temperatures start to drop, you wear it. Problems solved.

I've worn it through Heathrow many times. No issues. No airline has balked.

I do a “practice pack” myself about a month before each long trip. Really helps me make sure I have just the right items and time to add or replace if I find a deficiency. On a long trip, every item must pay its way in usefulness.

@laurel
I would love to do my practice packing right now-slightly less than a month to go. No air con and it’s 94 out and about the same in our upstairs where I get to practice pack! Hmm-might prepare me for the weather in Italy.

As someone who takes long trips with 30 or so changes of hotel, I have a rule that everything has to fit in my (about-24-inch) suitcase, tote bag or purse--no extra items on my person as I walk a mile to my new hotel. (Having to put heavy items in pockets just to get around an airline's weight limit wouldn't be an issue for me as long as I could move them back to one of the bags before leaving the airport.)

I don't like traveling with a lot of clothing; it clutters the suitcase and most of it looks wrinkled until spritzed with water and hung up. More clothes just mean more time spent unpacking and repacking. I take one pair of the most comfortable shoes I've found for walking distances on hard surfaces. It would be nice to have a pair of slip-ons to go down to breakfast, but I'm not going to devote room in my suitcase to something non-essential.

I look at everything going into my bag and ask: Is there a lighter-weight and/or less-bulky alternative? I take an unstructured toiletry kit just barely large enough to accommodate everything. It's much lighter than most on the market. I haven't switched to a Zip-lock bag but have been tempted. My purse isn't small, but it's made of a lightweight fabric; leather is too heavy. An extra ounce or two here and there adds up.

Be sure each article of clothing isn't bulkier/heavier than it needs to be to deal with the expected weather. For example, I would never travel with a tunic, because those extra inches of length don't really make the garment warmer. I do have a "tall" rainjacket, because it helps keep more of me dry.

Thank you all for assisting me with some sanity checks. Although I actually enlist much of what has been recommended, the reminders are timely and will certainly assist my husband who tends to generally overpack and take far too many “just in case” items. I’ve already winnowed out some of the clothing choices so progress is being made.
More Heathrow horror stories-LOL-I need to quit reading them! Definitely headed towards my suitcase as carryon. Would love to convince my husband to downsize his backpack so that he could carry his suitcase on also. One of our only saving moments for Heathrow is that we will arrive and depart from T5.
Off to get our IDP’s today so can cross that off our to do list.

"I would love to do my practice packing right now-slightly less than a month to go. No air con and it’s 94 out and about the same in our upstairs where I get to practice pack! Hmm-might prepare me for the weather in Italy."

Well, laughing, if you are a morning person there is always 5AM for a practice pack! It's been hot here as well and we've been trying to hike at 6A to be finished before it starts to heat up!

I'm transiting Heathrow in late August, too. We have one bag to check, so I'm sending it with Send My Bag, which uses DHL or FedEx. It's $135/converted from British pounds. In our case, we used miles for seats in business, so I don't mind paying Send My Bag.

Clothes: take a look at Uniqlo and buy as you need, including their famous down coats that fold up into a pouch. You'll have nice souvenirs that way. You could start with old summer clothes that you are willing to get rid of and buy warmer clothes as you go along.

I would never check a bag. You mention the layering or winter-y type items are bulkier---we went on a Christmas market 3-weeker and packed all winter clothing in carry-on, so you can do it with just a bit of fall/wintery items. Lands End light fleece pull ons and quarter zips are so light weight, and dry overnight! I wear Cuddlduds tees (long sleeve) and should be fine for 45 degree weather with rain jacket. We were just in the Netherlands in spring, 45-50 degrees (but a wicked wind chill), then went to Portugal where it was 75. I take only 1 extra bra, wear one. 1 extra pr shoes, 3 undies/3 socks (wash out in sink), One Columbia roll up sleeve shirt, couple of tees for the warmer regions and nylon pants (like North Face, Columbia, etc.). Those dry overnight as well. I take khaki & black and everything goes. I agree with above---less is less stressful when unpacking/repacking for that length of trip. You can do it!

Rick's rule, pack twice as much money and half as many clothes. No one really, honestly cares what you are wearing.

Lots of Youtube videos on capsule packing/wardrobes, that's the new term of art.

@Pam-I’m pretty far off an early morning person. Spent lots of working years having to get up at all hours-different time zones all over the place, so I only get up at that hour if I HAVE to! KNow you’ve had it hot over there too.

@Bets- checked out Send My Bag. Intrigued for sure. Thanks. Also would rather spend the $$$ for a guarantee. Just not sure yet how we can choose where to have it sent and actually be there to receive it. I’ll spend a bit more time with the site but might PM you later for details they don’t speak to.

@KathyW-not unfamiliar with having to do the sink washing, just not too sure I want to have that waiting for me most nights after long days and having to REALLY plan on clothing choices when one needs to dry while wearing the other and then having to do it again! Probably won’t trim down to your suggestions, but can certainly look at my system more closely.

@phred-You’re definitely correct that no one cares what I’m wearing with the exception being me. Raised to always look nice and well groomed though we had little means. Not concerned with fitting in , although it’s interesting that both my husband and I are often considered to be Scandinavian rather than Americans-still tourists no matter.

Again, thanks all and I’m still open to even more because each of you has given me food for thought.

Oh! And @FrankII of Freedonia- I would never remember what I had where or if I had placed it in a pocket or not! How does anyone keep track of 139 pockets worth of items? Yikes!! Even the ones with 19 would have me in a dither. They look really nice though and practical if you’ve the mind got it. Thanks.

Bring merino wool. That’s the most versatile fabric

I never checked in anything, even going on cruises, where ppl tend to bring suitcases of stuff, I have a carryon, and nobody thought I bring very few pieces of clothes. Bring basic but different colors (black/white/beige/brown) that could mix with all the items and also small items with pop colors (thin shirts/items to layer/scarves), so that they draw attention away from the rest of the outfits. The same outfits with and without scarf look completely different!
On makeups, use sunscreen with tints for the face as well as eyes, cheeks and lips. Check out colorescience products, especially, sunscreen for face would make the skin look flawless without any add-on. Besides that, only a mascara is needed. Save time too!
2 nice but comfy for walking (preferably ballet) pairs of shoes of contract colors (black and beige) - shoes make the outfits!
2-3 fabric/different color hats that can be folded - hats make the outfits too!
2-3 pairs of different color/styles sunglasses
2-3 sets of silk/thin material tops & pants to layer for colder weather - which can be sink-washed if needed. Silk is light and very warm.
1 faux leather jacket (for warm/wet weather and style)!
I only need that much to dress nicely/in style, and more importantly, comfortably and a carryon is just perfect! And, oh, roll the clothes (fit more and easy to organize).
Happy traveling!