Since mid April. I have had four trips of varying lengths and decided to post a quick packing report for all four. I just haven’t seen that many recently (although I hope that will change soon!) and my favorite thing is reading how people packed, their clothing choices, etc. Rather than writing all the details of what I brought, I am just highlighting my “lessons learned”. For some background, I am not a super minimalist packer (although I can do it, and have done it for some trips). A typical week (or two or three) vacation in the US means a 21” rolling suitcase and some kind of carryon or tote, which includes a small crossbody purse. International travel has been a backpack (such as Rick Steves brand) and a larger crossbody. I have started a spreadsheet for my varied trips. Each tab is a trip, where I document what I brought and what worked/what didn’t, etc. I think I will remember what I brought, but of course, when I review my lists, I find I didn’t!
Trip 1: Hawaii
Dh and I were fortunate enough to spend a week in Hawaii (plus 2 travel days) in April.
For this trip, I took my Travelpro 21” Expandable Spinner and a Kipling Sasha tote. But neither were full at all. My crossbody easily fit in the tote, with plenty of room to spare.
Lessons Learned from Hawaii trip
I have traveled a lot in the south in the summer, when it’s so hot outside and can be freezing cold inside, so I bought two items of outerwear. I definitely did not need both. Hawaii is much different than the south, with many restaurants with open walls to outside and patio style, so I wasn’t wearing a jacket much. However, I definitely needed one jacket or sweater. I wore the jeans jacket on the plane, and some evenings when it was breezy (rather than actually cold).
I discovered that while I usually wear pants and a top, in a warm tropical climate, I really preferred dresses. I like pants for the plane and for long sightseeing days, but that was a total of 5 days of our vacation (two travel days and three days of sightseeing). Since dh and I like to cruise, I want to remember this if we’re on a Caribbean cruise, for example. I used the dresses for pool coverups, as well as going to dinner and just relaxing around the resort.
I didn’t take flip flops and didn’t miss them. I wore the water shoes in the pool area, on the beach and in the pools. In fact, I discovered I much preferred the water shoes to flip flops.
I keep my toiletry kit and liquids quart bag always packed. I took advice from Cindy H and added in my meds, emergency & misc stuff and some jewelry into the pockets of the Sea to Summit and it has worked great. I have a small, lightweight jewelry case (a thoughtful gift from my daughter), but didn’t pack it (totally forgot). However, because I now keep a couple pairs of post earrings and a seed pearl necklace in my toiletries kit, I was fine. I also keep about a days supply of OTC meds in my kit and I used a couple of items (some tums and excedrin). It’s true we could have gone to the hotel shop and paid $12 for some OTC items but I was glad I could just grab what I needed.
I also forgot my wet bag, which I use not only as a wet bag but to put in the airplane seat pocket (it’s about 8x11 sized). I slip it in and put anything I want in flight, so it doesn’t get lost. And I do have personal experience with this….I left my iPad mini in a seat pocket on Southwest! This needs to be added as a permanent item on my packing lists.