I was in France Oct 14 to 31. I went to Rouen for 4 days and then on to Chartres for 1 day solo and then met my Loire to the South of France 13 days tour. I packed my standard stuff for the most part. I always travel in the winter or very early spring or as late as possible in the fall. I always sign up for the first or last tour that’s scheduled. The reason is I hope for as few as possible fellow tourists/crowds at where I’m going. So this means the scenery isn’t as pretty as it could be but it’s definitely a trade off I’m willing to make.
I do pack weird compared to most of my fellow travelers I think. I’ve come to realize that I don’t like wearing what can be described as travel clothes. Total for packing and wearing on the plane are 3 pairs of pants, 4 shirts, 1 pair of boots, 1 pairs of sneaks, 3 pairs of socks, 4 undies, one silk cami and one thigh length lightweight thermal bottom, one sleep T, one jersey 3/4 long sleep tights. I also take 2 wool cardigans.
This trip I got crazy and also brought along a very lightweight jacket too. It’s by LLBean and is called an Airlight Knit Full Zip and it worked out well. I have a great raincoat that has a hood and has a removable liner that I love. I’ve had it 7 years, it’s from LandsEnd it’s a tall size, but is no longer available. It’s mid thigh length and is really waterproof and it was definitely needed on this trip! I don’t do umbrellas.
I bring 2 pairs of pants that are more like slacks, one pair is about 18 years old and is still going strong. It’s a poly wool rayon mix and looks like menswear, dark charcoal with very narrow pinstripes and comes out of the suitcase with no wrinkles and crease in place. I call them my bionic pants. The other pair is from Talbots also very no wrinkles, packs like a champ. I did bring a pair of travel pants from Duluth, Flexpedition model. They are perfectly fine for travel and I do like the zip pocket on the thigh but the 89% nylon 11% spandex just feels creepy to wear.
I brought 2 lightweight cotton modal turtlenecks and 2 no iron cotton button front shirts. Again, I like wearing cotton, synthetic fibers feel wrong somehow. I tend to be cold so the 2 cardigans got worn a lot. Oh yeah, I brought 4 different scarves. I wear a lot of black and brown and sort of boring clothes and scarves make me happy to be able to add a little color.
I brought one pair of Altra sneaks and one pair of Ariat Paddock boots. They are about combat boot height. I’ve had them for years and my feet love them and they do great on cobblestones. The Altras are super comfortable too. A side note, our guide, the wonderful Virginie, only wore leather boots the whole tour I noticed. 2 pairs of short ankle boots and one pair of knee boots that were so cute.
My carryon 2 wheeler weighed 17 lbs. I’m always carryon going over. I did check my bag coming back but since I’ve got Global Entry I blew through re-entry so fast that I was standing at the luggage carousel for what seemed like forever before the bags showed up, I may not do that again.
About 2-3 years ago I discovered Tom Bihn on the forum and I happily own several things now. I completely agree that their stuff is very well made. The Travel Tray is genius. My personal item is a Daylight Briefcase by Tom Bihn. I got it about a year or so ago and I really love it. It’s only 14x10x4 and 12 ounces, but It holds my AirPods, chargers and cords (in a TB 3D organizer cube), mini iPad, travel journal, pens, my just in case heart meds (also in a cute little TB Cubelet, are you seeing a trend here?), my emotional support tube of Oreos 😉, some tea bags, water bottle and has a great place for a few pieces of paperwork I still feel compelled to bring. It stands up easily and I’ve taken to putting it up against the seat under my legs instead of under the seat in front of me. It weighed 5 1/2 lbs. I wear it crossbody very comfortably.
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