Here’s part one of my packing report for my recent 10-day trip to England. I was in London May 26-30 and in Lewes, East Sussex, the first five days of June. I used my 21” Travelpro Maxlite spinner (bought in 2016) as my checked bag, my LL Bean Carryall Tote as my carryon (sadly discontinued; purchased in 2018 on the advice of a member of this forum) and my Tom Bihn Side Kick as my personal item. While I was there, I bought a Roka Canfield medium backpack and used that plus a Tom Bihn Ziptop Shop Bag as day bags. Note: it’s not that I have so much stuff I must have two day bags. The Shop Bag acted as an accessory to the Canfield, in that it held a water bottle and second phone. I had two phones because one was locked (the one I used as a camera) and the other unlocked (used for communication). And since everyone is charging for disposable grocery type bags there, I put groceries and other purchases in it when I was out and about.
Main bag (the Travelpro): I used two compression bags I bought on Amazon to try out. I was underwhelmed—I did not feel like they saved a lot of space in my spinner bag. I put my underwear, socks and terrycloth hair turban in one, and my clothes in the other. Clothes were: one pair of silk pants, one pair of tencel pants (Cut Loose brand), one J Jill Tencel, linen and spandex cardigan, one LL Bean 3/4 sleeve T-shirt, two J Jill 3/4 sleeve T-shirts (a very lightweight cotton), one silk blouse, one cotton shirt w/ ¾ sleeves (gray with hedgehogs on it—a favorite). I also packed a pair of slip-on Skechers. On the plane I wore yoga pants (can’t recall the name; I got them at Kohl’s), LL Bean Tencel Flyaway cardigan, black ¾ sleeve LL Bean cotton T-shirt, sneakers.
This year I decided not to wear my LL Bean H2Off knee length jacket, and I lived to regret it. Ha ha It was so cold and windy in London (plus it rained a bit) I ended up going to Cotswold Outdoor in Covent Garden and buying a North Face rain jacket. It’s more breathable than the Bean one and I’m very happy with it. I wore it every day. Also, I tried merino socks. The brand is 1,000 Mile and they come with a lightweight lining. As far as wearing them multiple times w/o them being stinky, I washed mine after two days—they were stinky enough for me. I was very glad to have the washer/dryer in the Airbnb in Lewes. Did all my "smalls" when I got there. I only did one day of hand washing, a pair of underpants and a pair of socks in the shower in London.
I ended up wearing the J Jill sweater and the LL Bean cardie every day. Sometimes I wore one over my pajamas because I was cold much of the time. However, I only wore each top 2x, and I could easily have done with one or two fewer. Because it was so cold, I wasn’t the usual sweaty mess I am sometimes. I might even have been able to stay with two pairs of trousers. The silk ones were too lightweight for the weather I experienced. On one or two days, I wished I’d brought my silk long underwear!
Other items in my checked bag were a small pouch of art supplies, my Tom Bihn Handy Little Thing containing sugar packets and Starbucks instant coffee packets, Tom Bihn Spiff Kit with non-liquid toiletries, hair brush, masks (just a couple) and spare pair of glasses.
I still feel like I overpacked—especially since I had made purchases while there, and I could barely zip the spinner shut. As I mentioned in another post, I use a vacuum bag for my dirty laundry and that does help a great deal with making extra space in the spinner. I also used the Canfield as my personal item on the plane on the way home.
More to come…