I have seen friends absolutely dread packing and put it off as late as they can and others who take 10 minutes to throw stuff in a bag for a 2 week trip (grrrr), but I start to plan at least a week ahead, analyzing the potential weather at my destination, possible activities and the clothes they would require; what will wrinkle, what will travel well, and what I'll simply feel like wearing.
On Thursday, (tonight, in fact, I wrote this earlier this week), I'm leaving for London, then Copenhagen for about 10 days and, aside from the boots I just bought and wrote about, haven't yet worked out what I'll bring. You'd think it would be easy. After all, I live in New York, couldn't I just wear the same thing I wear here?? And the answer is "yes", but since my choices will be limited to what I can carry, I want to think it through and wear the RIGHT same thing I wear here.
So, I decided to come up with a system for the perfect packing wardrobe - in this case, for stylish cities in Northern Europe in late summer. Breaking down a wardrobe to basic elements should be useful for me for this trip and hopefully for future packing as well. (As an FYI, I plan to check in my bag. When I flew to Germany a month ago, I was told that the weight limit for carry on is 7kg. Translated into packing terms, that's a suitcase, a pair of shoes, and toothpaste. So I'm not even going to pretend!)
So, the elements of my wardrobe...
4 daytime tops: something cool, stylish, comfortable and versatile, so not basic t-shirts, but nothing overdone, either... white's a little risky for travel, but I like them and it is summer after all... Actually, it IS summer, so make that 5 or 6 tops - to be fresher..
2 layers (jacket & sweater)
1 belt to make the tops more interesting and give more wardrobe options.
2 scarves (1 pashmina, which is nicer than an airplane blanket for the flight, 1 lighter scarf)
4 bottoms: 2 pairs of skinny pants (one black, one probably jeans), mini skirt, dressy shorts, plus a pair of leggings to fly in (since they allow me to do contortions in the seat so I can sleep comfortably..ish).
1 day dress (or two)
2 dressier night time options: a top that will go with the pants/skirt/shorts I've packed and a dress, or maybe a jumpsuit, or both.
4 pairs of shoes: my boots, high heels, flat sandals I can walk around in, and another pair of flats, probably my sneaker/ballerinas. Also a blister stick - they are amazing!!
Bathing suit? Well, it doesn't take up much room and I just read you can swim in Copenhagen. Will I? don't know, doubt it, but definitely sunscreen and sunglasses, in any case..
Pyjamas, underwear, toiletries (I have a pre-packed bag of mini sizes of pretty much everything), a hairdryer, adaptor cords, chargers (for iphone/ipod, work phone, kindle, camera.. when are they going to do universal adaptors again???), noise reduction earphones, spare toothbrush/paste, lip balm and moisturizer to carry on as it's an overnight flight there, passport and left over foreign currency from my last trip, and I'm good to go! Whew!! If I were staying in a hotel, I'd also bring my portable ipod speakers and a couple decks of cards, but no need if I'm staying at a friend's place.
So, here are my dressed-up and dressed-down combinations of these pieces. (And yes, a lot of what's different is shoes.. but shoes are important!!)
Dressed up:
and yes.. I realize I am looking tired and my hair is a mess! At some point, I may learn Photoshop and then not a hair will be out of place! hah - right!!)
Dressed down (some are a little dressy):
PS: Update.. As I mentioned above, I wrote this a few days ago and I'm about to leave for the airport in a few minutes. So, did this systematic planning work? Well, mostly. Packing was really easy because I already knew what I wanted to bring. But I did leave a couple key things at home (the new boots and iPod - rats! system derailed because I didn't have a carry-on plan!!) so I dashed back during lunch to get them. Everything fits nicely into my bags - but they weigh a darn ton!!!)
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