Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Packing Reflections: May Pacific Northwest Trip & My Travel Look



If you've been following my blog for some time, you may remember my packing reflections post from a few years back when we took off to explore the Redwoods in California.   I am happy to say that I have been working on ways to simplify when packing for trips and lighten the weight on my checked bag.  The first trip we went on in my adult life my bag barely passed the 50 lb limit!  To say I'm a hoarder might not be too much of an exaggeration — to live a life with a love of styling and home decor is to live a life of collection, for better or for worse!

Throwing back a minute to my last packing reflection post to the Redwoods I had packed a whopping 75 items!!!!  Holy back pain, airport travelers!!  Packing so much only leads to more confusion putting together outfits on your trip and more opportunity to lose items you love from them getting separated from your luggage.  

Yet, when packing I am constantly plagued by the 'what if's — What if the weather is different than predicted?  What if I want to wear short sleeves?  What if I won't feel comfortable in this if it gets cold? What if I need to change for some reason one day?

These 'what if' questions inevitably add more to the suitcase and before I know it I'm packing half of my closet to go away for four days. 

For this trip I tried very hard to only pack 1-3 outfit options per day depending on what was planned for the day (i.e. a dress appointment in the morning but then we planned to go hiking later that day, followed by a nice dinner), and a handful of accessory / bag options that could work for multiple days. 
What I ended up packing for our 5 day trip

I am happy to say that this trip I managed to pack 35 items (there were a few other things not pictured but they would be staples like socks and your toothbrush, so I'm not counting those things).   Throughout the trip I did not feel overwhelmed picking outfits because there weren't very many options and I had already picked something that I anticipated being right for the occasion.  I loved this!

I think the best thing about this is I was able to boil things down to a minimal amount despite the wide range of events we had planned.  I needed clothes suitable for casual/ professional meetings, clothes I could eat a lot in, clothes for hiking, casual dinners, flying in airplanes, and going to a dress appointment.  That is quite a wide array of styles!

While it was great lightening my suitcase, there were still things I packed that I didn't end up wearing on the trip.  Next time I think I may try to push myself even further to really boil down to what I need.  It definitely would have been great to have a slightly lighter bag!

The items I didn't end up using marked with an X


And even though I simplified my options considerably, I didn't feel that I sacrificed style in order to do so.  While we were going through TSA on the way home in Portland, one of the TSA agents told me that she had outfit envy for my look that day!  I was excited since I had mostly picked something that was comfortable for the flight, yet not a hoodie and yoga pants.  Here's a picture of it in the nicest airport photo we could manage...  :)

DSW Shoes | Forever 21 Knit Top (similar) | Forever 21 Yellow Anorak (No longer available)


 

So there you have it: simple, but stylish, and most importantly comfortable for a 4 hour flight!

Until next time,

- The Lovely Red Fox

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