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July 19, 2009
a woman's round-the-world packing list
| Victorinox 22-inch Trek Pack Plus E-Motion 360: At 22 inches, this hybrid rolling suitcase/backpack is small enough to bring as a carry-on and light enough to lift on my back. These bags take a beating and have enough space for all my stuff. On most of our trips, I use the bag as a rolling suitcase but on cobblestones or dirt roads, I convert it to a backpack. Victorinox has come out with a new version of this suitcase but it looks less comfortable to carry as a backpack.
For another review on this backpack, check out Wanderlust and Lipstick's review here.
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Daypack: I use the daypack that comes with the Trek Pack Plus. It is perfect for taking our camera, a light sweater or umbrella, a guide book, and a couple of bottled waters when we are walking around. |
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| Eagle Creek Travel Gear Pack-It Folders: These create "drawers" in my suitcases and keep my clean clothes separate from dirty, semi-clean separate from semi-dirty, shirts separate from pants, mentionables separate from unmentionables. On extended trips, these help keep me from feeling like I am living out of a suitcase. I use two 18-inch folders to hold shirts, pants, and a skirt. |
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Eagle Creek Half Cubes: I like to use two of these for T-shirts, undergarments, and my swimsuit. I also use a Tube Cube to hold socks. |
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| Convertible Travel Tote: This is our beach bag/shopping bag/just-in-case bag. It folds neatly into its own pocket and is water-proof. We've used this bag for everything from bringing back extra souvenirs to packing with goodies from the farmer's market to hauling our stuff to the beach. The REI model we use has been discontinued but this Eagle Creek version is similar. |
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Denko PakPak: If you have any interest in traveling to a beach or pool, buy one of these. This safely protects keys, credit cards, and money when we are in the water, snorkeling, scuba diving, or at the beach and attaches to us via a velcro strap. We used to be one of those people who lamely tried to hide the hotel room key and cash surreptitiously under our beach towel, in the hopes that no one would steal from us. No longer! This is a great invention and one of our favorite travel items. |
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| REI Ultimate Shower Kit: We spent a ridiculous amount of time testing various toiletry bags before finally settling on these. These have small hangers to hang in tiny bathrooms, mirrors, and several compartments including a wet compartment. |
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Lewis N. Clark Pill Case: All our pills and medicines are neatly organized in separate numbered ziploc pouches. Super fun for the organizer in all of us. |
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| Microfleece towel: The Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy is right. These things are indispensable. |
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Therm-a-Rest Compressible Travel Pilllow: Call me a traveling wuss, if you will, but I sleep very poorly when I don't have a comfortable pillow. I have the medium size pillow and, even compressed, it is bulky. But, I've decided that for my own sanity (and Patrick's as well), this is an essential travel item for me. |
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| Dreamsack Silk Sleeping Sack: Perfect for scummy hostels or hotels. |
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Purse: I carry a small purse to hold notebook, wallet, and other items.
For sake of completeness, I am including the money belt here though Patrick usually wears this because it looks less obvious under bulky shirts.
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Here's the dilemma: look cute or travel light and comfortably? This should not be mutually exclusive, right? Unfortunately, travel clothing is geared toward two sets of people, neither of which describes me: (1) men and (2) women over the age of 60. I have noted below the few companies that are designing clothes that are light-weight, quick-drying, comfortable, and also ones that women actually want to wear. My travel wardrobe usually stays fairly constant between our various trips because it covers most climates.
| Fleece: I have a basic fleece that I purchased from REI. It is warm and I can layer a rain jacket over it. |
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Marmot Precip Rain Jacket: This popular rain jacket is breathable, repels moisture, and inexpensive. It is comfortable to wear day in and day out. |
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| Ex Officio Soytopia Knit Hoodie Shirt: This comfortable, warm sweater fits beautifully. The soy-based sweater naturally wicks moisture and repels odor. Love this sweater! |
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Icebreaker Nature 200 Long-sleeve Shirt: This thin-knit merino wool sweater is warm and silky soft. The merino wool also naturally repels moisture and odor. |
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| Columbia Titanium Short Sleeve Shirt: This is my "nice" shirt, still moisture-wicking and easy to wash, but has a bit more elegant look. |
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Royal Robbins Naja Cap Sleeve Shirt: Love this tunic style shirt with embroidery. It is light, comfortable, and very cute. (Amazon also sells a long-sleeve shirt, pullover, and a skirt that match). |
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| Two additional cotton short sleeve shirts. I also have two extra-large short-sleeve shirts from REI that are wicking and odor proof that I use as sleep shirts and a pair of sleep shorts. |
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The North Face Paramount Porter Convertible Pants: The waist sits just above the hips, the shorts hit above the knee, the bottoms roll up to long capris, and the pants are a perfect length. The pants have lots of pockets and I like the color-coding on the zippers to convert the pants from shorts to pants. Sure, they're not the most attractive looking, but they are very handy for travel. I have two pairs of these --- one in a dark gray and the other in a khaki. |
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| Columbia Titanium slightly warmer pants: These pants have a micro-fleece lining so they feel like sweatpants but look dressy enough for a night out. These are my favorite pants and I think every woman traveler should buy one. [Note: I am not 100% certain that the pants listed in the Amazon link are the exact pants I bought because it looks like it no longer has the microfleece liner.] |
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Horny Toad Lizzie Skirt: I hate shopping for travel skirts because they tend to be too-long (which makes a petite woman look even shorter) and frumpy-looking. I want to look nice and still be decent! This skirt hits below the knee but has a flattering figure and a comfortable cotton-feel. |
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| Unmentionables: Ummm, you don't really need to know. Enough for a week. |
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Swimsuits: I am taking two bathing suits, one for laying on the beach and one for active wear. |
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| Wrightsock Coolmesh socks: An ingenious double layer keeps sweat on the outside of the sock and wicks moisture away from the foot in the interior layer. |
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Skechers Mary Janes: These comfortable shoes are embroidered with a flower pattern and so cute. I like these for walking around a city and semi-nice restaurants. |
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| Vasque Women's Kota XCR Hiking Shoes: As far as hiking shoes go, these are pretty light and as comfortable as a pair of sneakers but with better grip and traction. |
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Birkenstock sandals: I love these sandals. In fact, I have been buying a pair of these sandals (in different colors) since I was 16 because they are just so comfortable. I also carry a pair of flip flops for the beach and scummy showers. |
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And that's it. Now that I've listed it all out, it looks like a short list, but, I can go for almost a week without doing a full load of laundry and still stay cute and not smelly.
Next: canon wp-dc29 underwater camera
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