I meant to post our pack lists before we left for Europe, but the universe had other plans. The cat stopped eating in July and lost almost half her body weight, so we spent our final days in the U.S.—and a good chunk of our travel budget—at the vet, only to find out she wasn’t dying, just mad that we’d moved. (My mom wound up force feeding her for two weeks. It was a huge ordeal. But she’s fine now, thanks, fatter and happy that Sean and I are home for a minute.)
But it worked out for the best, I think, because I now have the benefit of hindsight. In the first three sections of this post, I’m sharing exactly what we brought with us. If you’re more interested in rubbernecking than reading nitty gritty details, simply skip down to the section called “takeaways” to find out what we did wrong. Ok, let’s go!
Sarah’s stuff
Tops: 3 tanks, 3 shortsleeves, 3 longsleeves, 1 sweater, 1 cardigan, 1 long underwear shirt, 1 dress
Bottoms: 1 pair of hiking pants, 1 pair of jeans, 1 pair of black pants, 1 pair of shorts, 1 skirt
Unmentionables: 7 pairs of underwear, 2 regular bras, 1 sports bra, 1 pair of tights
Shoes/socks: 1 pair of hiking boots, 1 pair of Keds, 1 pair of sandals, 2 pairs of crew socks, 2 pairs of no-show socks
Outerwear/accessories: 1 fleece jacket, 1 rain jacket, 1 swimsuit, 1 scarf, 3 necklaces, 1 baseball cap, 1 pair of sunglasses
Toiletries: Dry shampoo, leave-in conditioner, makeup, daily moisturizer, cold cream, hair curl cream, toothbrush, hair brush, nail polish remover pads, deodorant
Sean’s stuff
Tops: 5 shortsleeves, 2 ¾-length sleeves, 3 button-downs, 1 sweater
Bottoms: 1 pair of jeans, 2 pairs of chinos, 1 pair of hiking pants
Unmentionables: 5 undershirts, 5 pairs of underwear, 2 pairs of hiking socks, 4 pairs of ankle socks, 1 pair of dress socks
Shoes/socks: 1 pair of hiking boots, 1 pair of Allbirds, 1 pair of flip flops, 1 pair of dress shoes
Outerwear/Accessories: 1 belt, 1 baseball cap, 1 pair of sunglasses, 1 swimsuit, 1 swimming shirt, 1 rain jacket, 1 packable down coat
Toiletries: Comb, deodorant, toothbrush, beard trimmer, floss, hair gel, 1 pack of earplugs
Other odds & ends
Electronics: Digital camera (and two lenses), 1 small towel, 1 power bank, 2 pairs of headphones, 2 phones (and phone chargers), 3 type C outlet converters
Health: Motion sickness bands, hand sanitizer, wet wipes, daily prescriptions, 1 bottle of Migraine Excedrin, 1 bottle of Pepto, 1 bottle of prescription antibiotics, 1 bottle of aloe, collapsible water bottles, lint roller, travel clothesline, toothpaste, 2 bottles of sunscreen, shampoo, body wash, wrinkle release spray
Entertainment: 2 books, Roku stick
Takeaways
Biggest fail: We didn’t have any major issues with the things we packed. We didn’t forget any essentials, and we were prepared for all types of weather. That said, we would’ve been a lot happier with our wardrobe options if we’d done a better job of taking our everyday habits into account. To wit:
I prefer wearing dresses most of the time; I actively avoid jeans on vacation; and mixing, matching, and accessorizing are definitely not my game. Why then, pray tell, did I only pack one tired old dress, an uncomfortable pair of jeans, and a bunch of scarves and necklaces (but not my favorite earrings that I wear every day at home)?
Sean is perfectly content to wear the same outfit for days on end, so he wound up not really needing half his stuff.
We both like lounging around in cotton pants and baggy t-shirts, but we (wrongly) assumed we wouldn’t do much lounging on our trip, so we didn’t pack for it.
Best gear: Everything from our Gearing Up post worked like a charm, but there were a few other items we found we couldn’t live without:
I didn’t think we’d get much use out of our hiking boots (I almost didn’t take mine!) but we both wound up wearing them constantly. They were like little hugs for our feet.
Sean usually has trouble with his knees when we travel, but his new Allbirds saved his life. We walked five miles per day on average, and he almost never complained.
Europe is quite rainy in November. Sean’s rain jacket was essential; I bought a similar one when we got home that I hope will be more functional than the cheap gifted one I brought.
I didn’t think I’d need shorts for autumn in Europe, but I thank Jesus that a friend of mine set me straight. Portugal was HOT in September, and I wore them almost daily in October in Greece too.
My dad gave us his 10-foot iPhone cord and a two-port charger before we left, and they were lifesavers (most places we stayed only had an outlet on one side of the bed).
Thanks to my library’s iPhone app and Amazon Prime Reading, I blitzed through four books in a month and half—for free! (Don’t sleep on your local library, friends.)
Things that didn’t come home with us: We spent 84 days on the road. Some things got worn out from a spectacular amount of use. Other things wound up being unnecessary. And a few things just flat out bored us (me) after a while. Here’s what we ditched along the way:
One pair of my socks (holes in both toes and a heel; thrown out)
My cardigan (old and misshapen; thrown out)
My jeans (old and uncomfortable; thrown out)
My chambray shirt (weird fit; donated)
My dress (ugh; donated)
Sean’s dress shoes (didn’t need them; sent home with my brother)
Small towel (didn’t need it; sent home with my brother)
One book (finished it; sent home with my brother)
For next time: We leave for Latin America in less than a week (eek!), so we’ve been up to our eyeballs in prep. But making our pack lists has been the easy part. We’re basically ctrl+C’ing our European lists and editing based on climate and lessons learned during the first leg of our trip:
I’ll bring more dresses and complete outfits and fewer mix-and-matchable pieces.
We’ll both probably pack less overall—especially Sean, who could conceivably get by with just the clothes on his back. (Don’t worry, he’ll bring a few extra shirts and pants.)
We’ll bring roughly the same toiletries and medicines (but 100% more bug spray). It’s easy enough to buy that stuff abroad, so there’s no point in hauling it from home.
We know we’ll want to indulge in occasional slovenliness, so we’ll be prepared with comfy outfits.
Instead of the Roku (which was only useful the two or three times we had strong wifi and a USB-enabled T.V.), we’ll bring a USB stick loaded with a few of our favorite movies and shows for those tired and homesick moments.
What’s the first thing you think of when I say Colombia? Cocaine? Pablo Escobar? Narcos? FARC? Terrorism? That’s fair. But what if I told you everything you thought you knew about the country is wrong?