Travel Musings

Travel is on my brain right now because I'm planning an amazing work trip (Dublin, London, and Tokyo!) and am planning my summer sabbatical trips (just booked a trip for Yellowstone, working on some time with Sally in Australia, and researching for Europe/Morocco).  Beyond that, my office/craft room is finally done, so I'll be using my new magnetic wall for planning and inspiration.  I'll share a post about the room soon.

My little Swiss suitcase family

What I've found, though, is that no matter where you go, people have VERY strong opinions about how and what to pack, and so do I.  But I also find myself to be a flexible packer in most situations -- some days, you'd think I overpack, and other days you would say I've under-done it.   So how do you decide how much to take?

I started out with a gigantic suitcase -- even when I was younger, I had a HUGE duffel and a HUGE rollerbag.  This, to remind you, was when checking bags was FREE.  Those were the good old days.  And then suddenly the airlines started charging, and everyone started carrying on.  So the larger suitcase is where I started.

Then I hit that phase where I traveled lighter.  I'm so thankful that Katie and Becky forced me to take a backpack to Europe.  It was such a great idea and opened my eyes to that sort of travel.

But then I started traveling more and more for work, and I struggled to cram learning materials, gym clothes, and professional enough clothes into a small roll-aboard.  So I had to compromise with something that was midsize.  Thus my small family of Swiss suitcases.  Yes, it's a lot of luggage.  But I happen to love them for two reasons -- first, they are silver and stand out nicely on the baggage carousel without being purple with white flowers.  They are also incredibly durable, especially for soft-sided suitcases.  They have been abused and they are still rolling along.  I think when these "die" I'll buy hard-case suitcases.  But, until then...

Thank you Origins for hooking me up with so many tiny containers!

 I have also stumbled upon a few new useful things that I feel are worth sharing.  One of the biggest struggles I have for trips when I carry-on is the liquid limits.  I can get around some of it by buying things there (lotion, toothpaste, etc.), though I hate feeling like I'm wasting products.  Enter these tiny reusable containers from Origins! They hold a very small amount of product, and I simply used a permanent marker to label the lids (FW = face wash, FDN = foundation, etc.).  I've only had one minor leakage situation in four plane segments (I learned and put them in a separate plastic bag nested inside of the quart-sized baggie) and they are a great size for 2-5 days on the road. They are the smallest containers I've found that are still big enough to be useful, and they are free when you buy something at Origins, which you SHOULD because they have amazing products that work well for sensitive skin.

Versace fragrance next to an Origins container.

Another challenging item to pack is fragrance.  I know some folks like getting little samples from magazines or the perfume counters, but I find that most of those smell hideous (which is why they have to give you something FREE to convince you to buy it!).  I do like scented lotion as a nice compromise, but it's just not the same as fragrance   I just started wearing a new signature scent, Versace Bright Crystal, and in the gift pack they included a tiny key-chain sized bottle.  As I'm not snobby enough to need to reapply during the day, I decided to make this my travel-sized fragrance.  I haven't figure out how I can refill it or how to get a new one without buying a new gift pack, but this is the most useful size I have been able to find.

Lush solid shampoo (L) and lotion (R).
Aren't the containers fantastic?  Reusable! 

Sometimes I'll just use the hotel shampoo, but I have found some hotel chains don't have nice shampoo -- and everyone LOVEs to have flat hair!  I also find that my hands get super-dry when I travel and that the free lotion isn't really replenishing. But what is a girl to do if she isn't checking and half of her liquids are contact solution?  I have always been a big proponent of Lush products, and their solid shampoo, conditioner, and lotion are in heavy rotation for me.  They come in great little containers, and the shampoo and conditioner last ~30 washes.  I also love to support organic products.  Besides, most of these smell good enough to eat!  They are relatively small and don't count as liquids.  So, for those of you who hate checking, just a few ideas of not exceeding the liquid limits.

Put these to good use! 

The other thing I've been reusing as of late are my Toms bags.  I've hit a point when I live in these shoes, so I had 4-5 empty bags lying around without a use.  When I've to, I've used the space-saving bags for longer trips.  I've been tempted many a time to buy some nice mesh bags for travel, and I was about to do so when I stumbled upon these.  Besides an obvious use (shoes), they are great for delicates (and if you run them through the wash, they can serve as a on-the-fly delicates bag for laundry days), as well as a great place for rolled shirts.  It would be sort of gross to stick clothes into a bag that had held shoes, so I just labeled the back of each in a permanent marker.  To keep them from smelling bad, I will throw in a bar of sandalwood soap after I get home.

In other travel news, I've really enjoyed following Nomadic Matt's blog.  He loves to travel and does so on the cheap, so while I'm not really a hostel type of girl, I love his tips about travel insurance, flight deals, fun activities and cheap eats.  I've also been enviously admiring photos on Tumblr, and my favorite photo blog so far is All Things Europe, which, as the name suggests, is photos of places in Europe.

I'll have more travel ideas and plans to share soon, so in the meantime, hit the road or the skies (and tell me about it so I can be jealous!).

xo
Sarah