10 Black T-shirts, 4 scarves, 2 pairs of jeans, a skirt, a pair of fabulous pants...

Packing for a trip can be a mind numbing at best, especially when you are planning for a long one. I usually start with picking shoes based on the known activities, will I need flats or heels, hiking shoes, city sneakers (or both), sandals, etc… Once the type of shoe is narrowed down, color comes into play; black, browns or something more colorful? Shoe choice finalized, test driven and approved by an objective observer, I move on to clothing. The key for me here is that there are lots of ways to mix and match the chosen pieces. I have to be able to mix both styles and colors so that I can (a) carry my own suitcase without hurting myself and (b) don’t feel like I am wearing the same outfit every day (c) dress up or down as appropriate. Personal care items are chosen based on which things I really feel make my routine a productive one and a few key over the counter meds so that I don’t have to try and find them in a desperate situation, if you know what I mean. Finally, I pull together a small ‘survival kit’ for the airplane so that I can survive 24-48 hours without my luggage if I need to; a clean t-shirt, skivvies and a few things to freshen up with and the packing is done. It is usually fairly easy for me to pull things together, although the longer the trip, the longer it takes to pare things down the bare essentials.

The trip I need to pack for this month brings an added twist of several short overnight stays away from the central location. This means I need a satellite bag that is small enough to carry on the airplane (no second checked bag fee) and large enough to hold a few days worth of stuff. At the moment I’m thinking a large rolling suitcase, a soft-sided duffel for the carry on, and a backpack that will accommodate my camera, laptop, reading materials, etc. My handbag will go inside either the duffel or the backpack. Another possibility is two rolling suitcases; one small and one large. In that scenario I would pack the small one, insert it into the large one and check the whole thing, perhaps pushing the weight limits.

Stay tuned…