Before the 3 of us travelled,  we were in constant contact with each other.  What are you taking, packing, bags, how many tops, makeup were the constant questions?  I was also in constant contact with Lyn my friend who I have known since grade 1  was also coming. Till 7 weeks before we were leaving, the poor thing had the most freakish accident and basically shattered her leg in several places. The blog would have been called a different name.  3 +1, 4 up to no good!

We looked  at so many  travel blogs .  Niki at Styling you http://www.stylingyou.com.au and also https://unefemme.net.  Paula put me onto these two blogs.  I am amazed how they can travel with just a cabin bag.  I think I take too many things 🙂

We learnt about capsule packing.  Looked at blogs that showed several different ways to pack. I remember the few nights before we flew that I stayed up late (I’m not really a night owl) and watched this blog on so many different ways to pack.  Pack hand luggage, small bag for the cabin.  Pack your large bag.  I never realized there are so many ways to pack.

Then the question was to roll or to fold your clothes.  Do you fold or roll clothes?

Muriel has always been a roller.  I have been a folder.  Paula, what were you again?  I decided I would do both, fold and roll.  Both came out the same in the end!

What items we took that  could have  been left at home or not purchased.  What have you packed that next time you won’t bother to take?

As we were staying in 5 star hotels in Zürich and Paris and on board a cruise ship, a lot of toiletries really were not needed.  Things like Shampoo, Conditioner, Body Wash and Soap.  These are always provided.  On the cruise our room was serviced twice a day. So if you happen to use all the e.g. Body Wash during the day, it will be replenished on the evening room service.  Yes they  also fold down the bed and put a little chocolate on your pillow, and replenish your water bottles in the room. Unless you have an allergy leave all those things at home.  Trust me 5 star over in Europe is good. The body wash at the Paris hotel was sensual.  You can laugh I even brought some home as I loved it that much.  Silly me though I brought home an already opened one.  So it leaked but that’s ok I had put it in a zip lock bag.

Yes take a couple of zip lock bags, you never know if you need them and they don’t take up space and no weight in them.

Both Paula and Muriel took some Febreze  http://www.febreze.com/en-us in a small container.  This was very useful for freshening up our clothes.  We would come back to our rooms and hang our clothes up and spray.  Then we could get another day out of them.  We also took each a microbe towel, one of those you get from http://www.kathmandu.com.au.  It was great you wash your clothes then roll them in the towel and hang them up to dry.  The microbe towel dries very quickly too.

One of the things I learnt on packing is pack your shoes on the end where the wheels are.  Weight distribution.  who knew that 🙂  Especially if you’re doing a lot of walking with your bag.

Months before traveling I had all the clothes sorted and hanging in one section of my wardrobe.  Speaking to Paula she had done the same except she was wearing all of her clothes before we left.  My clothes were all new as I had gone down a couple of dress sizes and so I made do with the old till we left Australia.

With the new rules for liquids on the flights, I only took some moisturizer and lip balm on the plane.  I still put them into the regulation clear bag.  The only time I had to take them out and put them in a bag provided by the airport was in Paris.

 

I will post what was in my backpack on another post. (medical supplies)  And another post on what I actually took in my suitcase.