Travel with light weight fabrics. This photo compares a pair of jeans rolled up next to a pair of Columbia hiking pants. The jeans take up twice the space plus they take 10 times the air-drying time. Most foreign hotels and apartments will have a washing machine, but dryers are few and far between.
I switched to Columbia about 5 years ago. As I have aged, my skin has become sensitive to the sun and I need to keep my arms covered. Columbia makes shirts and pants that have SPF50 built into the fabric. Love it!!! Plus, I can wash the nylon pants in a bathroom sink using the laundry sheets I shared in the last blog. They dry in less than an hour. Sea-to-summit has a clothes line that compresses into a bag that is about 1/4 cup in size. I bought one of those to try out on this trip. I'll string the line between open windows and these pants will dry in no time!
Socks! So, did you know that if you turn them inside out, you can get 2-4 days use out of a single pair - as long as you don't go walk in mud! Here's the difference between full size "tennis" socks and anklets. Yep - I'm going with anklets and can squeeze in an additional pair! My socks of choice happen to be Ralph Lauren - a mesh type fabric that dries quickly.
Hobby Lobby has these heavy cotton t-shirts for $3.99. I can literallly throw them away when I'm done with them and not worry. On our first trip, we bought all our clothes at the thrift store and left them in the hotel room along the way. I think $3.99 is cheaper than the thrift store and they are brand new! But if I get a spot on them that won't come out - I'll toss them. And they roll up pretty small.
So why toss them? Well, we need room in our bags to bring back anything we purchase along the way. It's all part of the plan to know that we will have space. Leaving clothes in hotel rooms, using up product that we take....I've always had plenty of room to bring back most anything. I think this trip I'll be shopping for artist made earrings. They won't take up any space and I will enjoy the memory of meeting the artist.
Found these "boat" shoes at Brady's garden shop here in town. $19.99. They have a hard rubber sole like a tennis shoe. But the uppers are nylon knit.
Look at how flat they are for luggage!!! They will work for walking on the beach (no sandals needed) and if we go through Hezekiah's tunnel again. Plus they'll be perfect for just running around the apartment or a quick trip to the store.
They are called "fitkicks" in case you want to find some. They really are quite comfy! And for me, travel is all about being comfortable!
So I'm wearing my walking shoes, taking these, and taking 1 pair of inserts to change out my walking shoes about half way through the trip. Putting new inserts into old shoes is just as good as having new shoes and think of the space you save in your luggage when you don't have to take a second pair of shoes!
So this is how I got all of my clothes for 6 weeks to fit down into half of my 22" carry on bag. In some instances I roll them up as in the photos, other times I leave them flat in the quarter cubes. Two quarter cubes take up half the bag. One cube for tops, one for bottoms. Works out great! These cubes have see-through mesh tops so TSA can see inside without opening them up. Pretty ingenious company (Eagle Creek) and now I have the bag by the same company so everything fits seamlessly together!
Think I'm done testing the iPad. This post was done entirely with it - no help from my laptop. All the "bugs" have been worked out. Found the camera adapter I needed yesterday at Best Buy. That helped!
We head to DIA about 4 pm today. Going out to lunch and will spend the afternoon playing in my art room. Going to be a fabulous adventure and I think I'm ready to go!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment