What I Packed (and what I didn't need)

I overpacked. I looked at 15 days and no laundry (turns out there WAS laundry, but at the time I did not know that) and thought, whoa.

Now, I am pretty low maintenance. We used to do a quite a bit of camping, and as long as I could wash my face, rinse my hair and don clean underwear, I was good for days and days. But 15 days with the same group of people-not-my-relatives, and a ship cruise with unknown dress requirements for dinner...yikes.

What I packed:

2 pairs of jeans

3 pairs of those nylon travel pants (Eddie Bauer and Columbia) that I hate and will never wear for any other purpose

7 underwears, 3 bras, 6 pairs of socks (all running socks with that nice arch support feature)

2 pairs of walking shoes, 1 pair of running shoes, 1 pair of flats

jammies

Raincoat (unlined), raincoat (lined), denim jacket, and a cardigan

2 lightweight fashion scarves

2 tshirt dresses (these came in very handy, paired with leggings and flats)

2 leggings (one capri length)

4 dri-fit tshirts, 5 long sleeve tshirts

Running clothes

TOO. MUCH. STUFF. Although helpful when packing my Carrara marble mortar and pestle.

What I would dump:

Running shoes and clothes. Nice idea, and we did run once along the promenade in Nice, but not worth the space. We did a lot of walking, and climbing, and that should be good enough, right?

Pants: I didn't need 3 pairs of the travel pants. Next time, two pairs at most.

Shirts: 3 each would probably suffice. Handwash in the sink, they dried pretty fast actually, even the non-dri fit ones.

Jackets: One raincoat or the other, not both. Granted, it had snowed 6 inches when we left Michigan, which is why I had the lined coat...

Key for less packing: Woolite for hand washing, and my elastic travel clothesline (no clothes pins needed, got it at REI years ago)