While we booked our flights, we saw the price to check a bag. Holy cow...y'all, it was no Southwest. So we decided that we weren't going to pay to check a bag and instead, we were going to take backpacks. I mean, it was part of my dream, but I didn't know that it was really going to happen...until it did.
After being in this travel group and finding another travel group that talks all about fashion, I started printing off packing lists and making my own. We knew that since we were going to Switzerland, we were going to need coats. But how do you pack coats in just a backpack?! We knew that it would be very warm in Venice, so we'd need our summer clothes. And who knew about London and Paris?! We'd need all sorts of layers.
Several years ago, Tyler took me to Minnesota for our anniversary. We ended up at the Mall of America. It had been years since I had been there. We ended up in the North Face store and saw these super neat coats that packed into their pockets.
Upon remembering that, we headed out to the North Face Outlet here in Oklahoma City in hopes that they might still be selling them. And guess what?! They were. So we made our first purchase for our trip...each getting a coat. They are super light yet so warm. This was a great investment.
My travel groups came in very handy. They are such a source of information and knowledge from other seasoned travelers. I researched all sorts of types of backpacks. I wanted to hear what others thought of them...the real reviews. We didn't want to pay a ton of money for them, but we did want quality.
I purchased mine first. When we got it in the mail, Tyler loved it enough to buy his own. Here's a money-saving trick: create an account with the website. Then add your item to your cart and leave it there, maybe even overnight. The company will then send you an email telling you that you forgot something in your cart and they'll also attach a coupon to it. ;)
We both got our backpacks for $80ish each when they retail for $120. Not bad, right?!
We purchased the eBags TLS Mother Lode Weekender Convertible Junior bag. [Sign up here and receive $10 off your first purchase.] We chose this one because it fit within the carry-on requirements for the budget airlines that we were flying in Europe. It also not only got great reviews in my travel groups, but it has over 2,000 reviews on the website for this bag and 96% of them recommended the bag!
Yes, we really squeezed everything we needed for an 18-day adventure into these bags. They are sturdy. They are quality. They have an expander. They are great carry-ons. In fact, I just got back from another trip that I took it on and was still as impressed.
Our bags had to weigh less than 10 kg (22 lbs) because the airlines had a weight restriction. Many will tell you that they won't weigh them, but we didn't want to take any chances. We found that all three of the airlines we flew didn't measure or weigh them. But if we were caught with a bigger or heavier bag, we would have had to pay $100 or more each to check them. We didn't want that, either.
I also wanted to take some sort of daypack with me. I knew I wouldn't take my backpack everywhere we went, but I needed my purse to hold a bajillion things at the same time.
Back to my travel groups, I went, searching and looking for a decently sized purse, yet small enough to fit within the "personal item" size requirements for the airlines.
The one I ended up choosing is the Travelon Anti-Theft Classic Essential Messenger Bag. It has RFID blocking card and passport slots along with locking zippers. It got great reviews on Amazon, so I went with it. I'm glad I did! It fit all of these things in it, and I had everything I needed while we were out and about!
To make our bags more organized, we also purchased these packing cubes. I will never again pack without these! They create an organization in your bag where you can actually find things. I took three out of the four with me. One for toiletries, one for tops, and the other one for bottoms, which I then used for dirty clothes until we did laundry.
Yes, we did do laundry twice while we were gone. I purchased a laundry kit with a universal sink stopper and individual Woolite packs. It was easy to do laundry. We had just about 4 days in each place, so we did laundry our first night so the clothes had time to dry. My husband packed a lot of quick dry things, but I did not.
In Paris, we used the sink to do two loads of laundry and hung them to dry in the bathroom. In Switzerland, we had a bathtub and a deck, so we did one large load of laundry and hung them to dry outside. They dried a lot quicker.
The thought of having to do laundry overwhelmed me a bit. I mean, I was going to be on vacation, I didn't want to have to be washing clothes. But it didn't take very long at all, and I'm so glad we chose to go this route! It really made me think about the necessities of what I needed, and in the end, it has truly transformed how I have packed my bags since.
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