Summer Travel, Countdown to South Africa 

Happy Summer! The whole summer is stretched before me and there is so much to look forward to, but by far the biggest adventure of the summer will be traveling to South Africa with friends. In fact we leave in just a few short weeks and I have to admit I am so not ready! Besides packing which I usually like to do embarrassingly early, that I haven’t done, I feel like I have so much reading to do before leaving. While all the flights are booked and places to stay are set, I feel very behind the eightball on […]

Continue Reading

Packing for Finland 

All attempts to pack light for my almost four week trip coming up have flown right out the window. Forget the carry on size bag. There will be no mix and matching from just ten items for this girl. I am going with the big suitcase, too many clothes, and I’m not sad about it one bit. (Although I may be changing my tune when I arrive at the hostel in Helsinki)  The preliminary pack has taken over my living room floor. To try and create some semblance of order, I have laid out clothes by stacking them. It is […]

Continue Reading

Countdown to Finland

I can’t believe it is almost here! Summer vacation is right around the corner and I couldn’t be more ready for it. Next week is the last week of school, so come Friday afternoon summer officially begins. There is a lot packed into next week so I am sure it will fly by. What is crazy though is that with only 16 days until I take off for Helsinki I haven’t begun packing yet! Usually by this time before a trip I would have packed, repacked and been ready for a triple check that I have everything. The end of this school […]

Continue Reading

Packing Light for Greece

My trip to Greece is quickly approaching, just 12 days until departure day! As usual, I wanted to get a jump start on my packing so I will be  stress free  less stressed, so I took the weekend to lay clothes out and see how they would fit in my suitcase. After meeting my own challenge of packing in a carry-on size bag for a 10 day trip to Spain; I figured it should be a breeze to do the same for just 7 days in Greece. The big difference this time, other than warmer weather, a couple of fashionistas I […]

Continue Reading

Packing Light Round 2: Carry On

After pairing down my checked luggage for Spain to a carry on size bag, which at this point if stuffed to the gills and would never fit in those tiny overhead bins, I decided my carry on could use a little trimming. I had to do a little more cramming into my checked luggage (meds, converter, flashlight, you know the essentials) but the zipper still closes so we’ll call it a success! By putting those last few items into my luggage I was able to get my backpack down to a reasonable load that won’t break my back. Not to […]

Continue Reading

Packing Light

So many of you probably will look at my suitcase and what I am bringing for a 10 day trip to Spain and say to yourself, “she thinks that is packing light?!” Well for me it is a major victory. There will be no bell boys, assistants or parents on this trip to cart around my luggage, it’s just me and whatever I can carry. And quite frankly, I’m tired of heaving around my large luggage up narrow European staircases, or squeezing into impossibly small elevators. The time has come to downsize. Hence the carry on size bag, packed to the gills […]

Continue Reading