How to Pack for 6 Months
When I told friends I was leaving for a 6 month trip to four different islands the first question I got was, ‘How do you pack for 6 months’. Girls would usually follow-up with ‘What shoes do you take’, before I even answered the first question.
Packing isn’t easy, but I have a little experience and I’m not a super extravagant girl, so it wasn’t impossible. I thought about it for a couple months and my thought always centered around shoes, because you have to plan outfits to match limited shoes. So, I started by eliminating brown. All the shoes I packed would match black and neutral colored clothing. So . . . I packed all shoes with black in them. I went back and forth on packing a pair of low heeled sandals that match all my dresses, skirts and jeans, but eventually decided that we were more hiking and kayaking people and any wineries/excursions could be done in my flats. I decided on three shoes, my flip-flops, some ballet-like flats and cross-trainers.
I would wear flip-flops on the plane because they pass security easily, but pack socks in my carry-on to keep my toes warm on the flight. The other two pairs of shoes went in my mid-sized suitcase, which actually used to be a carry-on size, before the infamous shoe bomber.
Packing my other clothing wasn’t too difficult. I did have to consider the cooler weather in New Zealand, but I figured we could always buy a jacket there. I packed 2 pairs of jeans, 2 work-out type pants, about 8 tops, 5 tank-tops and 3 light sweaters. I also have a couple sun dresses and a denim skirt. I splurged on swimsuits – 4 swimsuits and I can mix and match most of them! But hey . . . this is my honeymoon!
The important part of packing was choosing what to bring in my carry-on. I tend to over stuff my carry-on because I’m afraid of my luggage being lost. I tried to limit myself to just a couple outfits, all of my toiletries needed for 2 weeks (yeah, I crammed everything into 2-3 oz containers in that Ziplock), my electronics and, of course, 2 swimsuits. For electronics, I’m packing light compared to Paul, I only have a camera, my cool little Acer Aspire 10.1″ netbook and my new pink Sony Reader PRS-300 Pocket Edition.