“How do you make the perfect piece of gear? It’s a challenging, time-intensive process of addition and deletion, finding what works and what doesn’t. From the new REI Co-op Drypoint GTX jacket to the iconic REI Co-op Quarter Dome tent, the co-op has created hundreds of products over the years, seeking that perfect balance between needs and dreams. But, for the first time ever, we’ve designed a piece of apparel so versatile and customizable it almost defies common sense: the REI Co-op ZipAll.”
Alien at the Musée D’Orsay
WowAir Basic Fare Packing
Just FYI I’m postponing indefinitely my plans to go to Iceland until whaling has stopped.
Iceland Resumes Hunt For Endangered Fin Whales
http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/iceland-resumes-hunt-for-endangered-fin-whales/
6/22/18
I used to go to Green Bay, Wisconsin in February and March (sometimes as early as January) and, as you might realize, it can get a little nippy there. But after doing this for about 10 years, the panic over “OMG I’m going to freeze to death!” calmed down to “Why is it so freaking hot inside?”
Most of the time I ended up in a long sleeve layering shirt with a snarky T-shirt on top of that and yoga pants. When I did go outside, I had a Patagonia down sweater, and for the occasional sleigh ride (it was a vacation) I just put on snow pants over my yoga pants or leggings; whatever I happen to be wearing that day.
Special guest star: barn kitteh at the Rock K Ranch
I have it on good authority from a Green Bay resident that Iceland is lovely and now I really want to try Wow Air and their basic fare (here are a couple of people who have done this: Pam Yang and Dariadaria) and I want to use my BoardingBlue bag which meets the free carry-on requirement for Wow Air.
I’m pretty sure it will carry all I need since I won’t be camping, I’ll probably just take a day tour to see some waterfalls, do the Blue Lagoon-natch, and noodle around town taking pictures. If I can manage it, I’d like to see the black sand beach – but that is negotiable. I also really, really want to see the northern lights, but I hear that can be tricky. Well, we’ll give it a shot.
(Suggestions for fun? Leave those tips in the comments!)
I have a comfy pair of Sorel winter boots (the Waterfall model from a few years ago – tested in GB) I can wear on the plane, my snow pants, I have a thin smartwool sweater for another layer, my Marmot rain/wind layer packs up super flat and I can carry my down jacket with hat and mittens stored in the pocket. I think this will be fairly easy to accomplish.
Here’s the BoardingBlue with my snow pants snuggled in:
And then my standard packing cube o’ stuff tucked in:
I’ll bring other stuff like flip flops and a swimsuit, my travel towel, packable daypack, etc, but there’s lots of room left in my bag… though not enough for the 40 Icelandic sweaters I want to buy, but that is another issue all together 😉
Excitement. I haz it. 😉
2 funerals and… well, just 2 funerals
Just before Christmas and at the end of January I lost two members of my family.
Happily, I had reset everything in my suitcase after the first funeral so I just picked about half of my previous stuff, dumped it in my bag and went back home for the second funeral. Not having to think really made a huge difference since I was not in a good place at that point.
I did get a new bag to travel with for xmas so I took this with me instead.
The BoardingBlue Personal item meets JetBlue and other US budget airlines personal (free) item as it fits under the seat. It does so easily, moreover it holds quite a bit of stuff. (I was flying Southwest, so the carryon point was moot, but I like to test drive things when I have the opportunity.)
I think it only took up about 3/4 of the window seat under seat area. It has a bunch of nice features: small zip pocket for a small phone battery and a cable (you can see it in the photo above; it has the USB icon embroidered on the flap), a water bottle pocket (VERY IMPORTANT thankyouverymuch), it expands – though it exceeds the personal item size if you do this, and a zip that opens almost fully the length of the bag. You can see below there’s a flap just inside that snaps closed to hold things in while you get your papers, laptop or tablet from the inside pocket.
I packed a few merino shirts, some leggings, socks/undies/jammies, a funeral outfit and some walking clothes so that I could go out to escape the family zoo. I also knew that I would be helping clean out my grandmother’s house, and some things would be coming home with me, so not stuffing it full was good.
I really like this bag. They’ve managed to make it small enough, still have some cool features but not overbuild it so that you can use all the available space inside well. Granted, it wouldn’t work for batcrap crazy small personal item airlines (cough RyanAir cough) but does work for Wow Air, JetBlue, Frontier etc (I made a chart! Have a looksee…) so I’ll probably be using it for my personal item when I can only take a personal item.
<whining>Also if people I know would stop dying from horrible diseases that would be dandy so I can travel for fun and not funerals. </whining>
Please consider donating to ALS research or Pancreatic cancer research.
2-Week Trip in One Flash Pack
REI posted a great minimalist packing list in the 18L Flash pack (I love mine.)
I smugly smiled, easily tossing my lighter-than-light 18-liter REI Flash Pack into the overhead compartment of my flight from Barcelona to Lisbon. There was none of the usual huffing and puffing, no last-minute hopes that my luggage would fit. And, if I really needed to, I knew I could shove it under the seat in front of me.
A New Bag!
Having watched untold packing videos on YouTube about minimalists traveling (some actual minimalists and some just rather pleased with themselves for only bringing on a full suitcase and a personal item) I decided a while back to see what is my minimum travel gear for leisure travel.
I tend to travel on Southwest since I can avoid flying through the problematic airports (O’Hare, DFW – eeeeevvvvil places IMO) to get to my Texas locations and they have a pretty amazing luggage policy (personal item, carryon and 2 bags fly free). Considering they have a really great on-time record, I’d say they are doing something right. However, not everyone is as fabu as Southwest, so I need to be ready.
I’ve done a week at my family home in the Tom Bihn Nightflight Travel Duffle (FYI: it is United’s personal item, perfect for their bare fare tickets); it worked pretty well and eventually I want to hop around Europe on a budget airline, such as RyanAir, but I don’t want to blow all my funds on carrying stuff around. I have several backpacks, but all seem to be just a bit larger than their specifications. So I went to eBay and found a RyanAir specifically sized personal item bag.
• Designed to be the maximum size for the second hand luggage for Ryan air
• Made from a tough wearing 600D polyester Material
• 1 main compartment
• 1 Front zip pocket
• Removable adjustable shoulder strap
• Piggy back strap so bag fits on back of trolley case when travelling – less to carry and easier to travel!
• Dimensions 35x20x20 cms Weight: 0.4kgs
Also it has polka dots! ❤️
I’ve recently reorganized my specific travel clothes, using Lewis N Clark Electrolight medium cubes. The very basics in one cube and the ability for judicious expansion by grabbing cube #2 and/or one of the specialty cubes. (Read about the contents of my packing cubes here.) In addition to my plane outfit (jeans, black merino t, shell jacket and black walking shoes), cube #1 has a long sleeve black CuddlDuds item (triple duty item: pj’s, layering piece or just a long sleeve shirt), a short sleeve black shirt, a pair of black printed leggings, socks & undies.
There are some things that just live in my suitcase. My cross body purse (contains purse type stuff: phone, wallet, pen, iPhone backup thingy, etc), silicone coffee drip cone, Gobite Uno, USB cables, packable daypack, Jackery 12500 mAh battery, shampoo bar & carrier, flip flops, travel buddy… and not much else. It’s a pretty good set up for at least a week of wandering about taking loads of pictures.
If I do need more, I can throw in packing cube #2 with a bit more stuff in it.
But for this bag, my main packing cube fits the bill. Here it is in my new bag:
Lots of room left for another cube if I really need it, or even better, room for souvenirs!
Have suitcase, will travel.
(I’ve got my Boarding Blue Personal item bag for Iceland Wow Air packing almost done… stay tuned)
Minimalist travel in Kanken.
This is brilliant! Normally I don’t love ranger rolling my clothes but this doesn’t look to stretch out the clothes as much.
Also one for 2 week’s travel:
I really dig her style!
Cotopaxi 35L Allpa Travel Pack
1 week in the @tombihn Night Flight Travel Duffle
It is actually very easy to travel to my family’s place in just the Tom Bihn Night Flight travel duffle. I pack my merino wool T-shirts, a pair of leggings and a hooded shirt. Winter in Texas is flip-flop weather, and minimal toiletries mean that I can travel super lightly and easily.
My airplane outfit serves as arriving and returning clothes, and I wear my tennis shoes in the airport so that I can walk the 3 miles between terminals comfortably. (Note that I also a bring packable day pack to carry presents to everybody which then gets folded up and put in my bag for the return trip, or carries back presents that I was brought so it works out well in any case.)
In the main compartment I have some jammies (the blue tank and some ex officio black boxer shorts), three T-shirts; all merino wool, and my buff (just in case). Then I have my orange toiletries kit (dry products), purple REI mini towel, two Tom Bihn pouches with first aid stuff and fiddly bits. You can’t see them, but in the bottom I have my flip-flops for noodling around the house.
The silver thing is my iPad mini with a Bluetooth keyboard cover, a hairbrush and a banana republic shopping bag that has an elephant on it – so that obviously has to come with me ;).
The base layer packed:
And then the second layer:
Right before I go through security I tuck in my clear plastic plane kit that holds my earphones, phone battery, adapters, etc. that hangs on the tray table while I’m sitting in my seat. It fits in the area where the space is left.
The side pockets:
The right side pocket holds my electronics. In the pouches underneath my CPAP I have my wall adapter, the CPAP’s accessories, my phone charger cable, and any other cables that I might need on my trip.
The outside right pocket holds my wet toiletries that get pulled out for security at TSA. This little case from Daiso holds about six days worth of supplies for me.
The left side pocket holds socks and underwear, my packable day pack and any other thing that might need to be squished into my bag. It’s not overly full but it doesn’t have a ton of room left either.
Left outside pocket holds my slim wallet when I travel so that I can put my phone and it in my bag before I go through the scanner at TSA. It helps keep them organized and I don’t have such anxiety over losing my ID etc.
In general I’m usually over optimistic about what I will wear, but I actually did wear all of the stuff I brought this time (though given my druthers I would just wear this particular outfit the whole time):
Yes those are cat knees on my leggings and that Columbia hooded shirt is the best thing in the world, I’m having to darn the holes all the time because I’ve been wearing it for three years solid and it’s starting to wear out a bit. I will be sad when I can’t wear it anymore. I hope they come out with a good replacement!
(This outfit fits in the bag but I was wearing it so I didn’t pack it up to take pictures.) I have a pair of black pants and a shirt to wear on the plane and then I keep the Columbia hoodie either on me or tucked into the snap handle on the top of the duffle. The leggings get tucked into wherever they fit at the time.
I fly home later today so I can verify that this set up works really well since I’ve been gone for about a week now. The only thing I really feel I’m missing is my cats. But they don’t like to travel and don’t really fit into this bag. 😉
West Texas sunrise
