I am so excited that Australia is finally here! This will be our first long vacation in two years, so instead of running around like crazy for a weekend, this will actually feel like a vacation.  But before the fun vacation part, we’ll have to do the not so fun packing part. I’ve gotten so used to packing for weekend trips, that I don’t know what to do when I have to plan out what to pack for 2 weeks in advance.  You’d think after all traveling we do that I’ve got this packing thing down, but no, Fausto is the packer in our relationship.  He just has a way with fitting everything nice and perfectly into the suitcase (must be all the Tetris he played as a kid).  My problem is I can never decide what to wear and it varies depending on the weather, where I am going, and my mood; so planning ahead of time is impossible.

I hate packing and I am terrible at it. The way I pack is to pull clothes randomly from my closet and throw it in a pile in my suitcase. The problem with doing it this way is that sometimes I end up with 6 tops and no bottoms (awkward!).  On our trip to Ireland, I actually did research ahead of time and saw that the weather hovers around 20ºC (70ºF).  I knew that the weather in Ireland is unpredictable, even in the summer and sometimes at night, it can be chilly.  So I thought I was being clever by bringing a mix of spring and fall outfits (a few jeans, skirts, tshirts, and sweaters).  When we got there, there was a heatwave and all the warm sweaters went out the window. Hiking in jeans was not fun under the blistering sun!  So I guess my point is: it’s hard to perfectly plan out what you can wear and you’ll have to try your best. I might not be the best person to give anyone advice on packing, but here are a few things we considered when packing for our trip down under:

After much editing, I finally fit everything into the suitcase.

•  Suitcase – We decided to bring a big suitcase and a medium suit case and some empty duffle bags in case we decide to go wild and buy lots of souvenirs.  Having one suitcase each means that we’ll be more mobile.  Flying around within Australia is easier because we won’t exceed the bag limit for domestic flights.
• Laundry or no Laundry – Ask yourself ‘should I pack 14 days of underwear? (do I even have 14 days of underwear?)’ or ‘do I want to waste valuable vacation time doing laundry?’
• Weather – Checked the weather channel, it’ll be two glorious weeks of hot blistering sun! Time to ditch all our winter clothes and bring out out the flip flops and tank tops again.
• Dress code – If you plan on going to a fancy restaurant or venue, you will have to factor in the dress code.  Dress shoes and more formal attire, however, will take up more room in your suitcase.
• Activities – We will be hitting up the beaches, hiking in the mountains, exploring the outback, and visiting the rain forest.  It’s a wide range of activities so we have to make sure that we pack smartly for our trip.
• Packing Tips – Consider bringing old clothes and shoes that you can wear and discard along the way, lightening your load as you travel from city to city.  It’ll also free up room for any souvenirs you pick up along the way.

For the next few weeks, instead of the regularly scheduled posts, we’ll try something a little different.   Considering that it takes me a few months to actually put up posts from my travel, I thought it might be fun to do shorter posts on the road. Every day, I will share a favorite photo from our trip.  I will of course do more detailed posts of each location once I am back, but at this point I still have to write about Hong Kong and Austria, so I’m not sure when I’ll get to Australia. 

All packed and ready to go.