The Art of the Pack

I can say that this trip has had the longest packing build up for any trip in my 50 years on this planet.  I started thinking of the pack right after our Thanksgiving trip to New York.  The way I organize my pack is to inventory how my days will be spent and plan the pack based on those activities.  New York was a wake up call as I packed a lot of one-off outfits.  This terrible packing lead to stuffed-to-the-gills suitcases and outfits I only wore once or, horror of horrors, not at all.  

Italy 2015 I vowed would be different.  My goal being that any article of clothing could work with any other article of clothing.  I decided that I would base my entire packing list on the two pairs of pants I was going to bring.  From there it was surprisingly easy to compile a packing list, and though it took me months of planning and figuring out what I wanted, I had an overall goal so it was just getting just the right stuff.  

The other part of the trip that added a wrinkle is our cycling tour.  The Dolomites have such extreme weather that it became necessary to pack for all conditions.  You do not want your summer gear while descending an Alp Pass in raining/sleety weather.  Also, you have to pack enough to allow your kit to be washed and dried so you are not re-wearing a sweaty, salty, wet kit from the prior day.  You have to pack two of everything and in addition we needed to bring pedals, cleats, saddle, and helmet.  Luckily I have a cycling backpack that also can also be my carry-on bag.

One last event tied this packing all together, and that is Lynne's book "The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up," which included a whole section on folding clothes.  Each piece of clothing has its own way to be folded and that is not just stacked on top of each other, making you dig through everything to get to one item, which then messes up your whole folding.  Using this technique of folding with my six months of packing planning has lead to Vacation Packing Nirvana.  

Off to Italy!