NewbE

Ackis, how do you pack a sports jacket without destroying it? SO insists it can't be done, I used to do it all the time (well, the women's equivalent, when I traveled for work), but it's an argument I have yet to win. Perhaps your method will carry the day...

I agree, it's a good thread!

My current object of desire is a Burton bag:
http://www.burton.com/default/luggage-travel-bags
although they are a tad bit heavy at 7-9 lbs, and I have no need for a new large bag.

My current favorite bag is this one from eBags:
http://www.ebags.com/product/ebags/m...uctid=10150071
It's the best I've ever had, loaded with features, durable, much loved.

Sojourntraveller

Being physically unable to carry a bag is the one exception that is acceptable nukesafe. In that case I suggest looking at the aptly named, "World's Lightest"

Their 19.5 in. carry one measures 21.5 x 15.6 x 7.8 Inches, weighs 3.43 lbs. and has a volume of 2319 cubic inches.

Voila, all you need to do now is pack less than 12 lbs. in it and you can meet airline carry-on for size and 7kg/15lb. limits. http://www.itluggage.com/products/vi...st--2-Wheel-60

Again, I will stress that learning to really colour co-ordinate is a key skill. Three tops and three bottoms that all mix and match means NINE different outfits. Four of each means SIXTEEN different outfits. How many do you really need!!!

You can go to a Michelin starred restaurant every night with one little black dress provided you don't go to the same restaurant every night can't you? Or you can find a little black reversible dress like this one and go to the same restaurant twice if you insist.
http://athleta.gap.com/browse/produc...pid=138099002#

You could go to an Embassy party in that one night and a Michelin restaurant with the Ambassador the next night and no one would blink an eye. Just turn it inside out and change your accessories/jewellery and it's a whole new dress.


What does it take to get people to understand that IF you want to travel light you can do so without having to give up anything. It's about making wiser choices, not giving things up.

Sugarmaple, the key to weather is layers. You can easily pack for 3 seasons without adding a lot of weight. Rain means a rainjacket. I don't think when you say you get tired of the same things you mean you take multiple rainjackets do you? You can choose to take a rainjacket that weighs 3 lbs, 2lbs, 1 lb or even 7 ozs. They all keep you dry.

Now take your 4 tops and 4 bottoms plus 1 reversible little black dress which gives you 18 different outfits and tell me that 18 outfits is not enough to keep you from getting tired of the same things.

Add a light down vest like the ones shown here:
http://www.uniqlo.com/us/women/outer...ight-down.html

Now tell me what weather a t-shirt, long sleeve shirt, down vest and rainjacket on top will not be suitable for. Those 4 layers are all you need unless it is winter weather. ie. below freezing.

I pack for 3 seasons with only 11 lbs. including the weight of my bag itself. I wear 4 lbs. on me getting onto the plane. That's IT. My wife carries a tad less and yes we go to Michelin restaurants while being able to hike in the Alps from village to village carrying everything with us.

Your DH can get by with carry-on if he wants to and you both pack smarter and lighter. I'm guessing that what you mean by 'coat' and 'rain gear' is heavy by my standards. A rainjacket that weighs 7 ozs. and a down vest that weighs 11 ozs. is my 'jacket' and 'rain gear'. That's just over 1 lb. for cold or rainy weather.

Sojourntraveller

Ackislander, the first travelpack I ever owned was by Eddie Bauer back in the late 80s. It was pretty much identical to the current Tom Bihn Aeronaut.
http://www.tombihn.com/ipad_case/TB0906.html
That will probably take your size 14s in the side pockets by the way. They actually mention size 12 running shoes easily fitting.

The problem with it is that the backpack harness system is really quite rudimentary. Fine for short carries on your back in a city but useless if you actually plan to hike with it.

The Redoxx AirBoss or Tom Bihn Tristar are fine if you don't want to be able to carry them on your back. They're strictly for city travel which will no doubt suit most who post here. I just like to be able to hike wherever I go.

NewbE, where is it you insist your SO wear a sportjacket? As a man who spent all his working life wearing a suit and tie, I can tell you that the only time I will ever wear a jacket and tie again is for a wedding (reluctantly) and for a funeral (my own).

I have to say that if my wife were asking people here how to pack a sports jacket I would have a few choice words for her. The polite version being, leave me alone and mind your own business.

I go to Michelin restaurants etc. as I have said. I feel no need to wear a sports jacket to do so. Yes, I see other men my age wearing them. All I think is they've got old, I haven't. I'm still moving with the times. Jackets and ties in restaurants ended in the 80s.

Here's the image I like for my wife and myself heading in to a Michelin restaurant.
http://pix.avaxnews.com/avaxnews/8d/...8d_medium.jpeg

ekc

NewbE, my hubby always wears his sports jacket on the plane, then folds it in half and lays it on top of our luggage in the overhead space. IF he brings a lightweight raincoat (rarely), it can get rolled up and packed (which is impossible with a sports jacket). He also likes to put things like his passport, etc., in the inside pocket of the sports jacket when traveling through the airport.

I am carry-on only for 2 weeks of travel each year to Italy. I have the 16 coordinated outfits Soujourn references, along with 5 pair of shoes (1 dressy pair) and 2 LBD's for dinner wear. I don't like to carry stuff on my back so will stick with wheels but will be happy when lighter suitcases become more readily available at better prices!

Sojourntraveller

Oops, I forgot to add that I do realize however that besides Brad and myself, not evey man can pull off that look. ;-)

Sojourntraveller

Not every woman can pull off that simple top and skirt look like Angelina or my wife either. ;-)

AJPeabody

Mrs. Peabody and I did a 12 day trip to Italy, with city changes, using only 2 small wheeled carry-ons and a personal item bag. And we didn't wash anything in a sink. The carry-on weight limit was 8 Kg. How we did it:

Wear the heavy stuff on the plane: Walking shoes, jacket, etc.

No jeans.

I chose the lightest luggage we owned. They were cheapos, gotten as "free with" some other purchase. Low quality, no dividers, flimsy frames, 2.5 pounds each (1 kilo or so).

My dress shoes were the lightest pair I owned. Mrs. P packed nice sandals.

No toiletries packed. What the hotel didn't provide, the local market did for a euro or two.

No one except Mrs. P sees my underwear. So I save up pieces that have one more wearing in them and pack those, enough for every day of the trip. I throw away the dirty ones and have room for a few souvenirs on the way back. Mrs. P's stuff is too light to matter. A colored T-shirt is outer on hot days, under on cool days.

Everything was black, white, tan or blue. Everything went with everything else.

I figure 2 days for a shirt, a week for a pair of pants (or a skirt), and allow one more than the calculated number to cover disasters. I always pack a Janie stick in case of a stain. The cleanest dirty items are for the trip home.

The filmy plastic bags that covers the dry cleaning weigh nothing and make great packing dividers. Those packing cubes and zip bags weigh too much for what they do.

The electronics, charging adapters, travel alarm, and camera go in the personal item, and don't count in the weight. They want to inspect them at the airport anyway, so why pack them.

If I miscalculate, I go to a store and buy what I need.

I check the bags for the trip home so I don't need to weigh the souvenirs.

NewbE

<NewbE, where is it you insist your SO wear a sportjacket? As a man who spent all his working life wearing a suit and tie, I can tell you that the only time I will ever wear a jacket and tie again is for a wedding (reluctantly) and for a funeral (my own). >

I don't insist! But we did once eschew a restaurant because a jacket was "required": Brad and Angelina would have been admitted in gunny sacks, I'm sure, but we chose not to mess with it, as there were plenty of other options. Even though I said I lack easy evening wear, I actually could pull it together easily; but for a gent, is it really possible to go anywhere without a jacket? Le Bernardin? Without a jacket? If one is not Brad Pitt?

Sojourntraveller

Assuming you are asking a serious question NewbE, yes, it is possible for a gent to go anywhere without a jacket. I do so all the time and I'm not as famous as Brad.

For example, on the Riviera, we have stayed at the Chateau Eza having walked in with no room reservations and carrying a travel pack such as discussed earlier. No one batted an eye. Put that black credit card on the desk and voila, you have a room.

Make a dinner reservation at the Michelin starred restaurant and show up with no jacket, not a murmur of protest. Why would there be, their dress code is 'smart casual' as is in line with the 21st century.

The nearby La Chevre D'Or is also 'smart casual' as is another favourite of ours down the coast in Antibes, the Michaelangelo.

Here's how Brad dressed when dining at Michaelangelo's. (just to keep that theme going NewbE)
http://x17video.com/lowres/bpitt051909.jpg

Here are the places I mentioned.
http://www.michelangelo-mamo.com/

http://www.chateaueza.com/the-hotel.html

http://www.chevredor.com/uk/chateau-...icial-site.php

Frankly, when I see a restaurant that insists on jacket and tie in this day and age, I think two things. Pretentious at worst and old fashioned at best.

Anywhere in the world you want to mention a casual dress code is usually the norm nowadays. Have you tried the Witchery in Edinburgh NewbE? Check their Guest Book. http://www.thewitchery.com/guestbook.html
No jacket or tie required. You could also look at staying the night, check out the photos of their rooms.

Or another favourite of mine, L'Auberge de L'ILL in the Alsace. Michelin starred and casual dress is fine. Another nice place to stay as well as dine.
http://www.auberge-de-l-ill.com/V2/

Jackets and ties, forget them NewbE.

ekc

For me, it's not necessarily whether or not an establishment requires a jacket, it is whether my husband would be comfortable dining in said establishment without one. Could he dine at Le Bernardin without a jacket? Likely - and not just because my FIL is friends with Eric. Would he feel comfortable doing so? No, which is why he wears one on the plane each time we go to New York. Ties though? VERY rarely (generally only if we are dining at Taillevent every 5 years or so).

And I feel the same about what I wear when I go to dinner at a nicer restaurant. I look and feel better if I am wearing a LBD and a pair of short heels. Other people can be wearing shorts and t-shirts and I don't really care. But I do care about what I am wearing. So I found a LBD in a sweater material that can be rolled up and stuffed in the corner of my carry-on and worn without ironing no problem!

To each his own. But NewbE, the folding of the sports jacket in the overhead compartment works great!

bvlenci

My husband will wear a jacket and tie only to the first wedding of a direct descendant. For our own wedding he accidentally brought the wrong suit; it looked like the one he might have worn for his confirmation, because he couldn't button the jacket. He discovered his mistake the morning of the wedding, when there was nothing to be done about it.

We went on a cruise once. When I told him about the dress code for the captain's dinner, he said, "No two-bit cruise director is going to tell me how to dress." (You'd have to substitute a more colorful Italian word for "two-bit".) I wouldn't dream of trying to convince him to dress up; mostly it just simplifies my own packing. He wore a Sergio Marchionne-style sweater to the captain's dinner, and as it turned out, he was not the only Italian man on the cruise who felt exactly as he did.

We were once taking a walk on the beach on our anniversary, and just happened to pass Uliassi, a Michelin 2-star restaurant in Senigallia, near where we live. Since it was midweek in late October, I had a feeling they wouldn't be all booked up, so we stopped in just on a whim, dressed for walking on the beach. Not a problem at all, and Uliassi himself came out during the meal to ask if we were enjoying it. Maybe he thought that only VIPs would think of going to Uliassi without a reservation and dressed as we were.

ekc

Love the Uliassi story bv! Very VIP!

Ackislander

As I said, this jacket thing might be an East Coast guy thing. I don't always wear a jacket, but it isn't something that is an issue. Where else would I keep my iPad Mini? Do I need to cover up? Do I need more pockets, okay, jacket. Seersucker? Blazer? Tweed? Depends on the season. Pack in dry cleaner bags or in a garment sleeve with shirts and trousers on hangers.

Am I stuffy? Yes, proudly, but the jacket doesn't have anything to do with that!

I don't go to Europe in the summer, so that makes a lot of things easier. I take four Brooks Brothers no iron cotton dress shirts, wearing one. I take three pairs of washable wool and polyester tropical weight trousers, wearing one. A long sleeve charcoal cashmere v neck pullover or a sleeveless black one. A blazer. Two or three pairs of black Smartwool socks, bandanas, enough boxers for half the trip plus one pair for wash day. A couple of t shirts, which I sometimes wear with a blazer on a warm day in a city. A black goretex rain jacket or a Barbour Border if it is cold and I need many, many pockets. Maybe a pair of shorts to wear hanging around in the apartment. Then all the junk like electronics and medicines.

Variety: no one is fooled by the four bottoms four tops makes sixty four outfits. It's she's wearing that gray blouse again. What's she wearing it with this time?

There is a woman, a beautiful and rich woman, who comes to my church in the summer. Every Sunday, she wears a blue dotted Swiss dress, the same blue dotted Swiss dress, and navy blue pumps. It is her summer church dress. She looks fabulous. The richest man in our congregation flies in a Gulfstream V, drives a Toyota Corolla, and wears a blue blazer and gray trousers every week. It is an East Coast thing.

Sojourntraveller

Funny how this jacket thing evokes so much discussion. If you want to take one, take one. But it is as ekc says, not the establishment that dictates it and that is what NewbE asked about above. It is the individual that may not be comfortable dining somewhere without one. That then is up to the individual and there is nothing to discuss in that regard, in a travel forum other than the impact it has on packing.

Connecting the jacket back to the topic of packing, those who chose to take one have to accept the consequences in terms of luggage size and weight of doing so. You can't be a lightweight traveller and carry a blazer and Borbour jacket.

I find your comment re 4 x 4 = 16 not fooling anyone and then immediately talking about a woman who wears the same dress every Sunday as looking fabulous Ackislander. I'm not sure what you were trying to say.

I read it as the first is not a good thing (not fooling anyone) while the second is somehow just fine.???? How is someone who wears the same thing every time OK, while the woman who wears 16 different combinations over 16 Sundays, subject to your disdain?

I also find your comments about her and the man with the blazer, seem to attach some signifigance to their wealth. What has wealth got to do with good taste in clothing? Why did you even mention wealth if it is not a factor?

I've seen plenty of wealthy people who have no dress sense whatsoever including men who own a Gulfstream and wear blazers. Let's not try to define good taste here or what is acceptable. Let's certainly not try to suggest that what someone with wealth does indicates good taste or is somehow worth emulating.

Finally in regard to your comment, what is meant by the 'no one is fooled'? Why would anyone want to fool anyone? Fool you about what? That they are on vacation and do not have their entire wardrobe with them?

I'm getting the impression that you are trying to say that if a woman does not have a different dress to wear for dinner every evening of her vacation that somehow there is something wrong with that. I'm sure that can't really be what you are trying to say but I can't see what else you were trying to say.

Moving on and going back again to the original topic of what luggage to buy, the choice depends on whether you wish to travel light or are willing to travel heavy.

What hasn't been discussed much on this thread is travel for how long and to where to do what. A week staying in one hotel at a beach destination is very different from even a couple of weeks travelling around Europe and can require differrent luggage.

I do think there is a tendency with some people to think that one bag will suit all trips that they might take. Or that there should be one bag that will suit all trips. I own 7 or 8 different pieces of 'luggage'. The range is: a 20L daypack, a small 30L backpack, a large 60L backpack, a small 40L wheeled carry-on, a medium size 55L wheeled suitcase, a 40L travelpack, a 65L travelpack.

Each suits different uses obviously. The large backpack suits going to Everest or spending 2 weeks self-sufficient in the wilderness carrying food, tent, stove, etc. While the 40L wheeled carry-on is fine for 2 weeks at a beachfront hotel. But for hopping on and off trains in Europe for 2 weeks I would prefer to use the 40L travelpack over the 40L wheeled carry-on.

The point being that unless the type of travel and to where (primarily as it relates to weather) are made clear each time, suggesting what bag would be suitable is not really possible.

Ackislander

"I'm getting the impression that you are trying to say that if a woman does not have a different dress to wear for dinner every evening of her vacation that somehow there is something wrong with that."

Sorry I wasn't clear. I meant the opposite. Trying to look different every day on a trip is an unobtainable goal unless you pack a Louis Vuitton trunk. It is a want, not a need. Even extremely rich people who dress simply and repetitively may look appropriate for the situation and even beautiful. It is choice, not quantity, that makes the difference.

As you say, you can't tell someone what to bring unless you know what they want to do and when and where they want to do it.

NewbE

< What has wealth got to do with good taste in clothing? Why did you even mention wealth if it is not a factor?>
Wealth and taste are two separate things, of course, but Sojourn, you yourself mentioned your Amex black card, implying that it was one reason your and your wife's casual dress and lack of reservations were not an issue. So, living in the real world, we must accept that some things are free to those who can afford them, but to those who can't, they're very expensive.

But that's a digression. On the subject of packing light or heavy, I find that I am happier and more relaxed when I can travel light, which means, for me, not checking a bag but rather taking a 21" roller bag and a messenger bag on board.

AlessandraZoe

We are ALL still forcing each other to our points of view as to what is appropriate. That is why the check vs no-check discussion (which this post was not posed as) always creates such vitriol.

The winner story on this thread has to be bvlenci's Uliassi story. It's an example of a person being confident in one's skin and having the personal panache to show it.

My best friend's husband was told he could never make it in the corporate world with his beard and his weird clothing choices. He said, "I'll take my chances", and bought a round of beers.

We were happy to witness his stratospheric rise from day one where he never bothered to change one thing about himself. He only set out to be good at his role and interested in everyone around him, figuring that was good enough.

And it was.

dwdvagamundo

As much as we try to "Travel Light" we find we have to check one bag each and have one carry on each. Part of this is the desire to avoid having to do laundry more than once every five days or so.

Sojourntraveller

AllessandroZoe, I can't agree to connecting that choosing to wear a jacket and tie to dine implies someone is not 'confident in one's skin and hasn't the personal panache to show it.' That is the implication you seem to be suggesting.

I am happy to dress casually in any situation and not wear a jacket. But I also accept that someone else may CHOOSE to wear a jacket and be as confident in their skin and have as much panache as any other person.

What should be admired is anyone who CHOOSES to do as they please rather than be dictated to by a restaurant dress code or cruise ship dress code. Telling them to stick their code doesn't mean you cannot wear a jacket though. You could tell them to stick their casual dress code and choose to wear a tuxedo to dinner every night.

Some people have the confidence and panache to pull off being 'over dressed' as easily as someone else pulls off being 'under dressed'.

The only reason I advocate 'under dressing' is in relation to the topic of packing to travel. If you can pull off under dressing, then you pack less. That's the only advantage or difference I'm interested in.

Dwdvagamundo, you can't say you try to travel light and then say you need two bags. Well, you can say it but in fact you aren't actually trying, are you.

To avoid laundry more than once every 5 days simply requires taking 5 or 6 pair of underwear and socks, nothing else. I pack 3 of each and spend 5 minutes washing 1 or 2 pair of each every night or second night. Packing 6 of each to only need to wash every 5 nights would add all of 1 lb. to my bag. Since my bag weighs 11 lbs. total now, it would go up to 12 lbs. and I certainly wouldn't need a second bag to carry them in would I.

No, dwdvagamundo, washing is NOT why you can't find a way to pack light. That dog won't hunt.

ekc

"It's an example of a person being confident in one's skin and having the personal panache to show it. "

Wow - so those of us who like to dress up a little aren't confident in our skin and don't have personal panache?

Ouch.

Now off to find a lighter roller for my next trip in which I can pack my non-panache clothes.