Packing + Maths = Illusion of Control

So, packing.  Item #92 on my life list is 'Master the art of packing a suitcase so I can always travel stylishly.'  This is an art that has eluded me for some time.  I always start with great intentions to create a capsule wardrobe but inevitably last-minute panic sets in and I end up packing for every eventuality (freak blizzards, unexpected invitations to the Oscars, that kind of thing.)

I've decided to approach this scientifically.

Last year, when I spent some time shuttling between Melbourne and Auckland, I developed a plan that kind of worked.  

1 dress + 1 skirt + 1 trousers + 3 tops + 2 cardigans + 3 pairs of shoes = wardrobe heaven?

For five weeks in Melbourne, I've decided on the following - it's based (loosely) on twice the Auckland Equation, bearing in mind that you can't wear exactly the same clothes week in and week out without getting a leetle bit bored.  At least I can't.  So I'm going with a two-week, on-again/off-again cycle.

For working - 
2 dresses + 2 skirts + 2 trousers + 4 tops + 2 cardigans + 2 pairs of shoes + 1 blazer

For evenings & weekends -
1 dress + 1 jeans + 1 shorts + 2 tops + 1 shoes + 1 casual jacket

Just in case of freak blizzards - 
One warm jumper (I can't help it, it's like I hear a choir of Irish mammies in my head asking, 'have you packed your woolly jumper?')

And that's it - I'll travel with my handy dandy trench coat (warm enough for wearing in Ireland on departure / arrival, not too warm for Australia if it gets wet and windy, which it might).

My suitcase is looking a bit more streamlined than usual as I've resisted the urge to pack all of my favourite clothes.  I've also kept to a strict every-top-has-to-go-with-at-least-three-other-things rule so I can mix and match.  Plus I keep reciting the following mantra: there have WASHING MACHINES and SHOPS in Australia.  

So, is this the magic formula?  I'll let you know...

Unpacking in the Small 'Ouse

After more than two years without, it's been very fun unpacking all of my books and papers and random assorted dinosaurs.

Among other gems uncovered is a notebook that I had in France as an 18-year-old au pair, containing the best chocolate cake recipe I've ever come across.  (You can tell how good it is from the chocolate stains on the page.)

Translated as best I can -

For 12 people:
240g chocolate
240g castor sugar
170g butter
5 eggs
100g of potato starch/flour
1/2 tsp baking powder (and incidentally, the French don't measure in 'teaspoons' but in coffeespoons.  One of those intriguing cultural differences.)

Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie with 2 soupspoons of water; add the butter and gently pour the wet mixture over the creamed sugar and eggs.

Little by little add the potato starch, baking powder and egg whites whipped into stiff peaks.

Bake in a medium hot oven (200C) in a 23/24cm greased and floured tin.  Don't open the oven door in the first 20 minutes; takes about 30/35 minutes to bake.

*

The result is a moist, decadent cake.  You can substitute regular flour but the potato starch not only makes the cake extra moist, it also makes it suitable for coeliacs or anyone who can't eat wheat.

I will now channel Julia Child and say - bon appetit!

Pray For Me

I'm packing for five weeks in Australia.  (Though I have theoretically moved home to Europe, I'm going back to Melbourne to wind up some loose ends.)  I have, therefore, lost my mind and my will to live.  Will it rain, will it be sunny, will I pack my wellies, will I pack my shorts, what if I go to Brisbane again, what if it's humid in Singapore, what if it snows, what if there's a heatwave, what if aliens attack?

See you on the other side.

Packing Can Be Deadly

Packing for a return home is not half such a bother or a worry.  You know just what things must go without the trouble of selection, and you also know that the going is a necessity, and that if they refuse to accommodate themselves to the limited space of the boxes, force may legitimately be employed. 

(Lillias Campbell Davidson, Hints to Lady Travellers)

Packing to go home, while perhaps less stressful than packing to go in the first place, is not without its challenges.  Like, how are you going to fit everything you accumulated after almost a year in Australia into your checked bag allowance - bearing in mind that excess baggage costs $50 a kilo.

Yesterday I started the process of sorting my belongings into three piles:
1. to give to the Salvos
2. to post
3. to pack

This involved much weighing and at one point it occurred to me that I should also weigh my suitcase.  When pulling it down from the shelf on the wardrobe it (all 4kg as it turned out) hit me in the face.

How I wish I could be like Sir Richard Burton*, who famously instructed his long-suffering wife to 'pay, pack and follow'.  But, alas, I have no wife and, contrary to Miss Campbell Davidson's suggestion, force has only resulted in a bruised nose.

*The 19th century explorer, not the Welsh actor.

Capsule Wardrobe

Over Christmas, I solicited opinions about my blog and how to improve it.

'More cakes,' said Cormac and Gillian.  'More clothes,' said LTLS and LTBS.  

I was thinking about the clothes thing and while I'm a little bit shy of posting photos of my outfits, I decided that if I could combine my love of clothes with some scientific research into packing, I would really be doing the world a service.  Alors, a new feature: the capsule wardrobe.  This is my holy grail, my quest.  I hate packing - probably because I've never mastered the art and no matter what I do, I still arrive at my destination with a suitcase full of clothes that looked like the cat slept on them.

For my five days in Auckland last week, I decided to try the following equation:

1 dress + 1 skirt + 1 trousers + 2 blouses + 2 cardigans + 1 jersey top + 3 pairs of shoes = wardrobe heaven?

I like Mighty Girl's idea that you should have sleepwear that can double as daywear at a pinch and so I took the very brave step of investing in a pair of leggings (I have leggings issues, but I wanted to try something new.)  

The first day I wore the dress, my yellow sandals and a blue cardigan - no photos because I could barely focus my eyes when I got up, let alone take pictures.

That evening I tried this out:

Day 2 was beige/gold Reiss skirt and printed blouse.  

I like the skirt/blouse combination (and check out my hair - my little sister gave me hairdo instruction over Christmas), but can't decide if the wrinkled look is good or just wrinkled.  (The skirt fabric is a cotton/linen weave so prone to creasing.)

Day 3 was my tribute to Ava Gardner in Mogambo (LTLS and I watched over Christmas, so cool).  I like this one:

Day 4 was an experiment in lines and folds - overall I think it worked although still some wrinkle anxiety - and probably my favourite hair of the week:

 

Day 5 was trousers, printed blouse, blue cardigan and brogues ... on the fence about this one.  I had to catch a four hour flight and I am paranoid about being cold on planes, hence shoes (and stockings even) but I think there was a touch of leprechaun about my lower half, not really a good look for a grown woman.  More optimistically, a touch of Land Girl.  I'd let you decide, but again, no photos.  You'll just have to use your imagination.

So did the experiment work?  It was definitely a step in the right direction.  Having the skirt and trousers in a similar shade helped the mix-and-match and I compensated for the beige with some bright reds and yellows.  I probably had one pair of shoes to many (and also a trenchcoat I never wore) but the forecast was for rain, so better to be safe than sorry.  The hero item was probably the yellow sandals; they are FABULOUS, they make every outfit look better.

Next time: fewer things that need ironing, more jewellery.  And I'm still not sure about the leggings.

Today...

It rained, I packed. The highlight of the day was going to drop off some things at the Salvos'.

A Lady Traveller's life can't be glamorous every day.

I console myself with holiday porn - pictures of some of the places I'll be visiting on my Pacific travels, like Lake Wanaka:

(image via telegraph.co.uk)

Sigh.

The Night Before

So tomorrow I'm heading to Canberra and the start of the REALLY BIG, NO SERIOUSLY, ABSOLUTELY HUGE HIKE.

Here's what I'm bringing:

The hike will consist of 240km through Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales, winding up on Australia's highest mountain.

I think blogging is probably out while I'm on the road (though if it turns out I can access internet in the bush, you'll be the first to know!) but I will be back on the 10th of October with many photos and stories.

If you'd like to donate to hike4hunger, or know more about why I'm doing this, see

www.everydayhero.com.au/eithne

A huge thank you to everyone who has donated so far. I'll start the challenges (yes, there'll be photos!) when I get back.

Joy

Lillias Campbell Davidson (for anyone just joining us, she was the author of the original Hints to Lady Travellers and the inspiration for this blog) lists the following as the Necessaries of Travel:

Rugs and wraps are essentials as well as cushions, both air and down, an etna, or home comfort, for boiling water, and a hot-water bag.

Medicines of a simple nature, in a medicine chest, are most useful.

Matches and a candle should always be carried…

A filter.

A reading lamp.

A money belt.

A pocket compass.

A railway key.

A soiled linen bag.

A knapsack.

A travelling bath.

A sandwich-box and a flask are needful. Meat or coca lozenges are extremely good. A door-wedge is a great convenience.

I had NONE of these things and yet my suitcase weighed 25kg. It contained clothes (not even that many – I had to buy a jumper when I got to Melbourne), footwear, a couple of guidebooks and a Swiss Army Knife – my nod to Being Prepared

Six weeks ago exactly, the Big Yellow Suitcase and I left Dublin. We travelled together to China. To Japan. To Singapore. To Australia. I heaved it up and down stairs. I lugged it onto trains. Many taxi drivers grunted as they manhandled it into their cars.

Every morning I rummaged through the contents and tried to find something to wear that was somewhat clean and minimally wrinkled. By the end of the six weeks I settled for ‘dirt isn’t that obvious in dim light’.

But now, NOW, oh joy – I have finally unpacked.

On Packing

Why do I hate packing so much? I’m convinced it’s because every magazine and tv programme conspires to make me believe that there is a platonic ideal of a capsule wardrobe I should bring with me. I ought to be able to pack for three months by carefully selecting a base colour plus two accent colours plus three belts and a scarf which, by tying in twelve different ways, will give me 745 different outfits, each one guaranteed to wow the locals (in a good way) and never leave me frantically burrowing through my bags saying I know I should have brought those extra 5 pairs of shoes.

Anyway, I’ve been trying to pack for three months and three different climates, plus freaked out by the fact that I’ll be hanging out with artists and does that mean I need to start wearing cool, arty clothes and what does that even mean? And all within a 20kg luggage allowance.

I turned to the redoubtable Mrs Davidson (author of the original Hints to Lady Travellers) for consolation. What does she say?

"The days are, happily, now long past when the cherished tradition of the Englishwoman, that one’s oldest and worst garments possessed the most suitable characteristics for wear in travelling, excited the derision of foreign nations, and made the British female abroad an object of terror and avoidance to all beholders."

Even the fact that I’m not an Englishwoman does nothing to console. I am about to become an object of terror and avoidance to all beholders. Oh-me-gee, as Natasha, daughter of Roisin’s Greek next-door-neighbours, would say.