Goodbye people who live more than 86 miles away, it was nice knowing you

The Eurovan, while still able to be driven, needed $15,000 worth of work, which is just crazy. It was heartbreaking to be in Berlin and see all the VW vans. Locally a Vanagon or a bus can still be repaired, but no one will touch Eurovans. It was time to part ways.

Time to say goodbye to driving to Austin non-stop annually, to camping in the van, to picnics in the van... sigh.

We used it as a down payment to lease a Kia Soul EV. It actually has a range close to 100 miles I think, I'm not really sure. Most of the time we just drive around the city, so it's not an issue. For longer trips we'll rent or fly or take a train or map out charging stations, though being a lease, we can't exceed our annual mileage cap.

The trim package we want was all sold out so oh no we had to get the next level up. Heated seats. Cooled seats. Pre-heats or cools while plugged in. Heated steering wheel. Amazing backup camera. It's super fancy and I'm scared of putting a scratch on it, but so far it's really nice not to have to gas up and to fit into smaller parking spots.

Travel Gear

So my first long post after vacation is about gear. Some of this I owned long before the trip. Let me know if you have any questions.

Pants (and belt)

I took a pair of brown Kiwi pants from
http://www.us.craghoppers.com/women/trousers

I actually bought them from TravelSmith:

http://www.travelsmith.com/original-fit-women-s-craghoppers-kiwi-pants/504115

They were too big but my dry cleaner put in darts for me. I was really finicky about the pants I wanted to take and tried on every pair at REI, SportsBasement, and half a dozen different types from TravelSmith. I was lucky that these were not expensive because I would have paid anything by the time I found these. (The reviews were terrible, but worth the risk.)

I wanted:

• not a horrible color, in my opinion
• NOT UNZIPPABLE INTO SHORTS - aigh what a terrible place to put a zipper and I wasn’t planning to wear shorts anyway.
• bonus if they don’t sound awful when walking

I bought a pair of light-weight capris, but loved these pants so much I ended up not bringing the capris. The pants have hidden zippered pockets but as part of my “nothing in my pockets” theory of travel, I didn’t use them. I wore these rolled up occasionally.

Because these were big I brought a belt, but in the end my desire to (be blunt) pee quickly outweighed my worry they would fall down and I didn’t wear it. The belt was light weight cloth, the kind with the completely adjustable closure, not holes at set places, in case of travel weight gain.

Skirt

Brown wool skirt. http://sahalie.blair.com/p/womens-gomerino-flirt-skirt/44414.uts

Wore it almost every other day. Light weight, just above the knee - a practical but not dowdy length and look. I actually own this skirt in 3 colors because it is so perfect. Never washed it on the trip because...

Shorts and Leggings

Most of the time I wore exercise shorts under my skirt to avoid chub rub. These were not tight or padded, and allowed me to not worry about flashing folks either. I wore leggings on the flight and on one cold evening, but otherwise the shorts were enough. Occasionally I wore the skirt without either. I could have lived without the leggings, but I enjoyed having them and had the room. The shorts washed easily and dried quickly.

Shoes and Sandals

Presidio walking shoes by Keen - How could I resist a shoe named Presidio? I actually splurged and bought them in the color I wanted rather than the colors which were on sale. Completely comfortable and they didn’t look too much like worn out sneakers. Great tread. Not a single complaint about this shoe.

http://www.zappos.com/keen-presidio-midnight-navy~2

Sandals were much harder. I tried a pair of El Naturalistas which were too flat. The first pair of Tevas were great except for the strap around the ankle. It was very high and very short. The pair of Teva sandals I took were very similar but the ankle strap was just different enough that I gave them a shot. I did not think they would be great. I actually wrote to Teva and they said they know the ankle strap doesn’t work for a lot of people.

http://www.teva.com/women-sandals/tirra/4266.html?dwvar_4266_color=DPP#start=12&cgid=women-sandals

I never wear open toe or open heel shoes in my daily life, partly due to the weather and partly because of my own desires to have protective shoes. I was worried the straps would chafe me, so when I wore the sandals on high walking days (which wasn’t often) I usually wore my weird socks (see below) with them, at least at first.

In the end, the sandals were fine and the looser I had the straps the better they felt, which took me a while to figure out. I loved having a great pedicure and warm weather to show it off!

Socks

Walking socks - I searched a long time for thin wool socks, but my shoes felt better with thicker wool socks. They were all short. I never felt too hot in them, never got blisters. Every day my feet felt great. I used Burt’s Bees peppermint foot cream once or twice, but mostly just for feeling girly.

Weird socks - SmartWool makes a few styles of no-show wool socks. I like the one with the most amount of sock at the toe, not the kind that are barely there. I loved wearing these under my sandals for long walks. I could take them off and throw them in my purse when I wanted to look fancy, or if it was really hot, but wearing them kept gravel from getting under my feet and kept the straps from feeling uncomfortable. These were also great for slippers in the evening. Because they are wool you can wear them a few hours at a time like that and they won’t get stiff and icky.

Also, I got a pre-trip pedicure which made me feel fancy when I wore my sandals sockless. I had the color match my sandals, naturally. (I got a manicure in a pale pink, and wish I had picked a darker color to cover up my nails when they got dirty.

I also traveled with compression socks for the first time. It’s a bit decadent - I only wore them on the flights, but they are small and light. It’s worth measuring and getting a pair that fits correctly. I don’t know how I would have felt without them, but my legs felt great after each travel day, so I’m going to say that for long flights to be followed by a lot of walking they were worth it.

Shirts

This was my main non-wool item. The most important factor after being the right material is to have clothing that can mix and match well. I brought nothing black. Everything was brown, pink or blue pretty much. Many tops could go with many tops, and all could go with all bottoms.

Unless noted, everything is ExOfficio. (SierraTradingPost isn’t always the cheapest place to get it though.) One of ExO’s fabrics is called Next-To-Nothing and it lives up to that name. It is like wearing tissue paper - soooo light. I choose patterns based on covering up any potential stains and colors per my color rules. I also wanted to make sure I could mix up under-layers and over-layers and that I could wear either as a stand alone top, to make me feel like I had some choice in what to wear, based on weather or whim.

Living with such few outfits makes me appreciate folks who do this all the time to minimize decision fatigue. I might long to be one of those people, but I’m not there yet.

Everything here is ExOfficio except the long light blue shirt which is wool by Icebreaker and the short sleeve chevron shirt is by Prana. I bought it at an REI sale and then saw it for $50 at SportsBasement and now I don’t trust SpoBa prices, because there’s no way I paid $50 for a flimsy see-through shirt, which while perfect in hot weather, just isn’t something I would pay that much for, and SpoBase is supposed to be cheaper.

Shirt photos below.

Sweater and Jacket

My Pendleton sweater was one of my least used items, mostly due to it being really warm, but also because it was kind of fancy. That was on purpose, because we had a nice dinner planned one evening. I would have gotten more use out of a slightly bigger and less fancy warm layer. This sweater was wool - cotton takes forever to dry - but an outer layer doesn’t need washing as often, so maybe a hoodie would have been fine.

http://www.pendleton-usa.com/catalog/search.cmd?form_state=searchForm&keyword=kathryn&keyword_entry=kathryn (in Coral)

My wind/water-resistant jacket was amazing. It was light as a feather and rolled up into a tiny ball. I didn’t wear it for rain, so not sure how it would do keeping me dry, but it was great keeping me warm and didn’t feel icky on my skin when I was wearing short sleeved clothing.

http://www.columbia.com/womens-flash-forward-printed-windbreaker-1610911.html (in Foxglove Floral)

Underwear

I took 4 pairs - 3 polyester and 1 wool. I wear cotton usually in daily life and would have prefered 2 wool and 2 poly, but wool is spendy and more importantly, I didn’t find a second pair that I liked. This is not the time to choose sexy over comfort, and material that dries quickly is key because it lets you have clean and dry underwear overnight.

Pro tip: bring panty liners. midway through the day you can throw it out (or put on a new one) and feel like you are wearing clean underwear. This is especially nice when you have a long day or go swimming in the middle of the day. They are small and light. And, if that wasn’t TMI, I also went on birth control pills a few months prior to the trip to ensure I wouldn’t get my period while traveling.

Bras
I took two and alternated. If you can hang them up overnight instead of stuffing them in a bag or drawer, that helps. In daily life, I wear a very light deodorant but when I travel, I wear chemical-laden anti-perspirant and it’s completely worth it in my opinion. I got hot and sweaty but never stinky.

Most importantly - make sure they fit! You’ll want a lot of support and comfort. This is worth a pre-trip splurge, but make sure it’s far enough before the trip that you can take them for a test ride. Be sure your bra color works with your shirt color. It does no good to buy black bras and wear white tops if you’re shy about showing through.

Bags

Purse - I field tested a few different bags in the year leading up to this trip and this one won by a landslide: http://www.ebags.com/product/derek-alexander/ew-top-zip-with-flap/253720?productid=10247116

• Couldn’t be black
• Didn’t want leather
• Had to zip close
• And be big but not huge

I love how much this bag can hold. I wish the strap were wider. And the magnet under the flap is so strong you can’t keep card style hotel door keys and the like in that vicinity. I kept everything in the same place each time and it was easy to find. I don’t like backpacks because to get things in and out means taking it on and off. Jim agreed ahead of time to carry things I didn’t want to, but my jacket and hat fit in there easily. I started to give Jim things like my Kindle or water bottle towards the end of the trip because the weight of carrying the bag was getting to me. I had a collapsible backpack that I brought on our swimming days (and big shopping days.) I also had collapsible shopping bags - both for shopping and for organizing clothing and such during packing.

Luggage - My suitcase is a backpack style soft bag from LL Bean. Jim has a similar sized Tom Bihn backpack. Heather brought one from Rick Steves. I loved having a bag I could wear. We went carry on going, and checked on the way back, though the kids checked bags both ways. Kids clothing is easier to replace and this allowed us to pack pocket knives and liquids. http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/51615?feat=506074-GN2&page=quickload-travel-pack

Miscellaneous

Hat - a sun hat that can get stuffed into the bottom of my purse

Zipties - only used one

Laundry line and reusable “twist ties” - used all the time.

Wet wipes, Shout wipes, face wipes - yes

First aid kit including medicine - not used except a bit of Advil. (Wow, was this really a Band-Aid free trip?!)

Sleeping pills and sleeping mask - used a lot

Battery operated buzzy toothbrush - worth it. I also brought weird tooth wiping cloths for on the plane. And floss, that stuff is light, I’m not backpacking through the Amazon for a month, I can carry a full size container of dental floss.

Cool down wipes for hot days - I really am not used to the heat.

Tom Bihn bag that folds into a little container that holds your stuff on a desk without letting it roll away or get lost in a drawer - yes

Travel clock - didn’t bring one, at times wished I had

Bandana - used a lot less than I expected. Also, I never carry tissues (I really prefer a hankie) but I travel with tissues in case of a toilet without toilet paper. I only ran into one, and ended up leaving the rest of that travel pack for the next person. I brought 4, gave away 2.

Sunscreen - I took a stick of sunscreen that was a new brand to me and I hated it. Travel is not the time to try new things. Bought a tube of sunscreen in Hungary.

Did not bring an umbrella, figured I could buy one there if needed, might have packed one if the forecast had been different.

I did not bring a reusable water bottle, but re-used bottled water because usually when I was out and wanted water I wanted it to be cold. Neither apartment had a way to make ice cubes.

Nightgown - big enough to walk around the apartment in mixed company while I was washing clothing or just hanging out. Could have doubled as a swimsuit cover if I needed it. Didn’t need to wash it while I was there, so cotton was fine.

Jewelry - I wore my bracelet and ring that I never take off. I wore a pair of earrings that I can sleep and swim in, and brought a pair of sturdy glass earrings because that helps keep my piercings open. No other jewelry.

Brought a swimsuit, swim cap, small but not tiny microfiber towel, microfiber towel for my hair and a reusable bag for wet swimsuits etc. I would not have brought the hair towel if I hadn’t recently dyed my hair.

I would have used some small Ziploc bags if I had them, but I didn’t.

I have a great little bag that has two pockets, one labeled Wear Me and one labeled Wash Me. I didn’t use it really. It’s much more useful when you are moving someplace day by day and need to pack up over and over again. We were in an apartment, one night on a train, and then another apartment, so very minimal repacking.

I did not bring a backup pair of glasses, but 1) I brought an eyeglass repair kit and 2) my sunglasses are light enough that I could wear them (or go without glasses) if I had to. I like my “light” sunglasses. I wear super dark ones when I ride, but just walking around these are nice because I can actually see things and people can see my eyes.

My RFID travel wallet has an ID window where I kept my transit pass. That was useful.

Kids Clothing
I’m not buying fancy stuff for growing kids, but Max definitely did not have summer wear, living in SF. We went to Target and Old Navy and bought the thinnest cotton clothing we could agree on. It took longer to dry, but I was willing to let it be worn dirtier than I would school year clothing. Max wore his Soft Star shoes which were perfect, but after camp this summer he’ll need a new pair for the new school year. http://www.softstarshoes.com

Shirt Photos

Not so car free

I was all set to scooter Max to camp next week while our car is dead until I remembered it is bicycle camp.

The good news - really the BEST news - is that there is safe storage at camp for his bicycle, so I only need to figure out Monday morning and Friday afternoon, and I think I have.