Packing for a Trip...

Photo: From Ainsley with Love Blog

 We are going on our  fourth cruise in a few months. I am a planner and usually start planning our trips long before we actually take them. For instance, I have already started planning our European cruise for next year!  We've been planning this for a while now. I stepped away from it for a while after we booked it. Just yesterday, we booked all of our excursions.
So, the excitement has begun again.

 I remember the very first cruise we took about 10 years ago. I packed waaaaayyyyy too much! I didn't think so at the time. Hey, I needed all 10 pair of those sandals and 5 pair of dress pumps. My new husband could not understand why I couldn't just pack one outfit for each day and a few nice dresses for dinner. WHAT!!! Was he crazy? Who did I marry? Did he not understand that I may not want to wear that outfit at all during the cruise? I needed options.

 Being the patient man he is, I carried just about everything I planned to take and he just smiled. We had two checked suitcases, one carry on and one of my large tote bags that trip (and a few more trips after). I am not sure when it happened, but I started becoming more practical in my packing. This makes more sense now especially given the fact the airlines charge for bags now. Who wants to pay for all those bags? i also know that I need to leave room for things I may want to purchase and bring home with me. Any large items can be shipped if necessary.

 We are actually down to one large checked bag, one carry on and one of my large totes or hobo bags.  One thing I know for sure, my books/mags packing will be super easy this trip. I purchased a nookcolor about a year ago. I can download my favorite mags and books to read. No more breaking my back trying to carry a ridiculous amount of reading material with me.

 I've always just carried the travel size beauty products with me. Bobbie Brown has these great little travel size bottles and jars that are perfect for a week worth of travel.  I also will use some of the products I receive from my Birchbox deliveries.

 Cruising (in my opinion now) doesn't require all of the items that I used to carry.  This is the longest cruise we will have taken, but probably the lightest packing one for me. We'll see.........................


 How do you pack? Has it changed? What are your essentials?