Last fall my husband, Don, and I traveled to Italy for a twelve day trip split equally between Venice and Lake Como. What a dream vacation! We had an amazing time. I believe that properly preparing for a trip by packing well makes a vacation more seamless. I was very happy with how I packed and felt we had everything we needed without bringing too much or too little. I thought I would share more about what I brought and how I packed it with you.
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I wanted to bring two suitcases, one for each of us. Even though I have a tendency to pack on the heavier side, I made an effort to truly just bring what we needed. This involved doing some research about average weather trends for the areas we were visiting at that time of year as well as considering what kind of clothing would be appropriate for our activities of choice.
For my clothing and accessories, I focused on tops and dresses I knew I could wear more than once, with pants and warmer layers that I could mix and match with everything. The only items I brought for me to have a clean one (to two) per day were socks and undies. I picked shoes that could stand up to a lot of walking, including my evening wear sandals, particularly considering cobblestone roads.
For Don’s clothes, I knew he would need a clean shirt for most days, but only a few dinner appropriate tops that he could rotate through. I brought clean socks and undies for him for each day, but limited his pants and lounge wear since I knew he could wear those multiple times.
I packed all I could into my favorite Eagle Creek Pack-It Cubes to make packing easier as well as keep our clothes intact and wrinkle-free during transit. Everything fit easily into our two Erin Condren hard-sided suitcases (not currently available) with room to spare for souvenirs on the way home:
My suitcase all packed up between clothes, accessories, and toiletries.
My Packing List:




Don’s suitcase all packed up and ready to go!
Don’s Packing List:



I share more details about what I packed and how each item worked out for us during our travels in this video, if you’re interested in hearing more:
I’d love to hear about how you pack, particularly when traveling abroad, if you care to share!
Happy & Safe Travels! 🙂
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