Follow Up: How to pack for a month in Europe

In this previous post, I described how I packed for a month-long European vacation. Packing for that trip was particularly challenging as the June trip involved three different countries with very different climates: A couple of weeks in Italy (hot weather), a week on a cruise to Norway (cold weather), and a week in England (the gamut of temperatures!)

I promised to follow up with my actual results, and here they are!

Per my plan, I bought two new fleece zip-up jackets (one in Italy and one in England) to keep me warm in Norway. This worked well for warmth. I could have gotten by with just one new jacket, but my luggage got lost on my way from Italy to England. It contained my new jacket bought in Italy, so I bought another new (cheap) one in England to keep me warm there! (My luggage and I did reunite while I was still in England).

In the picture below, I’ve added numbers to indicate approximately how many times I wore each item.

Fate of each item:

• Raincoat: I wore this and very much needed it on a three-hour boat tour I took in Norway. If I had it to do over, I would have brought a lighter-weight and less bulky raincoat.
• Black Cardigan: I wore this many, many times! It went with everything. It was lightweight enough to fit in my day bag, so I could toss it on if I were in a cold, air-conditioned place.
• Short sleeved shirts:
  • The black v-neck and a black flutter short-sleeved top were the big winners. I wore them many times with many different bottoms.
  • The green V-neck T-shirt with puffy sleeves was also a surprise winner! I liked the color, and it went with most of the bottoms I brought.
  • The blue-grey v-neck got olive oil on it on its first wear in Italy, and I couldn’t get it out, so it went in the trash.
  • A maroon print twist waist blouse was only worn once with black pants. I should have left it at home because it wasn’t versatile enough and I didn’t like it very much!
  • A blue linen short-sleeved blouse (in the picture for this blog post). I got this right before the trip from Amazon. I ended up wearing it many times. Loved the option of wearing a blouse like this instead of a t-shirt.
• Long sleeved shirts:
  • Oversized white linen: This was perfect as a cover-up at the beach in Italy and on the cruise. However, because it was oversized, it looked too sloppy to wear with jeans, as I’d hoped. Next time, I’d get a smaller size so I could wear it as a shirt and not just a swimsuit cover.
  • Black button-down blouse: worn just once for dinner on the cruise. Next time I’d try to find one black or white linen long-sleeved shirt that could be used as a swimsuit cover-up and a shirt.
• Dresses: I brought two dresses and only wore the one I liked more, twice. I should have just brought one dress.
• Shorts: I loved the lined white linen shorts I brought! Next time, I’ll bring a second pair, maybe in black or dark khaki.
• Pants:
  • White peddle pushers were a failure, and I threw them away so I wouldn’t have to carry them around! I’ve had them at, but I do while and liked them in the pasn’t anymore. I should have tried them on before the trip.
  • Bone-colored linen full-length wide-leg pants: I loved these and wore them so many times they ended up with a hole in the butt! The fabric was so thin! So I had to throw them away. They were perfect for Italy though, cool to wear, kept me covered so I wouldn’t sunburn, and looked stylish. Next time I’ll get a better quality pair for sure! Let me know if you have any recommendations please.
  • Black linen pants: I ended up wearing these a lot after the white ones got a hole. These are below the calf, with a little flare at the bottom, so I felt like Gilligan from Gilligan’s Island wearing them! 😀 But they were comfortable!
  • Jeans: I ended up actually bringing two pairs of jeans and wearing both many times because the weather in England and Norway was suited to them. If I was really trying to streamline, I’d just bring one pair.
• Skirt: I brought one short wrap-around skirt, which made for a nice change of look. It’s a RipSkirt, so it’s very lightweight.

The outfit I wore on the plane worked out perfectly! I wore the bulkiest shoes and pants (jeans). I was able to remove my sweater and scarf as needed.

The four pairs of shoes I brought worked out well. I also brought flip-flops for the beach and cruise ship pool. I wore all of them enough to warrant their inclusion, though if I was really trying to downsize, I would not bring the two pairs of the same sandals. I’d probably just bring the tan ones, then wear the black flats if I felt like I needed black shoes with an outfit.

I tried compression packing cubes this time for the first time, folding and stacking my clothes. Usually, I use regular packing cubes and roll my clothes.

I ended up switching to the rolled method once I was on the trip. It was just easier to see what was where, and that was especially handy at places where I was only staying a night or two.

I did like being able to compress the packing cubes. It probably caused more wrinkles, but I’ll take that in exchange for more room in the suitcase to bring new stuff home!

Pictured above is the 24″ suitcase I’d planned to take, but once I got my toiletries added, I actually didn’t have room for buying new stuff! So I switched to a larger 28″ suitcase.

I think on future long trips I will work on downsizing what I bring. Even though I felt like I had streamlined pretty well for my month long trip to very different climates, I would have loved to have a lighter suitcase to handle!

I will keep you posted on my packing experiments! Please let me know in the comments if you’ve got any great packing tips!

Click here to see my entire Woman’s 30 Days in Europe Packing List!