Interrail trip #2: what I pack

In yesterday’s post I told you that for my 22 day trip I was going to try to pack as lightly as possible. I wanted to take my large, 23.5 liter Herschel bag (click for a full review of the bag) and a smaller backpack that I bought at Forever 21 2 years ago. The larger backpack was to hold clothes and toiletries. The smaller one was for all my valuable and I also wanted to use it as my purse when I would be going around town. So two bags that I could carry and didn’t have any wheels. I knew I would be navigating plenty of train stations and cities, and I would have to walk quite a bit to get from the station to my hotels in some cities, so carrying a backpack seemed handier to me than a wheeled suitcase. And it was!

The first thing I did was making a list of everything I wanted to pack. In the weeks prior to my trip I accumulated as many minis as possible and one more very essential thing that would make or break the trip: instant laundry detergent. By taking a tube of laundry detergent that can even clean clothes when all you have is cold water, I was guaranteed to have clean clothes wherever I went. I counted off my underwear and socks and ended up taking mostly old ones so I could simply throw them away as I was going round. It would clear up space in my bag and it would purge my underwear drawer. Win-win!

I made the list by making different sections and wrote a neat version before packing. If it’s a mess, chances are I’d forget something, and I really needed to be on point. In the big backpack I ended up packing my electric cords and belts as well as an extra pair of shoes. I wore the pair I took which saved space as well. I limited myself to one bag of toiletries and one small make up bag and enough outfits to wear for 7 – 8 days. I took one pair of jeans, one pair of shorts, 3 dresses and 5 tops. I ended up using and wearing EVERYTHING I’d packed at least once, except for the emergy kit I had put together with some aspirin, band aids, and cough drops.

Hand luggage

I wanted to take a second, smaller backpack as hand luggage. I knew I’d be able to hang it from my front and carry it along with the one on my back AND it would be an easy bag to wear around town. The hat you see here I simply wore and later stuffed into a shopping bag when I wasn’t using it. I put all my documents in the blue folder you see in the back. That way they would stay neat and I wouldn’t be able to lose them along the way. I used a smaller wallet with the essentials I needed to carry and a tablet filled with e-books, 32 gigs of music and audio books and extra SD card with 16 gb of TV series and movies. I also took 2 physical books initially, but I ended up giving those to my parents when we met up in Paris as they took up a lot of space and I already finished reading the first one after 2 days.

Clothes

This is all I took clothes wise. I usually take a clean shirt for every day I’m on vacation, but I knew that wasn’t going to fit. I brought a bikini and ended up not using it, but that didn’t take up too much space any way. Two pairs of shoes are necessary for me because I walk A LOT when I’m on vacation and I like to alternate between shoes so my legs don’t go blah within two seconds.

Beauty products & miscellaneous

This looks like it’s a LOT, but it really isn’t. It all fit into the clear toilet bag you see in the picture. I put the pills etc in the red pouch you see at the top and just stuffed it into a little crevice. The cords went in the front pocked of the large back. I took minis only and travel sized packaging of cotton pads and cotton buds (from HEMA). My philosophy was that I could always throw things away and buy something new when I’d need it. When a bottle was empty I simply chucked it and before I left Copenhagen to go home I chucked everything that had been opened. Most of it was nearly gone anyway and I never use up the minis once I get home. The folder you see on the left contains copies of all my travel information as well as my passport and cards.

Make up

Make up wise I kept things very simple. Whenever I’m travelling I keep my make up very minimal and I try to use products for which I need hardly any brushes. I was lucky to get a mini Dior mascara a while ago with a purchase and the mini Primer Potion came with a palette I believe. Cream shadow is my go to eyeshadow on vacation because it’s very easy to just pop it on. Lipstick wise I went with liquid type lipsticks. I didn’t want any of my nice lipsticks to melt in hot trains or hotel rooms. If you care to see a travel make up look, I posted one not too long ago.

What would you pack on a trip like this?
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post when I will be showing you what I did during the first 3 days of my trip.