Unexpected Work Trip in March - Frankfurt for 5 Days

[kathryn]

A work colleague is unexpectedly no longer able to travel for a trip in March, so I am jumping in to help out. It's a 5-day trip (overnight flight Sun-Mon and fly home Friday), with 2.5 of those days being work days: 2 running a meeting and 1/2 doing set up. I'm going to try for S25 one bag, but may end up with S25 plus a PLO.

Draft packing list:

Wear on plane

• Dark jeans (Uniqlo)
• Olive cami (Departure Cami Eddie Bauer)
• Black blazer (Grana)
• Sneakers (Onitsuka Tigers)
• Scarf (Waypoint Goods)
• Grey trench (Costco)
• Bra/undies/socks/jewelry

Pack

• Black work trousers (Betabrand)
• Black wrap shell (J. Jill)
• Pink shortsleeve sweater (J. Jill)
• Striped T-shirt (Daily Ritual/Amazon)
• Black cami (Departure Cami Eddie Bauer)
• Wine crew-neck merino cardigan (Uniqlo)
• Work flats (still TBD--I have so many shoes argh!)
• Work bag/purse (Bagallini Helsinki in black on black camo)
• Bra/undies/socks, etc. (just discovered that I love Aerie undies, though I'm far outside their target demographic LOL)
• Toiletries, incl. dual-voltage flat iron
• Phone
• Wallet/passport
• 12" MacBook
• Kindle
• Miscellaneous cords, chargers, AirPods, etc.

Maybe...

• Lightweight black trousers (Lole Gateway) - I would like to swap these for the Betabrand ones as they're much more packable, but am worried they aren't quite work-appropriate
• Grey T-shirt (Uniqlo) or some other additional top

My work colleagues already think my packing is insane because I do carry-on only (i.e. small spinner plus purse/tote/backpack), so I am imagining having fun explaining that, no, the airline didn't lose the rest of my luggage.

[melminimalist]

Do you live in Europe already or is this an overseas trip?


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[kathryn]

Do you live in Europe already or is this an overseas trip?

It's an overseas trip; I live in Minneapolis. I'll have one connection each way in CDG on the way there, and AMS on the way home, so it'll be nice to have very little to carry as I traverse the airports. Well, not AMS, I love that airport, but definitely CDG needs no additional stress.

[imperator]

All that planning effort, and it sounds like you'll be yoked to a bunch of checked-baggage amateurs in the end...c'est la vie. At least it's fun to see their faces when they realize how much **** they have.

[AlaskaGirl]

Greetings Kathryn,
This is a perfect mix and match capsule wardrobe! I have a few questions.

Have you tried a test pack? Will you use packing cubes, stuff sacks, or other clothing organizers? You may find there is extra room in the Synapse after a test pack.

Are you bringing laundry supplies? After the long flight, I like to wash my travel outfit. I recommend these soap leaves: Sea to Summit Pocket Laundry Wash. https://www.rei.com/product/785917/s...t-laundry-wash
With a Zip-lock Freezer bag, if an item needs to be washed it will be quick and easy. Soak for 5 minutes and rinse. After squeezing the water out, roll it in a towel, hang or lay flat to dry, and most items will be dry overnight.

I love how light and compact your clothing looks. Well done! elisa

[kathryn]

Are you bringing laundry supplies? After the long flight, I like to wash my travel outfit. I recommend these soap leaves: Sea to Summit Pocket Laundry Wash. https://www.rei.com/product/785917/s...t-laundry-wash

Yes! I totally forgot because it’s so tiny, but I have the small Scrubba. My current laundry soap is called Eco Strips, I think; I can’t seem to find the name in a quick google. I’m using up a few more sheets and then I’ll need a restock.

No test pack yet, but that’s on my to-do list. I have so many packing cubes that I’ll need to test what combo works best.


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[kathryn]

All that planning effort, and it sounds like you'll be yoked to a bunch of checked-baggage amateurs in the end...c'est la vie. At least it's fun to see their faces when they realize how much **** they have.

Luckily for me, they're flying in from a different city than I am, so it's unlikely we'll meet until we get to the hotel

[Nadia]

I love love love your packing list and the outfits. This is great. I think the Lole Gateway could be ok if we can't see the top stretchy band. I love their pants and jeans in general. Good luck with CDG, what a mess of an airport

[kathryn]

@AlaskaGirl I just ran a test pack on my lunch break: everything fits into the S25, including the purse (rolled up) and the miscellaneous EDC crap I always forget about until I pull my wallet out of my regular bag, like first aid kit, mints, hand sanitizer, sunglasses, etc. Not much wiggle room, but it weighs in just under 18lbs.

If I need extra space in transit, I can pull out the purse and use it as a 2nd bag. Woohoo!!

[AlaskaGirl]

Greetings Kathryn,
How big is the purse? I'm not familiar with that one. Rough dimensions are fine, I'm just curious.

Your photos look like they came from the Stylebook app. I've created a few packing lists there, too. I love how it creates the packing list automatically.

Have a great trip! elisa

[kathryn]

It’s just a smidge bigger than the Icon. Basically the same height, width, and depth, with just enough more zipper width to be able to get my 12” MacBook in.

Icon = 13.6” (w) x 9.6” (h) x 5.3” (d)
Helsinki = 13" W x 11" H x 4" D

[moriond]

Hi @kathryn,

I always love reading through your posts -- for one thing, you always detail everything, and I can restrain my impulse either to ask about or to try to spontaneously identify your packing list contents. For another thing, I'm always reminded about great previous posts that you've made. So, I will spontaneously mention, for those new forum readers who are being wowed by your clothing/wardrobe planning skills, that you're using the Stylebook app (which you researched in your Help with wardrobe planning apps thread of a few months ago (thread gives some hints about how to get photos of your wardrobe items; for those of you with Ravelry logins, @gochicken also did a great description of using the same app for wardrobe planning in her post (#25 dated June 6 2016) in her Packing for Alaska Cruise thread). @kathryn also used this for her packing planning in her Ireland in October posts. (The end of the thread has some fantastic pictures).

The other thing that I love about this post, is that your reference to your ASICS Onitsuka Tigers, lets me reference the instance of a more colorful version that showed up in a discussion post (#37 dated 06-26-2014) in the My Nordic Family Photo thread. (Credit belongs to @123veo for first bringing everyone's attention to the possibility of Nordic Dyneema Shoes!!!!!)

moriond

ETA: @AlaskaGirl, the linked references above do, indeed, trace the progression of @kathryn's research into the Stylebook app.

[kathryn]

Hi @kathryn,

I always love reading through your posts -- for one thing, you always detail everything, and I can restrain my impulse either to ask about or to try to spontaneously identify your packing list contents. For another thing, I'm always reminded about great previous posts that you've made.

Awwww, thank you!

I love your posts for the display of encyclopedic knowledge of these forums!


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[kathryn]

Well... we're now starting to talk about COVID-19 response planning at work, so I am even more convinced of the need to travel light and be flexible on this upcoming trip.

It will be very comforting to know everything I need is in one bag that's easy to carry. (The only revision I'm making to the packing list so far is to bring the bigger travel size bottle of hand sanitizer, and throw in a small pack of anti-bacterial wipes for the plane.)

[Cristina]

Well... we're now starting to talk about COVID-19 response planning at work, so I am even more convinced of the need to travel light and be flexible on this upcoming trip.

It will be very comforting to know everything I need is in one bag that's easy to carry. (The only revision I'm making to the packing list so far is to bring the bigger travel size bottle of hand sanitizer, and throw in a small pack of anti-bacterial wipes for the plane.)

It brings me no joy to say this, but hand sanitizer and anti-bac wipes do not work on viruses. Very nearly all of them only kill bacteria, not viruses (the ones that do kill viruses will say so, and they are usually too harsh for leaving on your skin in the form of hand gels or foams, it’s mostly surface cleaners like Lysol/Dettol).

Viruses are best removed by hand washing.