Monday, April 2, 2018

My Packing Philosophy



For our 1st year anniversary my beau and I decided to celebrate with a three week trip across Costa Rica. As he was planning the travel logistics I was planning my outfits. Colorful summer dresses paired with the perfect sandals and accessories, bathing suits with perfectly coordinated tunic cover ups not to mention the bags of beauty and hair products. When my beau discovered my lavishing packing dreams he quickly put a stop to it; refusing to travel with me unless I can pack all my materialistic dreams in a carry-on. My reaction, "What?! Three weeks of clothes, shoes, toiletries, makeup and I-can't-even-name-it-all in a carry-on?" I was upset! No one is going to tell me what I can or cannot pack (although he really didn't say that did he? Who cares I was mad!). I eventually came back to being the adult that I am supposed to be and listened to his reasons. They were all reasonable and practical and so I decided to give it a try. I shoved everything I possibly could into a carry-on and I never looked back.

Seven years, 18 countries and countless flights later I am completely on board with the concept of minimalism, simplicity and that less is more. My whole life has changed to reflect this as well. The practicality initially got me on board: to be able to pick up my bags and climb a set of stairs with ease at a train station or roll through immigration with my bags instead of having to go out of the secured area to grab them during a connecting flight. Over time I started to find that with the limited space of a carry-on everything I decided to pack I had to absolutely love and can use repeatedly. I used to feel so overwhelm with packing but now I've created travel staples-things I always bring with me and I just switch up my clothes depending on the climate. This has created organization and planning ahead of time instead of last minute frenzies and chaos. I see myself as a curator of the items in my suitcase and in my home; only bringing in things I love that brings me joy.

Here I share what I packed on a recent trip to LA. These photographs were shot at The Line Hotel in Koreatown.

What to Wear // It starts with a choosing a color palette: I love black, blue and white. From there I can mix and match the articles of clothing and guarantee it will look cohesive.

Pictured above: A blue pinstripe sundress by Kate Spade. A blue cotton scarf I bought it Italy to throw over my sundress just in case it gets cold. A sun hat. Sunglasses. Espadrilles by Armani Exchange. A black bathing suit I bought in Italy.




My Beauty Essentials // I've always been into skincare but more so now that I'm seeing signs of aging. Because I'm limited on my liquids I will try to find everything in powder form and leave the liquids to my skincare items. What I've found to be just as effective when it comes to a skincare routine while traveling is using a cleanser, vitamin c serum and a moisturizer that has SPF 35+ in the morning and in the evening after cleansing, applying a retinal and a good moisturizing. Aside from a moisturizing mask and an exfoliator I really didn't need much else.

Pictured above from right to left: A good SPF by EltaMD, under eye cream that helps with all the problems under the sun by Ole Henriksen, Bumble and bumble dry shampoo for days I don't want to wash my hair, La Mer moisturizing cream, SK-II Essence and Biologique Recherche P50 toner.




My Photography Gear // Ah, my love: photography! My favorite camera to carry around is my Pentax. It's an old school 35mm manual film camera that does not have the bells and whistles of a digital camera but I really don't mind it. I love its simplicity. I first picked up this camera because of my girl crush photographer: Jamie Beck. She shoots amazing black and white photographs of travel that really inspired me. When I first started shooting I was obsessed with black and white film. It wasn't until after visiting Paris that I decided black and white photos really captured the memory of a place, a nostalgic feeling but color gave it life and energy. I've been playing more with color in the recent years.

Pictured above: Pentax K1000, Kodak Porta 400 film and a Sekonic lightmeter.




Other favorite things I pack: My iPad filled with books and loaded with Podcasts I love, my journal a L!fe Symphony Notebook I picked up in Japan, Bose Noise Canceling Headphones is a must and hand sanitizer because I'm OCD about cleanliness.

My packing philosophy comes down to simplicity. Because I only purchase things I really love it makes it easy for me to pull from the curated items I own. I have a list of travel staples I always bring with me when it comes to toiletries, photography gear, etc. and in general I only pack what I need and will use multiple times. I keep it simple so I can flow and move with ease from one country to the next or from one city to another.