Packing light! 2 week holiday

[isitfridaay]

I need some help with a slimmed down packing list for 16 days

We are going to
Travel to London (5 hours) and Airport overnight
2 nights Barcelona
10 night cruise
2 nights Venice
Late night flight and hotel at airport
Travel back home.

We have planned lots of sightseeing, nice dinners and sunbathing relaxing!

Current list
6 dresses (3 dor day/ 3 for evening)
4 shorts
2 culottes (prefer these for sightseeing)
2 skirts
5 vest top
5 t shirts
5 tops
2 swimwear
2 cover ups
1 teva
1 Birkenstock
1 saltwater
1 flip flops
1 slider
1 trainer

Cut the shorts down to 2 and lose some of the shoes for starters ! We only travel with hand baggage and now can finally pack light . The ship will have laundry services . Enjoy your fantastic trip.

Do you need 15 tops if you have 6 dresses? Get rid of half of the shoes.

You could probably cut out 2 of the dresses, 2 of the shorts, one of the skirts and 2 each of the vests, t shirts and tops. If it came to it, you could rinse out a top or two towards the end of the holiday. Hang clothes up again after being worn and they'll be good for another day.

Keep the swimwear and cover ups.

Don't forget underwear and a couple of pairs of socks to go with trainers.

Shoes - wear your trainers on the flight and take the teva and the flip flops. You don't need any of the others unless possibly you want a dressier sandal option for the evening.

Why do you need to pack light? DH always used to nag me about having hand luggage only but I rebelled.

15 tops? You need six, which allows two wearings each, even if you didn't wear your three dresses!
You don't need the skirts. And three shorts are plenty.
Flip flops and sliders do the same job, lose one.
No idea what Saltwater or teva are.
You need: one sandal, one trainers, one shoes to go with evening dresses.
You have to get your head around repeating outfits.

I would definitely cut down on the shoes. I'm on a cruise now and have 3 pairs with me. As for dresses, depends on which cruise line for the level of formality, but genuinely no one will notice/care about repeats. Most ships do a deal on a bag of laundry for $20, so you could get a lot covered by that single bag. I have less tops than you and the laundry will sort that.

I just get annoyed with my self as i always take stuff i never wear- I like having options but hate the admin of having lots of stuff.

We will do a laundry bundle but its a wash fold un-ironed service.

Do you need posh frocks and shoes to go with them for evening?
What about a cardigan/jacket if it’s cold in the evening?

Yes, maybe add a light cardigan that you can wear with dresses or tops/skirts for the evening.

Don't forget that what you have on for the flight is part of your holiday wardrobe so make it count.

@isitfridaay yeah, it's hard to strike the balance between taking stuff you don't wear and wishing you had a few bits more. I've done both in the past

That’s a lot of shoes and a lot of outfits! You can wear a new outfit everyday and not need to do any washing - is that the aim?

A lot of the shoes sound similar. If you like culottes for sightseeing ditch the skirts and shorts (or just bring one of each). You’ll either be sightseeing or in the pool/sunbathing so you’ll really only need a swimsuit and cover up or culottes and t-shirt most of the time.

Bring dresses suitable for day and evening, especially as you’ll be wearing swimsuit or culottes during the day. not sure what you need the tops for if you are bringing all the vests etc?

I would pack:
4 dresses
3 culottes
1 shorts
1 skirt
3 t-shirts
3 vests
2 swimsuits
2 coverups
1 sandal
1 teva

wear a dress and cardigan on the travel down along with your trainers.

Does the cruise come with a luggage allowance i.e. you get to ditch your luggage so they look after it, or do you have to lug it round the cities with you?

If the former pack a small hand luggage bag to get you through the first 3 nights, then repack for the final 3 for the way home and take whatever you want. I would use packing cubes so everything stays organised.

Assuming the latter in which case the above will be inconvenient:

I'd take dresses that can all be used for day and evening if you possibly can, and I would then wear them for two evenings and then a day or two.

If you prefer culottes do you also need the skirts? Will you end up not wearing dresses etc if you prefer them for sightseeing? If you won't wear the dresses cut down to 3 total.
If you prefer culottes I would add another pair and remove the shorts and skirts.

Cut the number of tops down to one per day you expect to wear them.

Take a cardigan/jumper and a hat if you want it.

Shoes I would take one trainer, one comfy walking sandal and one pair for by the pool.

I've just done 17 nights away and I took: 5 dresses, 1 pair of trousers, 1 pair of shorts, 4 tops, a jumper, a swimming costume, a pair of leggings and I think that was it. I did one wash 5 days through and it was fine.

Depends on the cruise line to some extent too, do you need evening clothes?
Plus ships tend to be very cool in the evenings so I prefer to wear long trousers + long sleeved tops, summer dresses are way too cold.

You need only take enough for two days. One lot to wear, the other to change into while you wash and dry the other. One set of that you travel in.

But then I'll do a fortnight with under 1kg total.

Waaaaay too much stuff. If you can do laundry you can cut it down further. I’d max pack for a week and plan to do a load of laundry. Or do as @Damnloginpopup suggests, brave but doable.

Taking 2 days worth of clothes on a 17 day holiday and doing a wash every day sounds like fun. Not.

There's quite a gap between that and taking a massive suitcase stuffed with multiple outfits, three quarters of which come back unworn, so no need to go to the extreme at either end.

No need to wash it every day? Underwear yes top clothes no - two or three maybe.

Sling it in the shower with you, underfoot and you're most of the way there.

Really thinking I am sad to admit this but I always only take hand luggage and so pack light. I do this by drawing out a diagram of the clothes and cross matching so that I can get the max number of outfits

It's NCL so casual- and I'll put on a nice holiday dress but not formal wear. I do think a cruise needs more types of clothing for some reason!

I'm generally ok in short sleeves in the evening and have a few balmy evening in Venice and Barcelona and my trust dated denim jacket

I'm going to have a look and review my choices!

I'm not taking 2 days of clothes and washing them!

Those drawing are gorgeous! What. Talent to have. My drawing are limited to octopi and spiders

I don't think you need the Tevas and the Birkenstocks

Also go for the slider or flip flop, not both.

I think everything else is pretty reasonable. I brought a similar amount away for two weeks but came home with some unworn dresses as it was more casual than I'd expected. For a cruise you'll need the nice dresses for the evening though.

If you're still stuck I'd then drop one dress, one short, one tshirt and one vest top. You should have access to laundry facilities on the cruise if you're really stuck! Don't bring a hair dryer or straightener, you'll have one in your room :)

Enjoy the holiday!

I think @Blisterly's list looks good.

You are proposing 21 tops (including dresses) and 14 different bottoms for a 14 day trip. I would aim to halve that and handwash the odd top or dress. Easy to say, I know, but would you really get through 4 pairs of shorts as well as culottes and skirts and multiple dresses?

4 dresses
4 tops
4 bottoms
One pair slightly smart sandals
One thin cardigan in neutral colour that goes with everything you've brought
Umbrella
Underwear to last (either half set with wash or full set)
Nightwear

Wear trainers to travel in