Would you believe me if I said...

that I travelled to Europe for 10 days with only a carry on? And that I made my teenage son do the same? Well we did! The last thing I wanted to worry about was missing luggage. Especially since we were flying in and out of different airports I didn't want any luggage confusion so I limited all packing. I strongly recommend TIDE packets (which you can get anywhere in the travel size section) for underwear and emergencies but otherwise I'm all big on the layering.

This means that I can wear a sweater 3-4 times without worrying about it being nasty smelling because it never really touches me. I have enough t-shirts for underneath for each day, and I pack one pair of pants for every 3 days. This is why I prefer jeans. Jeans look great the second and third day as long as no catastrophic spill occurs. Many people like the packing by bundling and I'm all for that. I have a couple of the little rectangles that make packing easy, but the BEST thing I learned is to use up EVERY bit of space available. So underwear and socks go INSIDE shoes. That is a wasted space that many people leave empty. Every little nook and cranny of my suitcase is filled so that everything I need fits in one travel sized bag.

Now this can cause problems. I didn't think about the fact that the candy dish I bought for my mother in law was Czech crystal and therefore LEAD so it caused a bit of a stir in Paris. (Not in Berlin mind you where we first got on the plane, but in Paris). What was only slightly humiliating was the fact that I had stuffed dirty socks and underwear around the glass for safety and space. So the little man in Paris was not terribly thrilled about unwrapping my sons dirty underwear to check the glass, but heh, there you have it.

I tell people pull out everything you think you have to take. And divide it in two. In fact I took a pair of shoes I wore once and should ahve left at home. But I wore a dress to the orchestra in Prague and really didn't have any other shoes that would work. So to me it was worth it :)

Tomorrow...PRAGUE PICTURES!