Could Do Better Travel Capsule

Hello dear, before I kick off I ask that you please bear with me as I continue to struggle with the challenges of technology falling apart around me, or just falling (that's a story I need to hold back on until I feel brave enough to fess up to it!).  Suffice to say, right now my photos are few and my one-finger typing on a small keyboard not ideal.

Ok,so I've just returned from a short break away in the UK.

I did my pre-trip planning according to the book.

- I started monitoring my destination weather a week before my trip.

- I  identified the number of days and nights I'd be away, what I would be doing and what sort of outfits I needed to pack.

And on one brilliantly sunny day I put together a travel capsule.  You can find my 7-piece-travel-capsule. HERE - pretty darned perfect, even if I do say so myself!

And then it all went pear-shaped.
 The destination forecast worsened as D-day approached and my capsule confidence started waning commensurately.

On the day of packing it rained.  A lot.  And it was blowy. 

So what happened?  The weather was in the driving seat when I packed.

I went off to the airport with a suitcase filled with taupes and greys - dreary weather colours and so far removed from my original bright ultraviolet.  In fact the only blast of brightness left was the suitcase itself.

I travelled in taupe, black and dark grey (incl. a down coat!)

when my travel outfit inspo on those sunnier days had been this.

A light jacket over a white tee and blue jeans.

Here's my travel capsule,

Pretty sombre eh?

This is the danger that comes from packing on a dreary day.

This was pretty much my uniform for most of the break

I expect I could fool myself into thinking I was keeping it close to some inspos in my Pinterest folder.

I also packed a black vest top which created

something similar to this.  You'll have to trust me on this in the absence of any pictorial evidence (oh sooo embarrassing ...).

An outfit I CAN show is - 

Black jeans, taupe jumper and a scarf (perhaps this scarf was the cheeriest I got with my packing, on reflection!)

But in all honesty, I think I was making the best out of what I'd found myself unpacking in the hotel room.

Don't get me wrong, I like taupes and greys and blacks, but my intended case would have been just the cheery start I needed to the mostly gloomy days we had during our city break.

On a positive note (for there are some!) I liked this combo,

black jeans, taupe cardi and silk cami.

Similar to what the trendier young ladies are posting on Pinterest.

And my taupe vest,

just about seen here

worn with the cardi created a twinset similar to the above inspo (pause whilst I yet again cringe  with embarrassment at my catastrophic photo event!)

Moving swiftly on, an observation I made is that when I'm touristing I seem to walk around like a bag lady, with scarves flying, hair swirling untidily if not anchored to my head.  And my bags always look like they're tethered to me.  Is this what touristing really looks like and the scruffier side of outdoor life just never gets shown on social media?

So back to my travel capsule and yes, perhaps I could have packed better.  A bit cheerier.  Indeed,  when I posted a few OOTD shots whilst on holiday, one of my new mates on Instagram (You can find me HERE) asked "But where's the colour?!"

Yes, I could should have packed colour and yes, I certainly could have packed less.

Here's what I didn't wear: 

1 pr of flatties (I wore these boots day and evening)

This longish floral shirt, Leoprint blouse, long jersey and chiffon edged tunic and floaty silk scarf (I tended to just change a vest or cardi at night).

What have I learned?

- Pack for YOU, not the weather you see out of your window.

- Brighter colours DO work in gloomy weather.

- Just pack for slight changes to the daytime outfit for evening.

- Repeat-wear, repeat-wear, repeat-wear - NO-ONE notices or cares if you wear the same pieces multiple times.

So I feel that if my fashion teacher were reading this post (and oh how I wish I'd had one!) she would note that I'd learned something from this pack and she would at the very least have written underneath this essay a "Could do better".  But I hope I wouldn't have opened my exercise book to a "See me!" written firmly in red pen!

A la perchoine,

Mary

Come back soon to see if I managed to retrieve my lost holiday snaps!

Credit: non-me photos - Pinterest