The Note #30

Five Days And A Tiny Bag

I agree, that’s not a great selfie, but my skin was good. My tee is from Cos and my baroque pearl necklace is from a little store in Italy where they have hundreds of beads and make them for you!

I recently travelled to Nice and had to pack the tiniest of tiny bags, a carry-on smaller than a carry-on, that HAD to fit under the seat in front of me, for the only reason that I took Easy Jet’s insane luggage policies as a personal challenge*. I had to stay for 5 days, 4 nights, and I thought I’d share with you my Earth-shattering secret for traveling light.

(Sorry I became the “fashion” (hardly) “creator” (that’s the new word for a blogger) with the least clothes on the whole of the Internet—I’m literally concerned I’ll have to stop talking about fashion here or you’ll be so tired of my normal outfits. But anyway, let’s forge on courageously.)

Here are my 5 outfits.

Travel day—Coat, Max Mara, sweater, Cos, sneakers, Acne, leggings, Cos, mini Carry On, Cabin Max, bag, Mango, socks, probably Cos.

No, yeah, I know what you’re thinking, this is quite average. Totally.

Day 2, same thing + oversized tee-shirt, Cos, Mary Janes, Zara, glasses, Massimo Dutti mens.

But.

Day 3, same thing + pants that are old (sorry again), oversized grey tee-shirt, Heidi Merrick.

I was comfortable, never too hot or cold, and overall… Well, I had clothes on so that’s a win.

Except for this fail. Ew.

Day 4, I hate the white shirt with the black leggings: it’s too contrasty. Anyway, I still love you, white shirt, but not like that. White shirt is an oldie from H&M, they still make them, they’re awesome. Oh and glasses are from Eyepetizer but I think they don’t make them anymore, and also my sister keeps telling me they’re boring.

Do you see what I did? The “secret”?

Day 5, travel day, you have to wear all your heavy things so same coat, same sweater, another pair of black leggings from Cos (they don’t make them anymore, I should have bought 10 of them), another oversized tee from Cos, and my black hat.

The secret is that all my average outfits are hidden under a great coat (if I may say so myself).

Okay, so the secret is a coat so expensive I could have flown to Tokyo and back with Emirates first class (I exaggerate, but barely) so one could find it laughable that I saved about £200 by not checking in a bag but this is not the point, because a lot of my other coats are great (and they’re under £500) and also, this is about traveling light!

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Here is what I packed:

Make up and beauty bags with travel sizes.

Computer and iPad.

One pair of pants.

One pair of leggings.

One white shirt.

One sweater.

One pair or Mary Janes.

One pair of sneakers.

Two hats, one off-white, one black.

Three oversized tee shirts to use as layers.

Four pairs of socks and the underwear I needed.

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Voilà! I am pretty proud of myself, as you can see. I’m just not exactly sure why?

*Living in Somerset, I get to fly from Bristol, which is a small, super convenient, easy-to-access airport that mostly operates Easy Jet flights. I had always avoided Easy Jet, having been shamed many times by their very complicated and punishing luggage policies, but when I realised I’d have to start flying with them more often, I knew I had to make this abusive relationship work. I bought the special “Easy Jet Size” carry on and decided I was going to become an Easy Jet pro and make the most of it. They succeeded in lecturing me this time again, but I’ll tell you the story next time.

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The last Letter was about NOT buying a dream house and realising that my joy lies is not having it all.

In the last Note, I taught you what my grandmother taught me about the art of the Moroccan scrub.

The most important thing when it comes to beauty? A good lighting!

Beauty travel sizes I packed in my tiny carry-on? Doré, of course!

If you have any questions or would like to suggest a subject for one of my future Notes, let me know here!

Big kiss!