{By Abigail Mae}
Traveling in Style! What a wonderful phrase. It makes me think of the days when travel was a luxury and by its very nature, couldn’t help but be glamorous. The days of Rolls Royce limousines, The Plaza Hotel, Trains, Cruise Ships, carefully packed steamer trunks and hatboxes. Ahhh… Unfortunately, those days are long gone, and along with them our sense of style. With the availably of airplane travel, we have entered an age of Cheap Tickets (for this, I am thankful!), rental cars, 50lb luggage restrictions, $50 luggage handling fees, long waits going through security, and people traveling in their pajamas and slippers. Traveling can hardly be called glamorous anymore, but I hope to inspire you to change that!
Plan with Style
Planning is the best part of the trip; you have heard that anticipation is better than the real thing. Well, planning is your anticipation. Take a few moments and think about your trip, it is helpful to have a notebook handy for this process. First: write down the dates that you will be gone, any activities you will be doing, people you will be seeing and the weather of your destination. This will give you a “feel” for the trip.
What I like to do next is put together a “look” for the trip. Most people have several different wardrobes within their wardrobe. For instance, I have my “office” wardrobe, my casual wardrobe, and other assorted articles of clothing. When creating a look, keep in mind your destination. Your packing list is going to be vastly different if you are headed to NY for a funeral as opposed to CA for a beach vacation. A look can be anything such as Preppy, Bohemian, Classic, or Chic. Stay true to yourself and your own sense of style, but also remember what is appropriate to your destination. Different cities have different standards and looking like a tourist is not safe or cool.Once you have your “look and feel” decided on, start putting together outfits. In my notebook, next to the list I already made, I start to fill in specific dates with outfits that I am planning to wear. You can create this “Outfit Menu” in advance and when the time comes to actually do your packing, it will be fast and efficient. You may also require more than one outfit per day, such as if you are planning to go out for a nice dinner. Go ahead and put it on your list. I love lists!
Pack with Style
The first thing I do when the time comes to pack (for me it is usually two or three days before I leave) is grab my notebook with my “Outfit Menus” (and an iced tea!) and start making piles. I lay complete outfits out on my bed (by complete, I mean, shoes, sweaters, underwear, jewelry – everything). When I have all of the outfits laid out. I start to edit. Editing means to look over closely and eliminate the unnecessary. There are times when I have packed 4 cardigan sweaters in various colors when I really only needed the Black one. Decide what you can do without. You may not need 3 pair of flip flops. (But then again, you might!). You decide. But be sure not to over edit! You want to fill your suitcase, not stuff it.Some people are fans of the “Roll Method” for packing; I am a big fan of making it fit! For some trips I have used Ziploc bags (the large ones) to pack. This works amazingly well. You label the bag (date, event, or outfit) and put the whole thing in. Then you squeeze out the air and voila! One neat small package with everything you need. Another way of doing it, that also works really well, is putting large items such as shoes and hair dryers on the bottom of your suitcase, then filling in and around with clothes. Doing this also creates extra padding for anything fragile that you may be traveling with such as camera equipment. For cosmetics and such, I like to pack in small toiletry bags, it makes these little items easy to find. For hairspray and mousse pack them in Ziploc bags, in case they were to explode mid-flight.
Go with Style
The age old question: What to wear when I travel? We have covered the fact that traveling in your pajamas is not the best option out there. Sure they are comfortable, but you want to look nice. I used to travel exclusively in a skirt, until the Landing on The Hudson. I realize that the odds of me having to do a water landing are slim, but that event has changed the way I think when I put together an outfit for the airplane. Now I try to think of an outfit that is functional and looks good.Things I DON’T recommend Traveling in:
- Boots: Too hard to get on and off for security. The people behind you will glare because you are taking too much time. Find a shoe that slips on and off easily.
- Excessive Jewelry: Just the other week, I was coming home from Florida and I was wearing a bunch of bangle bracelets and forgot to take them off, it was quite embarrassing. Remember to keep it simple.
- High Heels: Airports are big places, and hobbling around for hours is not fun. Stick with a kitten heel or flat. Your feet will thank you.
- Dark Denim Jeans: If you want to go casual this is a really great choice. Dark denim can look really nice and be comfortable too. Pair with a tee shirt, cardigan and flats and you are good to go.
- Mid-Length Skirt: A-line is best, so that you can comfortably and modestly move around. Wear it with a sweater and kitten heels.
- Scarves: I cannot express how fondly I feel for long scarves. Pashmina scarves are the best thing you can take with you. Here is a scenario for you: You arrive at the airport in Boston (after visiting with the fabulous Amanda Beth of course!) and the weather is chilly, so you grab your scarf and wrap it around your shoulders for extra warmth. Later, you board your plane and decide that this would be a good time to take a cat nap; your scarf is the perfect sized blanket (I usually fold mine in half). As you exit the plane you knot it around your neck, easy as a wink. And if your destination is warm, then you can stash it in your tote bag or tie it around your purse handle. See what I mean, versatile! I always pack several different colors for mixing and matching.
This might get me in trouble, but here is one of my favorite tips that I learned from a beauty pageant book. When you are taking a long trip (such as an overseas flight) it’s hard to look fresh and pulled together at the other side. Here’s what I like to do: pack in my carry on, black yoga-type pants (Gasp! Did she just say pajamas? Kind-of, but the black is so much nicer and please just make sure that they are hole-less and clean!), slippers, make up remover cloths and a nice lotion. As soon as the plane takes off, I head to the restroom and change, remove my make-up and slather on the lotion (feet and face!). Oh and my hair gets pulled up too. Then I go back to my seat and try to sleep for a few hours. Just before landing, I reapply my make-up and change out my, ahem, “pajamas”. You will look and feel so much better, and that is a great way to start any trip!And there you have it! A collection of thoughts and ideas from my (limited) travel experience. I hope you can find something in here that works for you and that your next trip is wonderful.
Bon voyage!
Abigail Mae is 21 and lives in Northern Illinois with her family and 9 siblings. She works as a personal assistant to her father. When not at the office she can be found in the kitchen - baking! This is her favorite thing to do (besides fashion-y things). Her recent obsessions are gluten free recipes and cupcakes!Her earliest style moment was at the age of 12 months when her mother tried to dress her in yellow overalls (Hey! it was the '80s!) and she said "I do not wear yellow." She would define her style as Classic. Some of her favorite designers are Ralph Lauren, Ann Taylor, J. Crew and she simply adores Lilly Pulitzer!
Images: coutureallure.blogspot.com / blog.medjet.com / msnbcmedia3.msn.com / apronsandheels.com / cleo-gallery.com / flickr.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment