All Packed Up for Italy! :)

I went to Italy for 2 weeks and all I had was this bag on my back! (And thank god it's all I brought because it made the traveling between towns and on trains SO MUCH easier then if I had had a suitcase). I had gotten this backpacking pack as a wedding gift and it was so nice to finally use it!

Believe it or not, we did not have to check a single bag on the way to Italy (on the way home it was a different story since we were traveling home with liquids). On occasion I tried to remind Rob that he doesn't know how easy he has it with me and this was definitely proof of low maintenance I can be :) :) He just laughs at me when I tell him this!

So in order to fit all my clothes, packing became a serious art form. I was bound and determined to not have to do laundry while there and to not repeat many clothes. Mission Accomplished.....

My method.... 7 different freezer ziploc baggies that looked like this.

Each of the 7 bags contained:
*2 pairs of underwear
*2 pairs of socks
*2 tank tops
*1 long sleeved shirt
These seven bags would get me through 2 weeks easily (one bag was for 2 days) and I would only have to reuse the long sleeved shirts once each!

In addition to these 7 bags, I packed 2 pairs of jeans (plus the one I was wearing), my favorite black casual/used to be work pants and 2 pairs of yoga pants. And for tops, 2 fitting sweatshirts (I should have only packed one), 1 light sweater (totally didn't need it but wore it just to say I did), 1 light Northface pullover fleece, a zipper fleece and a rain coat (luckily I didn't need it because the weather was perfect!)

And when the ziploc bags we emptied, they became my dirty clothes bags...... perfect! And to squish the air out I just sat on them... nothing like using the bum to my advantage!

I really couldn't have packed much better and was pretty thankful we did it this way when I saw tourist after tourist struggle with their suitcases on the trains, the cobblestone walkways and in the train station. Plus, we were able to run much easily with the backpacks on and believe me, we had to run one too many times to catch a plane/train/ferry.

MuchLove,
Jenny

PS I am not posting a huge post about Italy... I really don't have the time with packing. I did keep a really detailed travel journal and took over 1500 pictures so if you are interested, I can share sometime in person! I will post my top 10 or so favorite things about Italy and what I learned about Italy sometime in the next week or so.