A Ditgen Guide to Packing

Ever since I was little, I remember my dad being super efficient at packing a car trunk.  We drove a little Toyota Corolla when I was growing up, and because it was the most fuel efficient, it was often what we'd take for road trips and to see family for holidays.  And of course when we went to the families for holidays, that was a huge ordeal - lots of presents, a few days' clothes worth, food, and my dad's keyboard, stand, and speaker.  And no matter what, everything fit, and no bows were smushed (my mother is a wizz with bows btw).

When I moved to college, everything went in my parents mini van, and this trend continued on.  Btw if you want 2 expert movers, my parents make a rad pair.  My mom is efficient at cleaning and boxing up in an organized way, while my dad gets his cardio busing them and organizing them in whatever vehicle he gets to transport the goods.

Maybe it's just simply a space puzzle that is fun to figure out, or I inherited the skillz from my pops, but either way, I can pack like none other.  So without much more talking, here's what I keep in mind when I'm packing up my goods:

1. It's all about not rushing - do not do this last minute! You'll forget something, pack too many shirts and no underwear, or pack things that you never wear at home (if you don't wear it at home, you won't on vacation!!!!).
2. Always pack what you love to wear the most.  If you love it, you're more willing to wear it more than once and also know how it pairs with most of your clothes.  This is important especially if you're a moody dresser.
3. When you can't figure out what to bring - put aside what you MUST bring - count the underwear and socks and put them next to the bag.  Move to the toiletries if you are still stumped :).
4. Start with the bottom half.  I always decides what pants, shorts, or skirts to pack first.  This is the base, and you can more easily figure out the shoes and tops.  Pants don't get dirty - you can wear them more than once.
5. Of course go minimalist on shoes.  I know, curse me for that, but it's true.  They take up most of the space - even when you pack socks and underwear into them.  I prefer to puzzle them on the bottom of my bag and pack around them the extra socks, PJs, gym clothes (we'll talk about THIS one), or any other small thing that doesn't matter if it is near your shoes.  For a long weekend, a pair of heels, a good pair of walking shoes (no trainers), a pair of flats, and flip flops should suffice.  I would say the heels/walking shoes could be traded out for boots - but you'll be wearing these on the flight/ train ride.  Duh, wear the biggest shoes :)
6. Ok, the hard part is the tops.  I personally don't like to re-wear shirts, so I tend to pack something for every day.  ALWAYS roll your tops.  These little shirt sausages make good fillers for weird spaces. If it's too bulky when rolled, resort to folding as normal. 
7. Gym clothes - yes, we all think "yes, I will work out", but unless you do so every day at home or are sure you have a place to. Re-think it.  If I'm gone for more than 1 week, I'll pack them - and even then, I only take 1 pant, as many socks as will fit in the shoes, and 2 tops.  I was also blessed by a father who doesn't smell when he sweats, so yeah, I just let them air dry.  But who am I kidding, I'll only use them once anyway.... :)
8. If it's a work/personal trip, always start with what you need for work.  Pick outfits that you like and are happy to wear to dinner after work - not worrying about a second set of "play clothes" is key.  But if you must, pick "play clothes" that work for personal and with coworkers.  Yes, I will look hot in the hot pink and grey dress, but don't need to wear that around my boss.
9. Toiletries - I realize I use very few products, and I tend to just use what they have in hotel bathrooms for shampoo/conditioner.  I only pack deodorant, toothpaste/brush, face lotion and contact solution (and a mini sunscreen for THIS weekend!).  I sometimes combine makeup and jewelry into my 1qt bag, but only if I feel it's necessary.  I pick the makeup that has multiple color options and I had a lovely friend who gave me travel brushes.  I always have a spare mascara and foundation in my travel bag, I hate having to remember them last thing in the morning.  And if you don't put that toiletries bag in last and on top... I will hunt you down for making that security line take so long!!!
10. Hair - sometimes I only take a little brush, and I never travel with a hairdryer anymore.  Most everyone has one, and hotels always do.  Worst comes to worst, you throw it back anyway, right?

Below are pics and what I packed for a 9 day trip.  Luckily it's summer, so clothes are smaller, but I did have to pack for a weekend in wine country, 3 days of work, 2 days on the plane and a weekend in Amsterdam.  

Included are:
10 pairs underwear

2 pairs socks

1 pair converse (one of these pairs of shoes I'll be wearing on the plane)

1 pair orange flats

1 pair flip flops

1 pair heels

1 extra bra (I'll have the one I'm wearing)

1 bathing suit

1 pair pjs

1 work skirt (with the plan to wear twice)

1 play skirt (which is comfy and I'll happily wear on the plane - I've got a couple trans-atlantic flights, and my leggings have holes)

2 play dresses (can be worn in Bordeaux, a night with a friend in Seattle, and in Amsterdam)

2 sweaters (one or both are planned to stay in Seattle)

1 pair of jeans and 1 pair of shorts

6 tshirts/tanks/camis

1 gift shirt

And this is the bag - purchased to use for long weekends (4-5 days).

Layer the shoes and loose items on the bottom, fold and stack your pants/skirts/dresses on one side, and any rolled shirts on the other and around the loose spaces.  Some packing sites are all about the multi-fold bundle where everything is all folded around eachother - my clothes never seem to fit that.  It looks messy, but the underwears will get flattened by the jeans.

Once all the necessities are in, step back and add that last thing you may want (the cardi or an extra pair of pants).  If you know you'll shop at your destination, zip it and wiggle it to see what space is left.  If there is none, cut the extra thing.  It got in last anyway... :)

All my cords and electronics will be with my 1 personal item :).  And the bag pictured is allowed on even Ryan Air flights - though then my personal item would have to fit in this bag.  But I'll be on KLM, so 1 carryon + 1 personal item is a-ok ;)  There will be space for that last minute item, and my 3rd work outfit will be worn to work tomorrow.  I don't suppose anyone in Rotterdam will report to anyone in Seattle of my re-wearing.

Hopefully this was useful, if not, oh well, it was fun for me.

There is no Czech mix in Prague

If I left my heart in Lisbon, I left my liver in Prague.

I decided on going to Prague based on music (if you can't tell, I'm driven by 2 things when I travel - concerts and cocktails).  Damien Rice was FINALLY playing shows this summer, and I found a weekend that worked to go see him.  I was happier than a kid the night before Disneyland.  I left on a Thursday night (guess what, of course, my flight was delayed - but I did get to run into a good friend at the airport, that put a nice smile on my face - though he really should have just come with me to Prague in the first place).

I had a "Natalie schedule" for the weekend... I stayed in 4 hotels for 4 nights.  Yeah, not the best idea, but that's just the way it works sometimes.  After 1 night in Prague, I left the next morning for the Colours of Ostrava (yes, Colours is spelled that way, I'm not just trying to be annoying).  If you ever want to go to an outdoor music festival, I'd definitely recommend this one.  If I didn't want to see Prague so bad, I may have planned to stay.  But I was there for Damien alone, and booked a decent hotel close to the venue - but not close to the city centre (see there, I was trying to be annoying).  And the hotel ended up being a great choice to creepy stalk band members... no I did not camp out in front to wait for Damien to arrive/leave.

I got to the festival around 4, and I gotta say going to a music festival alone is a little weird.  I am that creepy person for sure.  But, really, if I didn't go, I would regret it.  I'd checked out a few bands I wanted to see while I waited.  There were some decent ones, and me being Natalie, of course, I'd met someone at the hotel who I'd planned to meet up with later (with the band called the Inspiral Carpets - don't let their lead picture fool you - they are old men now).  I saw 3-4 other bands, nothing super sensational, but it was a beautiful day and such a fun venue.  And of course, there was the 0.29 CZK beer...go ahead, look that up, I'll wait...I know, right?!  And imagine that my first beer I "wasted" a whole 0.89! Bah, all for a wheat.

2 pts for who can guess what song he's gonna sing...

After piddling around, chatting with my hotel friends, I headed over for prime real estate for Damien.  A few more friends were made (though I wished I hadn't, the one guy was all about singing loudly, off-key, and with the wrong lyrics...), they were still safe company to keep. The show was fantastic, I mean Damien could have played all night for all I cared.  Even though he did look a bit homeless...

Concert over, I ditched the loud singer and what proved to be a very handsy Aussie and re-found my hotel friends.  And then discovered the love of my life...Woodkid.  I still can't get over what an amazing, unreal experience that show was.  Didn't even matter that I didn't know a single song (what DID matter was that the band was residing at my hotel, and I saw them, knew they had to be a band, but not being familiar with them...I didn't get a chance to go completely nutso...poo on that).

Such a fun night, and now for the rest of the story...I had a train out of town at 6am or something to head BACK to Prague.  Guess I was in the wrong frame of mind, because I was not ready for a train beer at this hour, unlike the biker train companions...

I spent the next 2 days meandering around Prague, I gave myself the walking tour, went to the Kafka museum (WEIRD), found the Hemingway Bar (and didn't break a rule there!), wandered around the Wallenstein Palace, the Prague Castle complex, the St. Vitus Cathedral, the Jewish cemetery, and "illegally" took pictures in the Black Angel's speakeasy.

I really enjoyed this central European country/city.  It was everything I would have expected with it's Gothic architecture and industrial feel.  Some highlights of the weekend:

1. Chatting with a man on the plane, who drew me a map of the city and gave me a free train pass (and then turning him down when he offered me a ride...)
2. Of course - seeing Damien Rice play again, but finding a new favorite artist
3. Hanging out backstage with the roadies
4. The random parade of Corvettes in the midst of all the old architecture and tourists
5. Meeting an east coast Jew (who is a chef in Houston) in the Jewish Cemetery, then while looking for food, having him talk to a couple of random guys on the bench, only to get pointed towards a great, authentic Czech restaurant.
6. Being grateful my camera battery hung in there for most of the trip and taking too many pictures to reasonably fit on this blog :)

An Education in Mormonism

One of the best parts of living in Holland was that my bestie was living in London at the same time.  While I don't think I got to see her enough, we did have some great weekend plans together.  And in mid-July, she's bought us tickets to see the Book of Mormon in London for my birthday!

As so frequently happens, my flight journey was a little rocky.  Not having traveled outside the Schengen area since my passport was stolen, I got a taste of how difficult it can be to get into a country.  Yes, I had the problem in the UK - without a proper Dutch visa (my temporary one was in the passport, and I had not been given my permanent card - which would not come until the week before I left Europe...), I had some difficulty explaining to passport control that I would be able to get back into Holland and, I really didn't appreciate the "where you should keep your purse" lesson from the witchy UK lady.  

That small snaffu aside, I did get through, and would only have a slight problem trying to get out ("Miss, your passport must be valid for 6 months to travel on it" - Yes, I understand, but this is a temporary one, it's only valid for 3, calm down child - and for all the UK mean-ness the Dutch took me back no questions asked). 

Phew, I guess I got all the crap out at the airport - because the rest of the weekend was fantastic.  Got to see Hillary's new place, we saw Band of Horses perform at the Somerset house, I got to see that my new camera performed spectacularly at concerts, the weather was incredibly warm, we got train-mojitos, did too much shopping, saw my 2nd play in London (the first was Monty Python - duh), and met the "real life" Inbetweeners (they had such crushes on Hill-billy - it was adorbs)!  July was a busy busy month, and this was a great escape to catch up and re-charge for the 2nd half of my time in Holland.

3+2 Days in Stockholm

In the criminal city of Stockholm, the people are threatened by two separate yet equally important groups: the thieves, who perpetrate the crimes; and the tourists, who make the crimes more likely.  This is my story.  Dun dun....

Well by now, you probably know - I had my purse swiped within 3 hours of arriving in Stockholm.  Unfortunately, this little cloud followed me through the rest of the trip.  Luckily, I was with a friend when it happened, and she graciously lent me money to ensure I could make it through the weekend.  It definitely sucked, and overall probably cost me around 1k - between the value of what was stolen and the extra I had to pay to be in Sweden for longer.  It is a very expensive city.

But all in all, I did have a good time, and while, I was pretty ready to leave by the time my flight left on Wednesday morning, I saw a lot and the weather was really nice - not cold and it didn't rain.

Stockholm by boat (click to enlarge)

I took advantage of the water - Saturday, I took a historic boat tour (the tour was about history, the boat wasn't historic).  It wasn't the most interesting thing in the world, and it was hard to see any of the buildings they were pointing out since the roof of the boat was in the way.  But it was a good way to see around the city.  

And Monday, I took a ferry to one of the nearest islands in the archipelago.  It was 30 min by boat, and the day was nice and sunny.  You could basically walk the whole of the island in 5 min, it was that small.  A few little shops and restaurants.  It was a nice end to the day, as a guy and his 2 blonde sons kept me company (I mean, I wish I'd taken a picture of these kids.  They both had bleach blonde hair - one had loose curls and the other had tight, afro ringlets - a'la Sideshow Bob.  Neither had ever had their hair cut - they were 6 and 9, I think).  It was nice to have the company and a little conversation.  Even got hugs from the little boys when we were back on the mainland :).

Hand-blown glass

Just in case, gotta protect Stockholm

A view toward the city

Saturday and Sunday were spent making use of the Stockholm card (both the public transportation and the museums).  To make use of what turns out to be a $95 pass, you have to hit 3 museums and take the boat trip... so yeah you could say their museums are a LITTLE overpriced.  Not to mention, they don't have tons of stuff in them, their national gallery was relocated elsewhere, and the Abba museum wasn't included!  But still, I think I got my money worth.

• The Palace - decently large palace in the city with lots of information about the awards, dress, pomp and circumstance around royal life.  It was interesting, but not every room was complete (no pictures were allowed).
• The Spirits Museum - Absolute is from Sweden, so this museum is dedicated to smells and affects of alcohol.  You can pay for a tasting kit that has gummies of the same flavor, but you're not in Ireland, and they don't give free alcohol.  My favorite thing was the canvas "painted" with vodka ;)
• The Vasa Museum - A ginormous ship that sunk in the harbor on it's maiden voyage, and was underwater for 333 years, before being brought back up (the picture is of a mini-replica).  Pretty cool, and it was well preserved - they even have some mostly complete skeletons.
• The Museum of Modern Art - I don't think I appreciate modern art well enough, and there were no pictures allowed - but they had some odd exhibits - by Niki de Saint Phalle (The Girl, the Monster and the Goddess) and Tala Madani (Moment).
• Fotografiska Museum - This was definitely my favorite!  I really liked the Helmut Newton exhibit.  You can look that one up on your own, he did quite a bit of fashion photography, along with some fashion photos that seemed to have forgotten the fashion (if ya catch my drift *wink* *wink*).  Above are some of the ones I liked the best.

It happened to be mid-summer when I was there, but unlike the Dutch who flood the cities for their festivals, apparently all the Swedes go to their country houses to spend time with their families.  Thus, a lot of the speakeasy/cocktail bars and restaurants I'd looked up were closed through Sunday.  

I had good food, but nothing super exotic (well, I did order gazpacho that unfortunately had shrimps in it).  But on my last day, I did try one of the hot dogs in a cone!  I hadn't seen one of those since Moscow!  In Russia, they added pickles.  But this was pretty damn good - hot dog, mashed potatoes, lettuce, tomatoes, ketchup, mustard, and fried onions all in a tortilla shell.  Mmmm.  Trust me, it was so good.

I WANTED pics of the guys working the booth -
I think it must be a requirement to be cute and young to work there.

And last, I did a LOT of walking.  The US Embassy was a decent walk from my hotel and hostel and I did that walk 3 times - plus, you have to walk a long way to get around the islands.  Here are some pics from all that walking:

My hostel is the boat in the bottom left corner and also the one at the top right.
Cool, huh?

And finally on Tuesday, I was able to acquire the most precious piece of documentation ever - my passport.  With that in hand, and some help from my bestie, I was able to get a new flight out, and leave Sweden - a little poorer, but a lot wiser.  Until August...see ya Sweden!

I left my heart in Lisbon

If you ask me what my favorite place to visit in Europe has been so far, you’ll probably hear me say Lisbon.  Maybe that’s because it was better than I expected, or I was just really happy to be in a warm sunny location.  Walking off the plane, I was accosted by heat – warm, lovely heat.  And how much better was that when I left rain in Holland?!

I’d planned to be there from Wednesday – early Sunday morning -  yay for a long weekend in the sun!  And I’d planned ahead and booked a hostel with a pool!

Some of the food and drink I experienced.

None of my travels would be complete without getting on the wrong bus/train, heading in the wrong direction, or generally getting lost in some fashion.  And this trip was no exception, the bus ride from the airport… left me at the wrong spot, which means I had a much longer walk to my hostel (only to see a stop with the same bus number directly outside the hostel :P ).  There are worse things, right?  The river was beautiful, and the hostel had a great view (seriously, Destination Hostels was one of the best all around – great staff, pancakes for breakfast, nice relaxing areas).

I was there early enough to go explore a bit that day.  I headed out to a small restaurant – and had the best gazpacho ever (there are some foods I love more than anything soup is one of them).  I then took advantage of my bus ticket to ride the tram, but not before I did some wine tasting (free + wine tasting = Happy Me).

The tram ride was a fun, if not the long, way to see the city.  It was about an hour and a half, and by then I was feeling a little sleepy – I can see why people take siestas!  So I went back to take a dip in the pool, shower, and nap… which as we all know after the age of 27, taking a nap after 8pm is risky.  Whatever, I probably needed the sleep.

I celebrated the 4^th of July the best I could – by going to the beach at Cascais in my red, white, and blue bikini J.  The town was cute, with lots of little beach areas and it was not terribly overcrowded.  I sunned, walked around, had a good fish lunch, some sangria, and then headed back to the hostel – to relax in the pool, and well, I don’t remember what I did for dinner, but I did make it to a cute little cocktail bar that was in an a place that used to be a brothel!.  Unfortunately, my schedule was slightly off from that of the Portuguese, and the bar was empty at 9…so I called it an early night again.

Friday, I decided to brave the bike tour.  Yes, I move to Holland and don’t ride a bike until I get to Portugal.  Hi, I’m Natalie, have you met me? I do things strangely.  But the tour was fun, and being on the bike made the heat more bearable.

And guess what I did after that?? You got it – went in the pool (are you seeing a trend here?).  I also decided to take advantage of the hostel and go to their bbq – I mean 8€ for dinner/drinks is pretty good.

Well within 5 min after 8 I learned why the bbq was sold out as in walks the Marshmallow Man and his 26 torturers – oh dear, it’s a stag-do from Wales (again, re-affirming why most of continental Europe does not like people from the UK – they travel in loud, drunk packs).  But again, if you know me – HOLLA! 27 dudes and 1 Natalie? Awesomesauce!  They “graciously” adopted me, and so from then on, I had peeps to hang out with for the evening.  Let’s just say, I ended up with a lot of Steve’s.

The boys said they were going to watch the rugby match the next morning at 11am… I can’t believe they made it – by 12 when I was supposed to meet up with a girl to go to Sintra, I was barely moving!  Too old!  Luckily, she wasn’t doing much better.  We must have looked like the walking dead… we rode the train up, rode the bus, got off and realized you had to WALK in the 42’ heat over a mile uphill… oh hells no!  So back on the bus, back on the train, and back our separate ways.  I was there at least, right?

"The Elevator"

By this point, I’m realizing that I’m almost out of cash… and since I got a new debit card after the purse stealing incident, I didn’t know my pin number – so I was stuck with a depleting Dutch account (I learned later that the balance couldn’t go below 80… umm that’s a stupid number!).  I’d paid for a ticket for the pool party that night… and upon realizing I may not have enough for the cab to the airport – begged out (plus, I hadn’t quite recovered).  Can you guess what I did next?? Yup, I went in the pool!  And who shows up?  27 Welshmen.  The fact that they didn’t kicked out was a miracle – between breaking the ladder, pushing in a staff member with his iPhone, throwing bathing suits into the street, wearing man-kinis, and general drunken disorder – the manager of the hostel must have been a saint or crushin’ hard on them.

I made the wise choice to go to bed at 10, rather than have “just one drink” with the dudes… getting up at 4am did not seem all that appealing and I don’t do “staying up all night” very well.

What I loved about Lisbon:

1. The water (though the Atlantic was COLD)
2. The cheaper food and drink
3. The people speak English well (they don’t dub-over their tv)
4. The countryside is all hilly and green
5. The guys weren’t nearly as pushy as I’d feared (or the Dutch have just desensitized me)
6. The it was nice to dry out a bit