Packing

Over my spring break (which was nearly two months long since my university has winter and summer semesters instead of fall and spring) I went traveling for a month straight. I did not feel like bringing more than one bag. Specifically, the backpack I normally use as a school bag. It's not huge, but not tiny either--big enough to hold my laptop and an assortment of notebooks, folders, and textbooks in the main compartment. Or in this case, my laptop, sketch book, socks, underwear, shorts and a t-shirt to sleep in, and my Mello vest (because I stopped at an anime convention in Sunderland and I hate to miss an opportunity to cosplay.)

You'll note a lack of extra clothing in there. That's because I wore the same outfit for an entire month straight. Even when I went to the anime convention, I included Mello's pants (jeans, because around his first appearance in the manga that's what he appears to be wearing), jacket, and boots in my everyday outfit, so the only thing that had really changed was my shirt (and I suppose my headgear--I wear a wig for Mello, which had been in one of the pockets in my bag for most of the trip.) I did laundry twice, but my sweater wasn't machine-washable and the two shirts I had over it couldn't go in a dryer, so the only thing that actually got washed were my jeans (and of course socks and underwear o__o.)

And it actually worked out pretty well. My sweater was merino, so it didn't get very smelly even though I wore it for almost a month straight without washing it. The weather stayed fairly consistent, but if it had gotten warmer I could've just left a few layers at my hostel and it would've worked out fine. There were a couple cold days, but it wasn't unbearable (the wind in Sunderland was a pain in the ass, though.) I was much less bothered at not having a change of clothes than I thought I'd be.

If I didn't like clothes so much, I could probably strip my wardrobe down to one dressy outfit, a couple sweaters and pairs of pants, and a few t-shirts--and be entirely comfortable with it.

Anyway, here's exactly what I packed:

And here's what I wore:

I also picked up this bag in Paris (which my laptop and sketch book promptly migrated to), but I wouldn't have needed it if I hadn't bought things while traveling:

So. Lesson learned--I am never packing extra clothes for a trip again (especially not one of the weekend or five-day trips I usually take) unless I'm going someplace filthy or there'll be an occasion where I need to dress up 8D.