We like to travel with carry-ons, it offers us a greater flexibility, should we need it, to change our plans at the last minute. Like many others, I spent a while looking up what other people brought on this similar trip. Everyone said to layer to give the most flexibility – and that is definitely the case. I tried to only pack clothes that all went with each other to maximize mix and match options.
I ended up packing the following, and using all but 3 items, not bad!
- Bottoms:
- 2 pairs jeans, one black, one dark blue. I wore one on the plane
- 1 thin black athletic / lounge pant (wore in hotel during down time and laundry time and on a hike once)
- 1 athletic shorts (used in hotel gym only 3 times)
- 1 black base layer thin pants (wore three or four times for outdoor excursions under my jeans)
- 1 rain pants (did not wear)
- Tops:
- short sleeve teal shirt
- short sleeve green/white stripped shirt
- 3/4 sleeve teal shirt
- 3/4 sleeve green blouse
- long sleeve black tee shirt
- long sleeve black and white stripped tee shirt
- long sleeve maroon tee shirt
- long sleeve red/black thin shirt (did not wear)
- long sleeve thin but heavy/warm black sweater shirt
- long sleeve base layer thin shirt
- Outerwear & Underwear:
- 1 black vest
- 1 pink long sleeve thin but warm hoodie
- 1 black rain jacket
- 1 pair waterproof sneaker (wore on plane, no other shoes)
- 7 pairs socks plus wore compression socks on plane
- 2 bras, wore one, packed one. Oh an a sports bra
- 1 sleep shirt (could have doubled as a short sleeve black tee shirt if needed)
- bathing suit (did not wear)
- Other items packed included:
- liquids, makeup, medications, glasses regular & prescription
- day bag (2: I had one, and Justin had one)
- binoculars & monocular. Alaska bird brochure
- 2 hats, one warm beanie, and a foldable hat with brim
- fingerless thin gloves
- electronics: phone, charger, gopro & accessories
Justin’s list was similar to mine, except he had some work clothes and his work laptop. He had one more pair pants, but less shirts and socks.
We did laundry twice.
My take aways — it was cool enough outdoors in mid to late May, that many of our photos are with the same outwear. It really didn’t matter what the shirt was. Having one pair of shoes was new for me, but there simply was not room in bag for another bulky shoe and I am glad I didn’t bring a flat I wouldn’t have worn it. I had similar warmth for a long sleeve black pullover sweater shirt and the pink thin but warm hoodie. Only one of those would have been needed, especially since they go on top of another shirt, I forgot that with the black shirt and counted it as a shirt and not outerwear. I didn’t really need gym clothes, that was ambitious but I had just started an exercise routine when we left and thought maybe I’d continue especially on Justin’s work days. We walk a lot on our trips, and the walking took priority over any short of gym treadmill or bike) so I could have saved room and not brought these. Definitely dress for comfort, not for style on this trip.