Two Weeks Away, One Cabin Bag : Summer in the City

A long time ago I shared some tips about packing, the most important being that you don't need to travel with as much stuff as you think you do. Trust me - there is absolutely nothing to love about hauling a large and unruly suitcase from place to place. All those ankle bruises and shoulder injuries and outright frustration, especially when it's peak hour in a Tokyo train station? Not fun. And then you get to the end of your trip, bruised and battered, and half the stuff in your suitcase is still folded neatly, untouched? Not fun at all.

Years of travel, years of packing, have shown me that you can travel light. Scratch that - it's shown me you have to travel light. And the good news is you don't have to look like a backpacker doing it. If you pack smart, you can look smart. You can travel with a cabin bag and still look like your normal, stylish self. 

To prove it I'm taking you inside my suitcase, showing you what I pack for different climates and different holiday types. I'm basing these posts on what I'd pack for two weeks away. For a shorter trip just subtract a frock or two, for a longer one just add more underwear!

Packing for a winter holiday is pretty advanced stuff, so we'll kick off with an easy one - summer in the city. Basically this is what I took to Hong Kong last month. Note that my wardrobe is very much frock based (it makes packing so much easier!) but if you are a pants and jeans kind of girl then just switch out 'fancy frock' for 'fancy pants and top'. 

Some general principles: 

- Pick a colour scheme, so that everything in your bag will basically work with everything else.

- Pack early and then edit, edit and edit some more. 

- A few belts, some jewellery and a scarf will mean you can pull countless different outfits out of three frocks and a pair of heels. Well chosen accessories will help you avoid TWF*. 

(*Travel Wardrobe Fatigue: when you feel like you've worn everything in your suitcase a hundred times and you're completely bored and uninspired by it all.) 

- Only pack tried and tested items. I learnt this the hard way when I had to bin a brand new pair of shoes because they made my feet bleed. Oh the pain! Never again. Think wardrobe staples; the things you love and turn to day in, day out. Think comfort and style. 

- Don't forget the basics. Underwear, a good range of bras (matched to your outfits), socks and something to sleep in (I pack singlets which double as pjs). And I always travel with at least one pair of black leggings.

In the end the key to good packing is having a good wardrobe to begin with. Edit your wardrobe, hang on to what you love, buy what suits you, take your time to build it piece by piece. If you're happy with your home wardrobe,  then packing for your next holiday will be a breeze!

Casual Dress x 2 - Think something you can throw on without thinking. Something you can spend a whole day sightseeing, shopping, sipping and eating in without having to worry about anything. Light weight for summer, non-iron fabric, with pockets. Casual dress one from Petit Bateau, casual dress two from Obus. 

Super Comfy Dress - When I fly I tend to wear a stretchy cotton tunic over leggings. This outfit gets washed when I land and then doubles as 'loungewear' for lazy mornings in the hotel room. This stripey number is from Japan. It's wonderfully soft and has big pockets - exactly what you need for passports, pens and documents as you're rushing through the airport. 

Dress Up, Dress Down - This is possibly my favourite dress ever and I will most definitely cry when it dies. It's from Top Shop. Yes, it has pockets (see a theme here?). It's perfect with flats for daytime strolling, or with heels for nighttime bar hopping. 

Go With Anything Jacket - Something that you can throw on over everything in your suitcase. For me, it's a light blue denim jacket from Uniqlo. 

Lightweight Scarf - I always take a scarf on the flight, sometimes those flying sardine cans cabins can be cold. Also handy in places like Hong Kong where the air con is almost always set to deep freeze. 

Bright Belt - For adding a bit of fun to all your frocks. This happy orange suede belt from Gorman almost always travels with me.

Fancy Frock - For dinners at nice restaurants, classy corporate cocktails, long luxurious lunches...that kind of thing. This one is from Marimekko, and it's ridiculously comfortable (no pockets though - its only drawback). Nights getting a bit chilly? Just add leggings!

Clutch, Bracelets - A simple frock can look pretty special once you add a great clutch. I scored this one in Tokyo; it's vintage Italian leather and it's freaking gorgeous. When I pack, whatever clutch I'm taking doubles as storage for my bling - something shiny and cheery and not too precious. Your bling might be a beautiful brooch, a nice necklace, ome elegant earrings. My bling is always bracelets. Whilst I'm a big fan of the mix and match enamel bracelets from Kate Spade, my current favourites are stackable resin ones from Sly Pony.  

Neutral Summer Heels - I'm a certified shoe junkie, so it has taken years of heartache and intensive ridicule training from the husband to get the shoe side of packing right. You don't need fancy heels and daytime heels and shiny flats and boring flats and shoes for that dress and shoes for this dress. You do need one pair of heels that go with everything. Neutral leather strappy heels always work for me when I'm on a warm weather trip. 

Trench Coat - More stylish than the Go With Anything Jacket, a trench takes up minimal room in your case and pretty much works with everything. I adore this quirky polkadot one (another Tokyo find), but a classic light tan or plain black is also ace. 

Slightly Fancy Frock  - Casual enough to wear to brunch, but with heels, bright belt and clutch it looks lovely at dinner too. (Notice how almost all of these clothes do double or triple duty?). This frock is from the now defunct Kate Spade Saturday. RIP. And yes, it has pockets. Of course it has pockets.

Ribbon Belt - A wide grosgrain ribbon, tied in a little bow at the side or back, makes a super cute and/or elegant belt and takes up virtually no room in your case. They are the best travel thing ever! Pack three if you want! 

Swimsuit - For the hotel pool, of course. This one piece is from Jets, and it's a super flattering fit (like this one). 

Underwear - I pack my underwear in zip mesh bags from Muji. There's one for briefs, one for bras, one for socks and stockings. Keeps everything neat and tidy, especially if you're hopping from hotel to hotel. 

Sneakers - For those days when you know you're just going to walk and walk and walk. As a bonus if you pack them you can also pretend you'll use the hotel gym at some point during your holiday. Sure you will.

Jeans, Shorts, Belt - More basic, everyday stuff. One pair of my most favourite jeans ever, one pair of shorts and one more belt (this one works with jeans and looks cute with dresses too). 

Tees - Two tees, too easy. 

Then just add a few pairs of hard working shoes (flats, heels, flip flops - stop), minimal toiletries (more on that later) and a backpack with all your gadgets (laptop, camera, chargers) and you are good to go! Happy travels!

11 Things That Happen When You Get Home After Seven Weeks Away

1. The entire household, including the one that always gets up at 7 every single morning, sleeps past ten. And at night, when you ask "Shall we watch one more episode of QI before bed?" there's a resounding YES from everyone even though it's well past bedtime o'clock. 

2. You forget, completely, how to manage emails. You forget to constantly check them, you forget to reply to them, you forget to file them. You forget why you normally treat them with such importance. Which is wonderful (but fades fairly quickly upon re-entry, unfortunately). 

3. Similarly, your usual obsessive checking of Instagram drops to four times daily, rather than four times hourly. (On reflection this one probably says more about my Instagram addiction than anything else...).

4. It can take you a full hour, sometimes even two, to locate your charger and plug in your phone once the battery dies. 

5. Your productivity levels plummet. It seems impossible to fit anything other than a leisurely stroll in-between waking, lunch and dinner. You vaguely remember a time - say, the week before you left for your holiday - when you were the queen of getting things done. Not so much now.

6. You forget how to dress when you're not living out of a suitcase.* Faced with more than five dresses, a pair of shorts and two t-shirts to choose from you are frozen with indecision. And god help you if you've switched seasons. 

7. Related - you don't get quite as excited about clean underwear as you did when you were travelling. 

8. At least three times a day you ask yourself "Am I driving on the right side of the road?". And you have to check all the parked cars (and the oncoming traffic) to get the answer. 

9. You become one of those really annoying couples who say things like "The baguettes in Sydney really are terrible, not like the ones we got in that little French village of Seillans - remember?", and "What was the name of that stunning town in Italy where we ate the best meal of our lives?". You work anecdotes from your recent travels into every conversation, without even realising what you're doing. One minute your discussing the new 'security' legislation and the next you're talking about the tour you did of Lisbon...on a Segway.** 

10. You spend an entire week sorting mail and cleaning the house (so much dust!) and restocking the cupboards, and the whole time all you can think about are the photos you want to edit and the blog posts you want to write (and read! I've missed you all!). 

11. Even though the news tells you the world is going to s**t, everything around you seems relaxed and calm and fun, and kind of new again. 

*We only travel with carry-on! 

**True story (the Segway tour bit)! It was so much fun! 

Duck!

Right now I'm in Melbourne, soaking up the Autumn sunshine and enjoying the food/friend/family merry-go-round that is a visit home. On my way here last Friday I had short transit in hot and humid Hong Kong. Hong Kong is such a great city to transit in - baggage handling, immigration and transport is all so efficient that even with only a few hours you can squeeze in some fun stuff. 

I had seven hours between flights, so I trekked into Central and had a pedicure (as you do). And then set about hunting down the giant rubber duck. Most of you will have seen this big yellow guy about the internets, he's by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman and he's travelled about the world a bit.* 

I am a little obsessed with over-sized things, so I was pretty determined to see Mr Duck. And apparently I wasn't alone - if you're lucky enough to see the duck for yourself be prepared for a chaotic mess of people trying to have their photos taken with him. It was so busy and crowded. And hot. And sweaty. But, worth it. He's the happiest piece of art I've ever seen floating on a harbour!

If you're willing to brave the crowds the duck is just outside Harbour City in Kowloon. I think he's there for another week or so.

*Apparently the duck was in Sydney Harbour at one point and I knew nothing about it. Which made me think someone should event an app where you input your interests (say 'big things' or 'outdoor sculpture shows' or 'Japanese bluegrass music'), and the cities you frequent (Melbourne, Sydney, Hong Kong would be mine right now), and then you get sent alerts for events that might interest you. That would be ace, yes? 

*************

ps. Thank you for all the really lovely responses to my last post! It's always reassuring to hear I'm not alone in feeling such a mix of emotions... The good news is this visit home has got me super excited about the move again - hurrah! 

Oh and also - HAPPY BIRTHDAY TYKE! xox

Seoraksan : From Winter to Spring in Three Days

A few weeks ago a rather dear friend came to visit. This is a friend I've known for 30 odd years; we grew up in the same street and went to the same schools. The kind of friend who happily reminds you of the time you showed off your lyric-remembering-skills by reciting that bit from Madonna's Vogue. The kind of friend where you find yourself frequently saying 'oh gawd, do you remember when we were 12 years old and had matching 'Smoking NO WAY' t-shirts?'. The kind of friend that you know you'll know until you are both very, very old. It was pretty great having her in town. 

As part of her visit we went to my favourite-place-in-Korea-to-take-people-to (aka Seoraksan National Park) and it was as breathtakingly beautiful as ever (and now even has a rather hip coffee shop, with actual good coffee! It's housed in a newly built hanok and seems to be run by the local monks. Pretty great.). 

We stayed at the Seoraksan Tourist Hotel which is right inside the national park. Great for natural beauty, not so great for eating options, but I'd definitely recommend it for a night or two. It meant we could stroll through the park in the dark of night. Which was actually rather spooky, especially after I came face-to-face with (okay, several many metres away from) some kind of giant wart hog creature. 

We stayed for two nights and we did three walks - the easy stroll at the top of the gondola, a moderate stroll to the Yukdam and Biryeong waterfalls, and the rather more strenuous hike to Ulsanbawi, a 833 metre high granite crag. The Ulsanbawi walk starts of as a rocky tree lined path, weaving along streams and temples, and ends as a succession of crazy steep metal stair cases bolted to the side of the rock. Quite the work out, but worth it for the amazing, truly vertigo inducing views (you can see all the way to Sokcho on the eastern coast). Because it was mid-week the only other hikers where the fully kitted out Korean retirees - so friendly! And so fit; there's nothing quite like being over taken by a grey haired 60 year old to give you the motivation to get up that last set of stairs...

The day before we arrived there'd been a snow storm, so the ground was thick with (rapidly melting) white stuff. By the last day there was a warm spring breeze blowing, hardly any snow on the ground and green buds all around us. From Winter to Spring in three days!

Hong Kong : Through My (fancy new) Lens

Some shots from my recent Hong Kong trip, taken with my fancy new 35mm wide angle lens. I kind of bought this lens on whim - I just had an idea that I wanted a 35mm lens, but hadn't done much more research than that. I went for the new Canon f/2 lens with image stabilisation. 

After reading some online reviews it seems I probably paid too much for this when I should have just gone for Canon's basic 35mm lens...but! I haven't taken this lens off my camera since buying it so no regrets. 

I love the depth of field you can get with it - similar to the 50mm lens but without having to stand a long way away from your subject. There's little bit of 'light fall off' (basically, vignetting) at very low apertures too, which I actually really love. It's solid but light, quick to focus and is one of those lenses that's meant to closely reflect what the eye sees. A new favourite for me!

All of these images where taken just above Central on Hong Kong Island. I normally stay in the area when I visit, it's so full of life. The little streets are crammed with shops selling herbal tea, chinese medicine and all kinds of festive goods; there are wet markets full of fruit, flowers and tofu; and busy dai pai dongs (open-air food stalls). Plus you're only a step away from bars, cafes (including the delicious Mana!), and seriously good coffee (as good as you'll find in Melbourne, and that's a big call!). It's a perfect mix of old and new, slap-dash and mannered.

Japan : Disneyland and other mistakes...

We recently spent seven days in one of my most favourite countries to visit - Japan. We had a few days in Tokyo, and then we headed to Hakuba (near Nagano) for four days of fun in the snow. As great as the skiing was (and it was great), and as delicious as the food was (and it was delicious), and as fast as the Shinkansen was (and it was fast), this week in Japan was not our finest travel moment. 

I think we got a bit lazy because hey! we've been to Japan more than a handful of times, we know what we're doing. And it's only a two hour flight from Seoul, it's basically like going to Brisbane. And besides, our friends are organising most of the trip. So...we don't need to do any research or anything, right? As it turns out, wrong. 

Here's some of the mistakes we made: 

1. We planned our trip so that we had a few days in Tokyo before we went skiing. We forgot that all of Japan goes on holidays for the first few days of the new year. That's a lot of people going on holidays. It means a lot of restaurants and other things are shut, and it means that the places that are open are really, really, really busy (see point 2). If we had done some research we would have headed straight to the snow when we landed and had our time in Tokyo at the tail end of our trip. (For more information on Japan during the new year period head here.) 

2. We went to Tokyo Disneyland. Now the husband would say this was a mistake in itself, he is not a fan of the big rat, but that's another discussion for another day. The real mistake was that we went on January 4, and from the looks of it so did almost everyone else in Tokyo. We were smart enough to pre-buy our tickets online, but that didn't help much...

Inside there were incomprehensibly long queues - two and three hour waits for rides; 'fast passes' that meant you could reserve a place to get on a ride at 9pm (we were there at 11am). There were unbelievably lengthy queues for popcorn, toilets, soda. So even though it was fun to see the Disney fanatics all dressed up, and to marvel at the sheer mass of humanity and the way everyone was so patient and calm and happy, it was a bit disappointing especially for the under tens in our group. 

3. We didn't do a lot of research on how to get from Tokyo to Hakuba. Because we've done it before, we thought we knew what we were doing. I'd forgotten that was over five years ago, and that it was in the early days when we were travelling with the stepson's mum/husband's ex-wife and I have a feeling my head may have been focussed on things other than travel arrangements and local holidays and what-not. 

Anyway, we caught the Shinkansen to Nagano and nearly fainted at the cost of tickets (I'm not suggesting we could have got them cheaper, but at least if I'd used this site I would have been prepared for the cost!). And then when we arrived in Nagano we discovered the bus to Hakuba wasn't leaving for another hour, which meant we decided to cram four people and their ski gear in to one of those quaint Japanese taxis that I love so much (doilies!). We remembered that the ride last time wasn't too long or too expensive, but memory is rather faulty isn't it? 

4. We didn't research where to stay. Our hotel was actually pretty good - it was chosen by our friends who co-ordinated the whole trip with a bunch of other families (thank you!) - nestled amongst the trees it had decent-sized rooms, a nice bar/breakfast area and wasn't too far from the Happo One ski area. But...let's just say they were right in the midst of some um, 'management issues'. There was a strong whiff of Faulty Towers about the place. 

5. We didn't research where to eat. I've mentioned before that a large part of my reason for travelling is food. There is no shortage of deliciousness in Japan, but going in blind meant it took us a few nights to find our feet (ever tried to mime 'more breast, less gizzard' in a yakitori restaurant?). Once we got our bearings though - oh my! The food! We had three incredible Japanese meals in Hakuba (one here, and two nights in a row here) and the best pizza I've ever had in my life at...Haneda airport! Who would have thought? 

So, we messed up a bit. But even with these few hiccups it really was a good trip with fabulous skiing, fun company and beautiful sights. It reminded us what great snow really is (we'll be going back, for sure). And it reminded me that I need to get to Tokyo without husband and stepsons in tow, so I can spend a whole day immersed in Tokyu Hands and Itoya and all the other amazing retail spaces the city has to offer. So...I'm doing exactly that in a few weeks! Y to the AY! And I'll be doing a post on Tokyo tips when I return. Stay tuned!

The Southern Spain Trip : My Top Five

Well actually one of the five is in France. And one of the five is kind of in international waters. But enough explaining, let's get on with the post...* 

1. Segovia
That's Segovia up there - stunning huh? Segovia is about 45 minutes drive from Madrid (unless you miss the turn off, as we may or may not have done, and then it's 1.5 hours from Madrid...). When you're looking for somewhere close to Madrid to spend a night or two, everyone seems to recommend Toldeo. And I can sort of understand why - the place just oozes history and it has lots of lovely buildings. But it's also hot (really hot) and kind of a bit soulless in a strange way. We had planned to stay in Toledo for two nights on this trip, but after one night we packed our bags and took off to Segovia. 

Segovia really was stunning - a beautiful old town, complete with an amazingly intact Roman aqueduct, gorgeous cathedral and fairytale-esque castle. Plus it has good shopping and very lively tapas bars. It felt like a town where the locals lived their life, not just one where tourists came and gawked. 

We stayed in the Parador, which was a bit out of town but had a pool and a great restaurant, both with a view looking back over the town (see above photo at sunset - magic!). It also had some awesome 70s architecture - giant spaces filled with giant indoor plants, big concrete slabs, exposed brickwork - it looked just the way people in the 50s imagined how the future would look.

2. Dolphins off the coast of Malaga
We've been on a few big boats in the Mediterranean and we've never seen dolphins and it's always disappointed me (because really, how awesome are dolphins?). But the first night of our cruise as we were pulling out of Malaga and heading to Valencia, as the sun was setting and we were eating dinner, a constant parade of dolphins was passing by. Some on their own, some in groups of ten or twenty; some jumping and playing, some just swimming along in that graceful way they do. I didn't have my camera with me, but that's okay, because it was enough just to be able to watch them pass by.

3. Corsica
One of the stops on the boat we were both looking forward to (mainly because it was a new place) was the island of Corsica. Corsica was delightfully French (the food!), rather pretty and had a relaxed beachy feel. We wandered about, drooled a bit at the food market, and ate a tasty loooong lunch. And I wore one of my favourite vintage frocks (this one). It's a place I think we'd both like to visit again (and not just for the world's best worst photoshopped postcards ever).

4. The Alhambra, Granada 

After getting off the boat and picking up a hire car, we drove to Granada. Granada is a nice enough town, but what makes it worth a visit is the spectacular Calat Alhambra (Red Castle) and the stunning gardens (the Generalife) that surround it. The photos barely capture the loveliness of it all...

5. The Sunsets

*I've been watching a lot of Miranda lately. Have you watched it? You should, if you can find it. She is a very funny lady.

ps. More (many more) photos from the trip will be on my Flickr soon!