How I Packed for Two Weeks in Europe With Only a Carry On

This was a feat unto itself.  I can be a serial overpacker when left to my own devices.  I will pack so many just in case items, they could probably fit into their own suitcases.  So when I first booked the trip to Europe I set out to only bring on a carry on and purchased the perfect carry on for myself.  I think having the right equipment helps immensely when packing.  I didn't want to waste time waiting for my luggage when I got to Europe.

So what did I pack...

Bottoms:

• 1 pair of jeans - True Religion
• 1 pair of black skinny pants - Citizens of Humanity
• 1 black maxi skirt - Nordstrom Rack
• 1 pair of Lululemon Inspire Crops - Lululemon
• 1 pair of khaki shorts - Hollister

Tops:

• Blue checkered button down - J.Crew
• Chambray shirt - Lauren Conrad
• Blue button down shirt - J.Crew
• Black sheer shirt - Marshalls
• White sequin tank - Kohls
• Gold sequin tank - Banana Republic
• Blue/white stripe tank - J.Crew
• Long Sleeve t-shirt - Lululemon
• Neon yellow tank - Aerie
• Gray tank - Aerie
• Black and white stripe tank - J.Crew
• Crochet tank - Kohls

Dresses:

• Black Maxi - Ella Moss
• Navy and white striped floral dress - French Connection

Outerwear:

• Navy Safari Jacket - J.Crew
• Black Blazer - The Limited

Shoes:

• Flip Flops - Rainbow
• Black flats - Tory Burch
• Metallic sandals - Michael Kors
• Glitter sandals - Anthropologie

Bags:

• Louis Vuitton Neverfull XL
• Longchamp expandable pliage bag
• Tory Burch Amanda Logo clutch
• Chanel Quilted Chain bag

Miscellaneous

• 10 pairs of panties
• 1 strapless bra
• 3 bras
• Toiletries
• Plug adapters
• One long necklace - J.Crew
• One bib necklace - Forever 21
• Studs - Kate Spade
• Faux diamond bracelet - Nadri
• Gemstone bracelet - Swarovski

So was everything worth taking aka what would I have left behind?

The Michael Kors heels - we walked so much that my feet were perpetually tired since day 1.  I wore them once and only for dinner.  I think that was the only item.  I wore everything at least once with the exception of the striped dress, but if the weather had been warmer in Paris, I think I would have worn that instead.  I ended up washing undies for the hubster and myself and two pairs of pants each.  I sometimes wore two outfits in one day, but I think that is fine for going out to dinner.  I didn't wear much of the jewelry, but since it didn't take up that much space, I wasn't too concerned.

I am so impressed with myself.  Didn't think it was possible and didn't think I would be content with my outfits.  If you noticed, there was a lot of neutrals in my pieces (navy, black, and white dominated my suitcase).  That was definitely key - the ability to mix and match bottoms.

It helped that the two items of clothing I did buy on the trip also fit into the wardrobe palette.

What I wish I had brought:

Socks - My feet were cold.

Boots - I know I bought some, but that was at the end of the trip. I just wish I had better shoes when it rained.  What I wouldn't have given for my Uggs.
Sweater - Also, something I ended up buying, but I wish I had one more long sleeve top.
My laptop - the hubster brought his, but I would have liked to be able to download all the pictures onto my own laptop.  We had a slight crisis when I accidentally moved my iphone pictures to his laptop and then couldn't get them back onto my phone until I had my laptop.  My Macbook is heavy and I would probably regret bringing it eventually, but I want the convenience.  The only hiccup would b convince the hubster not to bring his laptop!

What I'm glad I didn't bring aka what didn't make the cut and didn't end up needing:

Hair dryer - didn't need it, all the hotels had one
Flat iron - I rarely use it at home and wouldn't have used on vacation
More shoes - even thought I wanted to bring boots, there just wasn't room.  I guess I could have worn them on the flight, but I still would have had to pack/wear them on travel days.
More bags - the 4 I brought were versatile enough

Looking at these lists, it looks like a lot of stuff.  How did it fit in my little roller bag?  Packing cubes!  No joke.  I will always use these when trying to maximize items I want to pack.

And that's it.  I think I almost packed the perfect bag for a long vacation and now that I bought a Longchamp expandable duffle, I have the perfect long weekend bag which means I can pack the prfect bag.

Portioning

Portioning in Europe is all over the place.  In some aspects, it's similar to the US; in others, completely different.

For example, food portions.  The hubster was adamant that Europeans serve smaller portions.  I felt that I did not finish my plate at any dinner meal, so it was similar to US sizes.  If they were smaller, it was not noticable to me.

However, on the other hand, aside from fast food places, drinks are much smaller.  Soda comes in 33 cl cans or 50 cl bottles.  Both are significantly smaller than their American counterparts.  Water also comes in smaller servings.  Same with coffee.  I didn't drink that much soda in Europe, so the smaller sizes didn't affect me and we kept enough water bottles from the airplane to keep us well hydrated with water.  The coffee sizing did surprise me, but I actually prefer the smaller size.

I had noticed when at home I would brew a cup of coffee with the Keurig, but never finish.  It never occurred to me that it was too much coffee.  I think in my mind I was only concerned with maximizing the amount of coffee I got out of each Keurig cup.  Those things are not cheap.  I much prefer the smaller portion with stronger coffee.

I also thought the cups and saucers that the Europeans serve coffee in were adorable.  So much so that I sought out to buy my own small set.  I went out on my own one rainy day to a small shop recommended by many bloggers and bought a set of porcelain cups and saucers made in France.  I will make me think of my trip every time I drink out of it and relive those moments on the train, in the cafe, after dinner, drinking my small cup of cafe au lait, cappucino, or espresso.

Deceiving!

I thought I was being good by having a sandwich for dinner tonight.  A caprese sandwich on wheat with lettuce, spinach, tomato, red onion, pickle, mushroom, black olives, cucumber, dried cranberries, and candied walnuts.  No, turned out to be an 800 calorie sandwich. Good thing I didn't eat all of it or all of the walnuts.

I knew bread had a lot of calories, but 400!  Four hundred!

*sigh*

Pumpkin Spice

I don't get it.  What's with all the love for pumpkin spiced drinks?  It's everywhere.  There is caramel pumpkin latte scented soap in the bathroom at work.  I don't even think it smells that distinctive.  It just is.  And if it's so blah, then it can't be as amazing as everyone makes it sound.

Preparation for International Travel

If you know me, then you know I like to do research and buy the "necessary" items in every endeavor I partake.  So once I knew we'd be going to Europe I started doing research.  I read every "Mistakes not to make", "What to pack", pretty much everything related to traveling to Europe.  One of the first purchases I made was a new hard side suitcase.  After reading many reviews, I settled on the Samsonite Winfield 2 20" spinner.

I was able to use it a few times before Europe, so I knew how much it could carry.  I really like it.  It fits in all overhead bins easily which wasn't the case with my other rollerboard.  That one barely fit and had to be shoved in.  It was just too deep.  This was perfect for Europe though rollerboard over cobble streets wasn't fun for any bag.

The next thing I bought were packing cubes.  Now if you had asked me prior to this trip about the benefits of packing cubes, I would have laughed.  How could they possibly help with packing?  But they do help.  I've tested it.  You can pack in more clothes using these cubes than without.  I think its because it compresses the contents, you can fit just a little bit more.

In my suitcase, I used the large cube for ALL of my clothes and the small cube for undergarments.  The medium cube was used for the hubster's undergarments.  I used them a few times prior to Europe and they worked like a charm each time.  Highly recommend.  I almost bought another set for the hubster, but opted not to.  I may consider in the future for another trip.

Right after I booked the flights, I went to library and checked out a ton of travel guides for various places we were remotely interested in visiting.  It was a silly thing to do.  Who could read through 5-6 travel guides?  I ended up returning them after a week.  Didn't read a single one.  As the departure date came closer, I finally decided to look at the guides again.  Since we were spending the majority of time in Paris, I got the Rick Steve's version.

Everything in the book could be found online, but it was convenient to have it in one place.  The quick reference charts were most helpful especially with costs of sites, French phrases, maps, and walking tours.  I think I carried it once while in Paris, but we did look at it lot while in the hotel rooms.

Next on the list was tech gadgets.  Of course, we would need travel adapters and one blog recommended this Belkin 3 outlet swivel plug with surge protector.  With all the gadgets, we would have this would useful and would cut down on the need for multiple adapters.  American hotel rooms are notorious for the lack of wall plugs, so I think this was a wise investment.  Turns out it was really needed because the hotels we stayed at had a plethora of outlets.  It was still useful to be able to charge multiple items by the bedside and have them at arm's length.

If you look on Amazon, there are a million travel adapters for a wide spectrum of prices.  I happen to find mine while shopping at Nordstrom Rack.  I liked that they were light weight and universal (different combinations for different outlets around the world).  The Kikkerland universal travel adapter was a bit on the pricier side, but they served their purpose and I don't regret spending the extra money.

I did have to keep the casing with me to remember which combination worked for which continents.  How long that piece of cardboard will survive is beyond me.

The next purchase is by far the best one I made and totally last minute.  It was a mini tripod for a digital camera.  We bought ours off ebay and picked the cheapest one with the quickest shipping time since we ordered it a week out from departure.  It made it with plenty of time.  Since I was so paranoid about pickpockets, I was even more paranoid about someone running off with our camera if we asked them to take out picture.  Even with this, someone could just walk up to it and grab it.

Without this little guy, the hubster and I would not have had any pictures of us together if you don't count selfies.  And if you've seen my pictures on Facebook, the ones we have of us together are pretty amazing.

Another last minute purchase was a front pocket wallet for the hubster.  I stopped off at Kohl's to use some Kohl's cash I had from the previous week.

Front Pocket Wallet

The last item purchased for this trip was a travel wallet.  I could have opted to just carry everything around in a manilla envelope, but I kinda fell in love with the idea of a travel wallet.  The one I really wanted was $500, so I got this one on super sale from Crate and Barrel.  80% off!!!  SCORE!

This thing was stuffed when we left.  I had printed out hotel confirmations, train tickets, airplane information, maps to the hotels, copies of our passports, and other important documents.  It served its purpose and I would use it again for all future trips.

It seems like I bought a lot to prepare for this trip.  A lot of them were one time purchases and now that I have the travel bug, will use every time I travel internationally.  Now just to get the cost per use down...

Day 14: All Good Things Must Come To An End

And so we wrap up our European Anniversary vacation.

We had an 11 am flight and we wanted to get there with plenty of time since we absolutely did not want to miss our flight.  We also had to allot time to process our paperwork for our Global Tax refund.  So we got to bed early and woke up with plenty of time so we didn't miss our train ;)

We checked out and walked to the metro station.  We actually took the metro one stop over to the central station to buy our ticket to the airport.  We could have walked, but since we had a HUGE duffel in addition to what we originally bought, we figured it be safer on our backs to take the metro than walk.  Buying our tickets was easy, but figuring out which train to take was the hard part.  It's not abundantly clear which train is coming in and where it takes you.  We had to ask a nice man which one to go on.  Apparently, the train we wanted was also running late, so if he didn't keep updating us on the status, who knows where we would have ended up.

The train showed up ad we got on.  A short ride later and we were at the airport.  We spent a couple minutes finding the customs office to get our stamps.  The line wasn't too long because not a lot of people do the Global Tax it seems.  It took a while because we were behind a huge family of Asians who bought so much Gucci and Prada my head was spinning.  We finally got our stamps and then we went to check in.  That was pretty painless and like any other airport check in.

We had our boarding passes in hand and went through border patrol and were home free in the terminal.  We mailed off the Global Tax forms and checked out our gate.  We then proceeded to the lounge, of course.  We had plenty of time to kill, so we ate some breakfast of free coffee, croissant, pain au chocolat, orange juice, and yogurt.

An hour before departure, we went down to the gate.  Our flight was delayed an hour.  We picked up some last minute souvenirs and then went back up to the lounge.  We were a little concerned that we would miss our connections since we have to go through customs once we landed in Atlanta.  We had a 3 hour layover.

We finally boarded our flight and settled in the for the long flight ahead.  It was just like the flight out except in reverse order.  Instead of dinner and breakfast, we got lunch and dinner.  No pictures of the meal, but I had a shrimp salad for the second meal and can't remember what was for the first.  Oh well.  I didn't sleep as much as the first flight since it was 12 pm by the time we were air born.  We landed in Atlanta with two hours until our next flight.  We rushed off the plane, went through border control, picked up our bags, went through customs, dropped off our bags, went through security with plenty of time to spare.

Of course, we went to lounge for some snacks and drinks before our flight.  We finally got onto our last flight and were headed home.  We landed in Columbus, picked up the rental car and were on our way home!

We were so tired, we didn't even get dinner.  I started to unpack and I think I even did a load of laundry.  I had a full day of house packing to do the next day.  I wouldn't get any rest until the day after I returned to San Diego.

So that was our European vacation.  It was amazing and we learned a lot about each other and ourselves.  I would love to do another international trip soon.  Just a matter of saving up vacation, money, and miles!

Day 13: It's too soon...

to say au revoir to Paris.  This was our last day in Paris.  We had a late afternoon train back to Brussels.  So we did what we did on any other travel day.  We slept in and checked out late.  We had pretty much covered everything we wanted to do and this last day was to a catch-all for the missed things.  In reality, I think we covered much more than I had originally planned.  So for today our first stop was the Galerie Lafayette aka shopping heaven.

It was a 5 minute walk to this store and it's well known for it's amazing dome which was really quite breathtaking.

As you can see from the last picture, it's also known for housing every brand known to man.  Full on mini stores of every big name designer: Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Prada, Hermes, Cartier, everything you can think of and they carried a lot of merchandise.  The Galerie actually has two buildings one for men and one for women.  We only stayed in the women's because the hubster was tired of shopping.  The fabulous thing about this place is it's on stop shopping, but all purchases made could be counted towards the global tax refund.

I ended up purchasing some amazing motorcycle boots from the french brand, Mellow Yellow.  The leather was luxurious and I love them.  I also bought Shu Uermura eyeliner.  I love this stuff and they stopped selling it at Nordstrom.  Figured I might as well and then a chunky silver ring to get me to the refund level.

My boots

Once we finished shopping and filing the paperwork for our refund, I remembered that I wanted some boba since we saw some people drinking it the night before.  We walked over to the shop and I got my French boba.  It was pretty much the same as on Convoy St here in San Diego, but way more expensive!!  It was the experience!

BOBA!

Yum!

We still had some time to kill, so I suggested that we go to where it all started and see the Eiffel Tower during the day.  We hopped on the metro and headed towards the tower.

We took a different route for a reason I can't remember and we past these picturesque buildings.  I would totally live here if the opportunity came up.

It was easier to take pictures when it's not dark out.

My FAVORITE picture of the entire trip.  LOVE

We were getting cold and tired, so we decided to hightail it back to the hotel and just hang out in the lobby until it was time to go.  We thought we could exit the park at the end, but there was a race being set up and the end of the park was blocked off!  So many extra unneeded steps, but we were rewarded with this wonderful picture.  A man taking a woman's picture where it looks like they are trying to have the Eiffel Tower penetrate the women.  CLASSY!

I actually think this was the second pose.  She adjusted herself because I think looking over this shoulder would get her good side...

We used one of our last remaining metro tickets to get back to the hotel.  The hubster promptly relaxed on a couch in the lobby while I packed away today's purchases and printed out our tickets for our flight home.

We rested up, then gathered up our things and headed to Gare du Nord, retracing our steps from 5 days ago.  We arrived with plenty of time and we hung out in the station eating pain au chocolat.  The train ride was uneventful and we rode second class this one and only time.  The first class experience is definitely better, but not worth the price difference for this particular journey.  When purchasing tickets for the other train rides, the price difference between first and second class was a few euro, but not the case for this ride.  I think we bought this one a little later than the others which we bought at the 6 month mark.

We arrived in Brussels at the Midi station.  Since we had already been to this station, we knew where we were going.  We took the metro to La Brockere which was the station we had used previously and walked to our hotel.  It was easier to find than the original hotel since we had our bearings, but the hotel was under construction and we almost missed it.  Once we checked in and had a chance to catch our breath, we went out looking for chocolate since we didn't buy any on our first visit.

The original shop we wanted to purchase from was closed, so we went to the only one that was open.  I guess that's the different between Wednesday night shopping and Friday/Saturday night shopping.  We slowly realized that our €30 would buy us a lot of chocolate.  The original plan was to send the last of our Euros buying chocolate, but I forgot to calculate the €15 we'd need for our train tickets to the airport.  We ended up with a small box for me and 5 bars for gifts.

Once we spent the last of our Euros, we went searching for dinner.  We walked down that same row of restaurants and we picked one that looked busy.  This was our biggest mistake of the trip and I hate how we ended our last night in Europe.  It was a terrible experience.  We had the worst service ever and we had grown accustomed to the lack of service in Europe, but this was far and beyond terrible.  We definitely fell into a tourist trap.  The food was terrible and it took forever.  I think because we asked about the advertised prix fixe menu that we got shitty service.  Even though the food sucked, it made for good pictures.  

The hubster ordered salmon and I ordered a seafood tower that looked amazing everywhere we walked by, but really didn't live up to my expectations.  The end of our meal was the shittiest waffle we've ever had.  To tope off the shitty meal, the fucking waiter had the balls to ask how much gratuity to add even though service should be included with the price of the meal.  He stood there over the hubster until he wrote in the amount.  What a jackass.  It almost makes me never want to come back to Brussels.  What a shame!

At least the Grand Place looked exceptional at night all lit up.

We returned back to the hotel to shower and finish up our packing.  We had a long flight the next morning.

First Columbus Day off!

Woohoo!  This was a 4 day weekend for me accidentally.  I took Friday off to celebrate Kristina's birthday at Glen Ivy hot springs which was AMAZING!  I didn't find out about Columbus day until the week of.

So what did I do on my last day off?  I went shopping of course.  My poor, poor wallet again.

What did I take home?

1 yoga top - $5
2 yoga pants - $8 x 2
Victoria's secret panties - FREE
Yoga towel - $38 this might get returned
1 Dress - $14
1 Chargers shirt - $13

My new yoga mat came in the mail today, but that was an expense from last week.

Day 12: Welcoming Fall at Versaille

On the advice of our friendly Dutch tour guide, we signed up for a bike tour of Versailles.  We chose Bike about Paris.  We woke up bright and early and headed to Charlemagne's statue by Notre Dame.  We met up with the tour guides and the others who signed up.  It was a pretty good sized group which they split into two smaller groups.  The tour included our train fare to Versailles.  We got out tickets and walked to the station.  After a short train ride, we were at Versailles.  The one good thing which we later learned is that we took the commuter train and not the normal tourist train.  I couldn't tell so I'll take their word.

It was a little early for the hubster.  I had to stay awake so we wouldn't get left behind.

Once we got off the train, we exited the station and got our bikes.  Someone from the company was already there, so the bikes were all set up.  I also got to use a public pay restroom for the first time.  These restrooms are sterilized in between customers!  It was a little weird at first, but at least it was clean.  Everyone was getting situated with their bikes and that's when the cold hit us.  Holy shit, we were not prepared for the drop in temperature that came with the rain.  Poor hubster only had a t-shirt and his thin jacket.

Brrrrr.  He borrowed my black scarf.

I had on a long sleeve shirt, scarf, and a jacket, but was also still freezing.

But in good spirits

I'm getting good at selfies on a bike

The French are not as hospitable to bikers like the Dutch

At our first stoplight

Cold won't stop me

Our first stop was in front of the chateau where we got a little history lesson on Versailles.  Since the hubster answered the tour guides question correctly, he got to play King Louis IVX.

The Sun King!

We then hopped on our bikes and headed to the market to pick up lunch!  We got a mini tour of the market and suggestions for good picks.  We had an hour to shop.  For €20, we got a whole small chicken, a fresh baguette (which didn't make it out of the store whole), oodles of cheese, fresh strawberries, ham, water, and a banana and nutella crepe.  Everything looked so good and I wanted to eat lunch there and then.

Once we all finished shopping for lunch, we got back onto our bikes and went through the Queen's gate to visit the gardens.  We saw a good portion of the grounds including the canals.  It was starting to warm up, but only when the sun was out from behind the clouds.

Canals

Ta-da

Thanks, Sun King

Fountain

Tall hedges

Cheese!

Fountain show

There was only one fountain on during our visit and we got to watch it.  The grounds are so large that if we weren't on this tour, I don't think we would have known which fountain to visit.  It was quite an elaborate show, but I think Bellagio is better, but probably due to the size.  After the show, we visited another area of the garden which was a large courtyard make of pink marble.  Supposedly pink marble is super pricey, but I think it's kinda ugly.  They can keep it!

After watching the water fountain show, we got back onto out bikes and headed over to Le Petit Trianon and Marie Antoinette's hamlet.  This was by far one of my favorite parts of the tour.  I would totally have made myself a fake village if I had the means.  It was really cute.

Petit Trianon

Temple on the path to the hamlet

View of the light house from across the "lake"

View of the hamlet from the entrance

One of the structures in the hamlet

Mill

In front of "my" hamlet abode

Brrrrr

Another view of the lighthouse

The hubster and his abode, of course, he picks the one with the fancy stairs

Each house had a garden which the gardeners actually tend to and eat from

Roof detail

Me on the bridge

So many pictures of the light house, I must have really liked it

More pictures of me and flowers, the hubster's favorite way to frame a picture

Tunnel!  Seriously what is not to love about this place?

More gardens

Hubster and me in the tunnel

Pumpkins

Another view of the hamlet

Our next stop, Grand Trianon

The hubster and I biking on the grounds on the way to the picnic lunch

Our delicious finds from the market - chicken, cheese, baguette, water, strawberries, ham

See how excited is, also not the piece missing from the baguette!

Enjoying out lunch.  The sun finally came out warmed us up a bit, but it didn't last long.

Walking up to the Chateau

One of the first rooms

View of the garden from inside the Chateau

Brrrr... really wished this was lit while we were there.

Hall of mirrors - Beautiful if crowded!

Me and all these mirrors

The hubster taking a selfie in the hall of mirrors

Me again

Selfies!

My selfie in the hall of mirrors

Apparently, they choose an artist to have an exhibition on the grounds.  This was the one inside the Chateau, a room filled with leaves...  The hubster is hypnotized!

Outside heading towards the gardens again

Garden view from the Chateau

Look how immense the grounds are.  See how far the canals go...

You can even rent canoes to row around in those!

Blue Steel

We finished up walking the grounds and we met up with the rest of the tour group.  We rode back to the station to return the bikes and catch our train back into Paris.

Bike ride back and more selfies

Lots more, never really gets old until I eat it on a bike

We arrived back at Notre Dame where we started and we had one more thing to take care of - the LOVE lock bridge!  We had forgotten the lock when we came here the other day, so I made sure to remember the lock today.  We walked over to bridge and locked our love in place!

Look at all those locks!

Where we can find space for our unique love lock?

Oh, there's a spot.

Love LOCKED!

The only bad thing about is that you're supposed to toss the key into the river like the one in Cologne.  We felt bad littering and since I had tossed the one in Cologne, the hubster had to do it here.  We tried to do it secretly.

View of Notre Dame from the bridge

We got some recommendation for dinner from the tour guide, so we didn't have to do anything when we got back to the hotel.  I really wanted some French onion soup (do you call it French onion soup in France? Like waffles in Belgium?)

The hubster and I at our last dinner in Paris.  I finally ordered some wine!

Escargot for me, pepperoni for him

Duck breast for me, cheeseburger for him

Wine soaked pear for me, ice cream sundae for him

Can you tell that the hubster was yearning for some American food and I wasn't done with French cuisine?   Dinner was tasty and the service was very good.  It was a perfect dinner for our last night.  We finished pretty late and went back to the hotel.  I still needed to pack.  It was a wonderful day even though we froze our asses off.