Our next trip is for Philip and my 5th Anniversary. We’ve been married for 5 years?! I still can’t believe it. So to celebrate our anniversary we decided to take a trip to Alaska. Philip has never been and I haven’t been since I was about 12. But since we got Covid married, we decided to invite everyone we couldn’t invite for our actual wedding.*
So now we’ve got all our friends and family joining us, but we still need to pack. We leave in about two weeks, and we’re spending some time in Seattle to meet up with a cousin before we head to Vancouver. While it’ll be great to see our Seattle cousins, it makes our packing list is a little bit complicated. Between Seattle, Vancouver, and the Inside Passage (while on a cruise ship), we’ve basically got about three separate climates we need to pack for.
For starters, Seattle – Seattle is pretty darn similar weather-wise to Boston, which makes it a little bit easier for us. Basically, we can get away with the same thing we would wear here. We plan on doing things like MoPop and the Space Needle and all of those types of touristy things. Most of those things are indoors and probably heavily air conditioned, meaning an extra layer. From there, we head up to Vancouver, which will be a little bit cooler and then with the equivalent of fall in New England. When we get up to Alaska will be lucky if it hits 60°F.
I am always a heavy packer; it’s a problem. I’m the person with the gigantic suitcase, the carry-on suitcase, and a personal item. The exception to the rule is when I’m traveling for my stats job. Business professional outfits are pretty simple, so I can get by with packing just a laptop bag and a carry-on.
Basically, this is one of my “do as I say, not as I do” situations. For a client taking this 10-day trip, I’d recommend packing 7 days of light layers. Things they can mix and match, things they can take off but are thin enough to throw around a waist or shove in a day pack. One or two nicer outfits for the main dining room’s dress to impress nights. But for me? I’m a slob who spills things and is incapable of only packing the bare minimum. (As I write this, I’m somehow covered in homemade chicken tikka marsala sauce…)
The Seattle and Vancouver segments are pretty much just clothes – we’ll be at hotels that provide basics if needed, but unless you stay in a suite-level stateroom on Royal Caribbean, you are only provided with a 3-in-1 shower wash. I’m pretty lax with my hair care, but even I draw the line there and plan on packing some shampoo! I have become a big fan of bar shampoo.
So let’s get down to brass tacks. Here’s my packing list for this upcoming trip:
My personal item:
* Wallet with cash for tips, credit cards, ID, Global Entry card, Passport card
* Passport
* Kindle preloaded with all the books I could possibly need (book recs are coming in another post!)
* Laptop
* Headphones of some sort
* Camera
* Phone
* Printouts of ALL of my travel documents (I know they’re all digital, but things happen)
* Backup battery
* Medications
* Water bottle
My carry-on suitcase:
* Basic toiletries – toothbrush/toothpaste
* A small tube of sunblock
* A change of clothes
* A pair of flip-flops (because I can wear flip-flops in any weather)
* Chargers
* Sunglasses
* First aid kit (including pain relief, seasickness relief, band-aids, etc)
* Light raincoat
My big suitcase:
* 10 outfits, mostly tech long sleeve shirts and hiking pants
* Underwear/socks/etc for 10 days
* 1 nice outfit (including nice shoes)
* 1 swimsuit/Turkish towel
* Pajamas
* Makeup
* Other toiletries – shampoo/conditioner, deodorant, lotion, etc
* Lanyard for cruise card (I’ve recently switched to a mag-safe phone wallet)
* Backup sunglasses
* Magnets for cruise door
* Hiking boots (and maybe poles)
* Cheap gloves
* Spare shoes
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