Choosing Travel Clothes for Your Vacation
Taking a break from life is an important part of staying productive, but if you don’t wear the right travel clothes on your big get-away, discomfort and frustration might take all of the joy out of your vacation.
If you’re like me and you have a hard time finding clothes that are of good quality, comfortable, and priced within your budget, it’s too much pressure to do any last minute shopping right before a trip. If you find it difficult to find clothing that fits and you often need to have new clothes altered, be sure to purchase any clothing for your trip well ahead so that you have time for any alterations. If you know ahead of time what types of travel clothes you need, you can be on the lookout and grab what you want when you happen upon it.
Here are some thoughts to take into consideration when you want to purchase travel clothes.
Wicking or Quick-Dry Clothing:
If you plan to travel with just carry-on luggage, it will be helpful to have at least a few shirts and possibly a pair of shorts or pants made from this material. You can do a quick wash overnight, and your clothes will be dry in the morning. Or if it rains, you’ll dry out much more quickly.
Specialty Clothing:
Did you know that there’s clothing with UV protection and bug protection? If you’re into non-chemical, organic products, I don’t know if these items are for you. But if you are sensitive to the sun and/or bug bites, you should consider looking into these specialty clothes.
What kind of weather will be expected? Will you need snow gear? There are now insulated fabrics for all parts of your body and don’t take up a lot of packing space. Will you need rain gear? Or will a simple poncho or wide-brimmed hat do?
If you’re packing for a business or formal event and want to stick to carry-on only, consider packing clothes that can serve dual purposes. For instance, when I had to present a keynote and workshop over two days at a conference in London, I packed black slacks that could pass for suit pants, as well as a black skirt, both of which could be worn at other times during the “holiday” portion of the same ten-day trip. I wore the same black blazer on both presentation days. My blouses were dressier but made of quick-drying material, so I wore those multiple times during the trip. Except for the blazer, my “professional clothes” doubled as vacation clothes during other parts of the trip.
Shawl
If you will visit a mosque, you must be covered from head to toe. Placing a shawl over your head will meet the requirements. To save packing space, the shawl can double as a cover up for the evening. If you plan to visit a cathedral, your shoulders and legs to the knees must be covered. I carry a long-sleeve cotton shirt or light cardigan to put over my summer top and wrap the shawl around my waist if I’m wearing shorts that day. Your shawl can also be used as a blanket on the plane if you don’t want to carry a travel blanket with you.
Wide-Brimmed Hat
Since most of our travel is during the summer – and I don’t want any more freckles or wrinkles – I pack a crushable wide-brimmed hat. It smooshes nicely into my backpack or, if necessary, inside the waistband of the back of my pants. It’s also water repellent, so between my hat and my water repellent jacket and shoes, I’m good to go in the rain and don’t need to carry an umbrella.
Where Can Travel Clothes Be Purchased?
You don’t need to go to a specialty store in order to buy clothing that will be worn only on trips. You can easily make purchases at the stores where you normally shop. But if you want to look into clothes that were designed specifically for travel, here are a few specialty retailers:
Active Choices
Fashionable Choices
You can also breeze through these articles on travel clothing for ideas:
Best travel clothes according to Business Insider
Huffington Post’s employees’ favorite travel clothes
If you’re scratching your head and wondering, “Why all of these travel-related blogs in a time management blog?”, the answer is simple. Getting away from it all allows our bodies and brains to take a break. Going on a vacation – no matter how long and no matter where – will do wonders for your productivity. But sometimes properly planning for the type of vacation that lowers your stress levels (and doesn’t add to it) can take a lot of time. To save you time and stress, I’m sharing my travel tips with you.
Since my job is time management, I would be neglecting my duties if I didn’t remind you that you could spend dozens of hours combing through websites to look for the perfect travel clothes. Be sure to set a timer so that you don’t get behind on everything else you need to do because you were shopping!