Visiting the Garden Isle: Packing!

Recently, Chris and I returned from the amazing opportunity of visiting the “Garden Isle” of Kauai, Hawaii!  We had a great time, and I’ll break everything down in an upcoming series of blogs.  However, for now, we’re still a little jet lagged, and the 8 million pictures we took (a rough estimate, but it doesn’t feel that far away from the truth) still need to be properly sorted.  Thus, instead of actual trip stories and pictures, here’s some information on what we packed and how well it worked out.  I know this might not be the most exciting thing in the world for most of my frequent readers, but when we were getting ready to go, I found the packing information I found on the interwebs to be super helpful, so I feel like paying that karma back.  Also, I really love organizing stuff, and it’s my blog.  Here we go!

A picture of us hiking the Na Pali Coast,

just to whet your appetite.

Okay, first off, we planned to do all sorts of things on the island.  Kauai has some amazing hiking, so we planned on some of that; we also planned to go on a sightseeing/snorkeling cruise one day, a luau another day, and in between, we wanted to find time to just lay on the beach and snooze.  Most of our meals would be casual, but we might have 1-2 moderately nice dinners as well.  Since we were flying Hawaiian Airlines, we’d be charged for luggage, so we wanted to pack as light as possible, and we aimed to have all of the stuff for both of us fit into one larger suitcase.  We’ve done this before (on our Ashley family reunion to the Scott Ranch a few years back), and it tends to work well, if we can make it happen.  We knew our room at the Westin Princeville Ocean Resort Villas would have a washer and dryer, so we could do laundry and only worry about packing half the clothes we’d actually need for our 6 day/5 night stay.  While we were in Kauai, the weather was pretty standard for Hawaii; it only drizzled rain on one day, and it was sunny and warm the rest of the time (nights dipped into the high 60s, and it was in the 70s-80s as a high each day).

First, and most important for a Hawaii vacation, we each packed two swimsuits/sets of board shorts:

Chris looked great in these throughout our stay.

While one each probably would have been fine, we had several days where we planned swimsuit-necessary activities back to back (beaching on Saturday to snorkeling on Sunday to beaching again on Monday); since the humidity in Hawaii is high, we figured the suits wouldn’t always dry in time for the next day, and there’s absolutely nothing worse than having to put on a cold, clammy bathing suit (other than maybe shopping for one, if you’re a lady).  We were really happy to have two each.

As far as clothes go, we each brought two pairs of regular shorts (again, following the wear the first ones one day and the second ones the next day, then rotate policy).  I ended up with three tank tops in my bag (well, two in my bag and one to wear on the plane), two that were casual and one that was a little bit nicer, and one nicer t-shirt.  Chris wore one t-shirt on the plane and packed four more.

My tanks/shirt/shorts

For both of us, this worked out pretty well.  I was initially afraid this might be overpacking on the tanks, what with the ability to do laundry and all, but I ended up wearing all of these items, and I’m glad I brought them.  Particularly on our second day they came in handy, as we rode the boat, then drove up to Waimea Canyon, and then had a slightly nicer dinner.  I think I went through a million outfits that day.

Although we figured we’d be in shorts most of the time, we also wanted to bring one pair of lighter pants each.  We wore both of our pairs on the plane (that plus shoes with socks plus a tank top plus a light sweater covers all bases for me), and we figured we might need them for hiking as well; while we didn't end up using them for this purpose, they were great on the plane, as that thing was freezing.  

Pants and skirt options

As you can see in the photo above, I also brought a navy blue and white striped maxi skirt and a casual, knee-length cotton dress.  The dress is SUPER comfy and fits well, and it can easily be dressed up or down, so I figured it was a good option for our slightly nicer dinners.  I went back and forth on the maxi skirt but ended up including it; I planned to pair it with one of the tanks and the lighter sweater for the luau (figuring it could get chilly as the night went on).  We also planned a sunset ride around a golf course in a golf cart one evening; since we’d be on the cliffsides of the course, it could be breezy, so the shorter dress was a no-go (we’re not having THAT kind of vacation, thank you!), and the maxi skirt plus tank was nice enough to work for our dinner that night, which we’d be heading straight to after the tour.  I actually didn't end up wearing the dress at all (the only item I didn't, for that matter), but the maxi skirt was worn several times.  For Chris’ part, his shirts were deemed nice enough to wear to the nicer dinners (some of the tee's didn't have prints), and he bought himself an aloha shirt while we were there to wear to our luau on the final night.  

As far as outerwear, I’d been obsessively checking the weather forecast for a few weeks before we left (because, of course), so I settled on just the light sweater mentioned above for the plane plus evenings out and a rain jacket with a hood in case things got inclement; I ended up wearing them both at different times throughout our journey.  Chris packed a gray hoodie for the plane and some disposable rain ponchos; the ponchos didn't get used, but the hoodie did (by me on the flight back - over my sweater - as I mentioned, I was freezing).

This post really might be the most

exciting one I’ve ever created.

Although we didn’t plan on running while we were there, we did have a few hikes planned, including a potential 8 mile round trip on the Napali Coast.  We also planned to do sunrise yoga one morning at the same golf course mentioned above (this didn't happen - more details in later blogs), and this outfit worked for all active adventures:

We’d need to pack in our own water on the hike,

hence the Nathan hydration pack on the left.

For shoes, we each went with three pairs: one pair of flip flops, one pair of old trail running shoes (worn on the plane to maximize luggage space), and one pair of nicer sandals/shoes for dinners.  Chris bought a new pair of Sanuk slip ons for this trip, and he really enjoyed them; my flippie floppies in this shot are Sanuks as well, and we’re both really becoming fans of the brand.

My shoes and the feet that will wear them

We also brought a whole host of other random stuff: bug spray and sunscreen of all sorts (face sunscreen, active spray sunscreen, lotion with sunblock in it, etc), hair and makeup products, an old twin sheet to make our beach blanket with two beach towels, two soft-sided coolers for packing up with picnic lunches to go complete with a bottle opener (yes, we know us, thank you), an umbrella, and a reusable grocery bag as Kauai has now banned the plastic ones.  Oh!  We also packed some dryer sheets and two little Tide pouches of detergent so we could do laundry, if needed.

Random other stuff to pack

In what I think is one of my most endearing travel-related habits (your mileage may vary), I made sure that many things I packed were on the older side and could be discarded, if need be.  One of my favorite things to do when I travel is take almost empty/falling apart things with me, so I can throw them away before I head home, freeing up room in my luggage for souvenirs and the like.  If I know a trip is coming up, I’ll figure out how many days we’ll be gone, and as I get to the end of something, I’ll stop using it at the optimal moment so I can pack it with just enough left for the trip. 

For example, my tub of hair product:

See how there’s only a little bit left?

Perfect!

On this trip, this applied to everything from eyeliner to beach towels to my casual flip flops (I’ve even done this with really old running shoes in both Scotland and Puerto Rico), but my absolute favorite thing to ditch on trips is underwear.  Eventually, all underwear is going to need to be thrown away, so why not take the pairs with the holes in the waistband or the frayed elastic or the scratchy tags, and then just toss them in the trash when you’re done with them?  I get that I’m contributing to the landfills in my destination, and that’s not good, but I’d be tossing the same things at home, so to me, it equals out.  Also, I fully expect some day to end up stranded on the back end of a trip for several days wearing nothing but the clothes on my back, but it hasn’t happened yet, so maybe I’ll reconsider once it actually does.  So far, the worst that has happened with this strategy was on a cruise one time, where the steward who cleaned our room found my old undies in the bathroom trash, fished them out, neatly folded them, and placed them on our dresser.  He got an extra tip for that one, and I learned to hide them better underneath other trash.

Later!

Amy