less minimalist

Seen on our first night in San Antonio. Alas, we did not buy any hats.

For all that I talk about packing as little as I possibly can for travel, sometimes, our itinerary requires additional clothes or items. For example, our snorkels and masks for Bali and Hawaii. Or hiking boots and gear for last year’s trip to Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming.

More recently, we needed to pack carefully for our trip a few weeks ago. We attended a family wedding in San Antonio, which meant upgrading some of our clothes. Luckily, the wedding was not formal.¹ Then, after the long weekend in Texas, my husband and I went to Mexico City for several days and it was 20 degrees (Fahrenheit) cooler there.

As usual, we only briefly considered checking a bag or two before deciding that this was a challenge we would accept and win. We both carried our usual backpacks: eBags Mother Lode Jr., both approximately 40 liters.²

I did it, thanks to merino wool knit fabrics. Here’s the list:

• wedding outfit: 1 merino knit faux-wrap dress, shoes, and assorted accessories

• other outfits: 2 casual wool dresses, 2 wool shirts, 2 wool bottoms, 1 lightweight linen jacket, 1 thin wool cardigan, 2 pairs of sneakers

• assorted undergarments, accessories, 1 raincoat, 1 sun hat, 1 compact umbrella

• not too much extra stuff, including no laptop or tablet

I wore no layers while in SATX, then layered as needed in CDMX.

My backpack was delightfully lightweight despite the extra outfit and shoes and I even had room to spare, which is good, since I brought home a pile of good Mexican chocolate.

As for my husband, the wedding was not formal or even semi-formal, plus the ceremony was held outside in a hotel courtyard, so he didn’t need a sports coat or tie. He wore a dress shirt and nice trousers to the wedding and looked perfectly appropriate.³ The extra items didn’t add too much bulk to his backpack either.

We did well. Certainly much better than the time almost 30 years ago when we went to a wedding in Estonia and overpacked horribly. Or even two years ago when we drove to Asheville for a wedding and I just tossed bags into the car willy-nilly.

1. The temperature at the start of the ceremony at 4 pm was 94F. But it’s a dry heat, y’all.

2. I regret to inform you all that this bestselling backpack is no longer available for purchase. Some years ago, eBags was bought by Samsonite and earlier this year, the company discontinued the Mother Lode series.

3. One nephew had tried to make the argument that since his uncle would probably be wearing shorts to the wedding, then surely he too could do the same. He was disappointed to learn that said uncle does actually wear long trousers when required.