Packing for autumn in London

The plan for this trip was to travel hand luggage only on the flight to London, but put my case in the hold on the flight back. This was so I could add items of make-up that I planned to buy, plus presents of some skin-care products from my daughter, which obviously wouldn't be allowed in hand luggage. Did I also mention that I was planning to buy a couple of items of clothing, so I had a canvas bag for my hand luggage on the return flight to accommodate the extra items?

These were the clothes that I packed for my trip.

I wore the patterned trousers, a blue top and some casual black shoes for travelling from Spain, where it is still quite warm, and I carried a navy trench-coat to wear on arrival in London. The jacket was useful as an extra layer under my trench-coat on cooler days, though there were a couple of days when I ended up carrying the trench-coat as it was unseasonally warm (I'm not complaining!)

On the right of the above picture you can see four other tops plus a camisole and on the left there is a pair of grey trousers and my black jeans as well as the patterned trousers I wore to travel in.

Not shown in the photo above is the dress and pair of heels that I wore for a family night out: dining in Brasserie Zedel followed by a show in The Crazy Coqs starring the amazing Marilyn Maye. I also packed underwear, socks and nightwear, plus jewellery, a couple of scarves and black walking shoes. Needless to say an umbrella had also been packed, which was required on a couple of days.

These are my new purchases, which worked well with the clothes I took with me and which will also fit into my autumn/winter wardrobe. Those of you who have been following my blog for a while will know that I am gradually building a more cohesive, versatile wardrobe - especially when compared with the rainbow-hued assortment of clothes from two years ago. Next week I hope to work out my Autumn 33, which will involve me selecting 33 items of clothing to wear over the next 3 months, as part of Project 333.  I will have to be tough with myself and throw out at least four items to make way for my new purchases!

 

 

I had a bit of a scare on my return to Alicante airport: when I spotted my case on the conveyor belt, it was unzipped! I usually pack the smaller items - such as my camera, toiletries, underwear, shoes and scarves - in the bottom of the case and put my clothes in plastic carrier bags above them. I knew I had a bag containing trousers, another one with my dress in and two with the tops that I had worn. A quick glance confirmed that everything seemed to be there, but I still sat in the car worrying all the way home. Two days later and I am pretty confident that nothing went missing, but it does make me determined to fly hand luggage only in future!