How To Pack For A Long Trip

What I’m Packing For Two Months In Spain

Packing for two months has a different dynamic than packing for a week or two. There is the unknown factor; what will I be doing for two months, which in turn dictates what the hell will I be wearing? There is also the season change baked in; arriving in April and leaving in June goes from spring to summer.

My first inclination was to panic pack, bring everything I’ve worn for spring/summer in the last two years. Bad idea. I also experienced the compulsion to buy a bunch of new stuff, some worked out, more did not, and now time has run out.

The first month will be spent in Jávea, a seaside town in the Costa Blanca area of Spain, about an hour south of Valencia. In my post on packing for a one-week trip to Florida in February, you may recall rule # 1: check the local weather. Which right now is mid-50s to high 60s. Kind of what we should be experiencing in New York. This is good, it’s still spring weather, so I’m not jumping right into summer, which I don’t feel like I have a handle on just yet.

The second month with still be on the Costa Blanca but in another villa in the port town of Dénia. Then we’ll be getting some true summer weather. Just knowing this quelled my panic about packing a bit.

Summer is the season I struggle with the most for dressing, despite it being my favorite season. As I get older, I want to cover up more. I hate how I look in shorts, so I started wearing skirts or dresses instead, but these are not so easy for me to find. I’m not a Zimmerman kind of girl. Heavy on flowery prints, ruffles, and flounces. I like cleaner and simpler, but with style. When it’s too hot for long pants, but you still want comfort and mobility, you have to come up with creative solutions. For me, that's an easy dress with flat sandals. This also happens to be the second hardest thing to find after a bathing suit.

Nothing wrong with this, but it screams tourist to me. I prefer to blend with the locals more.