Packing smart and light is synonymous with independent international travel. It’s all about being able to pivot if an earlier train from Rome to Florence suddenly becomes available or to fit in an extra hour or two of sightseeing since you were luckily able to stow your baggage temporarily at the train station.
We were oblivious to this concept on our first trip to Europe. We had each used the largest suitcase we could find and packed a month’s worth of clothing for the two-week trip. There was almost an outfit for each day of the adventure, including matching footwear. Fortunately for us, we were either staying in a large private home (thank you again Peter and Traude) or staying at a resort (Valamar Parentino). If there was ever a need to wash our clothes (which we didn’t since we had so much clothing), there was always easy access to a washing machine or the hotel laundry service.
Bitten by the travel bug after our trips to Austria/Croatia and China and inspired by Rick Steves’ travel shows on PBS, we resolved to travel as smartly and lightly as we could on our future trips to Europe (or anywhere else).
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