1 month, 3 very different areas, 44#

[Bizmark'sMom]

My recent trip was 5 days in NYC -- in August (HOT!) -- 20 days on a High Arctic expedition cruise (COLD!), and 5 days touring around Iceland.

 

The waterproof boots and waterproof outerwear were required. I had to plan around them.

The flight from Reykjavik to Akureyri limits checked luggage to 1, 44# bag. I decided to hold myself to that limit overall.

The hotel in Reykjavik was on a street closed to vehicles. I would have to carry everything 2 blocks.

Lindblad is not a dressy cruise line. There were no formal nights to deal with.

I cannot use toiletries with fragrance. It aggravates my excema. I have to travel with my own soap, hair stuff, and lotion. Again, something to plan around.

 

First New York... I have never been so hot in my life! I'm a West Coast girl. I have never dealt with that kind of humidity before! For daytime wear I relied first on tank tops with a nice long sleeved linen shirt layered over it, and lightweight pants one black, one grey. The linen shirt was out of the running after a massive nose bleed in the middle of Rockefeller Center (I go to the doctor Wed to check this out). I mailed it home - it'll be a good deck staining shirt. After that it was sleeveless blouses and tank tops by themselves. My evening outfit was a knee length black sleeveless tunic that I wore over my black merino long underwear (using them as leggings), and black wedge pumps. I changed the jewelry and scarves I accessorized with.

 

On to Greenland, with a weird layover in Reykjavik to make the flights work. I spent the hours soaking at the Blue Lagoon. Bliss! I wore my one pair of blue jeans and my tennis shoes on the plane along with my heaviest long sleeved shirt.

 

We landed at Kangerlussuaq, and embarked. There is no dock. We passengers were ferried to the ship via zodiac. The luggage came via barge. The first day I sent out all of my New York clothes to be laundered. I used the tank tops and camisoles under my 3 long sleeved shirts (2 black, 1 red) to extend the time between washing. I had the pair of jeans, 2 pairs of light weight pants, a pair of yoga pants for under the waterproofs, and 2 pairs of long underwear. I wore the light blouses over the black long sleeved tops on the rare occasion we stopped at a town or I just wanted a change. My fleece jacket was perfect for quick "there's a polar bear with cubs!" dashes outside, along with gloves and a hat.

 

All told, I sent things out to the laundry 3 times. I did some light washing in the bathroom. And I did a lot of wearing a long sleeved shirt over a tank top, letting it air out for a day, then wearing it again. Same with the pants, I used the long underwear to extend the time between washing. Everybody on board was wearing the same things over and over. I used my long tunic and wedges one more time at the Captain's farewell dinner -- about half dressed up a bit (found the makeup and something sort of dressy), half didn't.

 

Back to Iceland, and much more moderate temperatures. The jeans and a long sleeved shirt with tennis shoes were just fine, we didn't stop anywhere fancy at all. By now my toiletries were gone so I had space (and weight) available to fill with decent chocolate.

 

As far as luggage, I had one wheeled duffel bag and one small backpack.

 

I hope that gives others looking at fairly complicated itineraries some ideas.

[SadieN]

Thanks for the inspiration. DD's doing an international internship January thru June.