Packing For Paris

Tomorrow, we’re flying out of Baltimore/Washington Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) heading towards Charles de Gaulle in Paris. With a little over 24 hours until we start the drive to the airport, it’s about time I start thinking about what to pack (I know, I know, that’s way too far ahead of time and I’m too prepared.)

We’re flying with a newer Icelandic airline called Fly Play. Play was founded a couple years ago by two former WOW executives (which we used on our first trip to Iceland) and funded by the daughter of a Ryanair founder. Hopefully they don’t cease operations in the middle of the day like WOW did.

Normally, we fly with in economy with just one carry-on and one personal item each. If you’ve flown on a budget airline before, you know that they attempt to make up for the low fare by charging for every extra, including luggage. This had led to our challenge for this trip. We’re going to pack, jointly, in one carry-on.

So, we need to be fashionable for Paris, warm for the winter, and light enough to pack into one piece of luggage. Challenge accepted.

Two things ended up working out for us. First, Parisians dress with minimal colors, making it easy to mix-and-match outfits since the usual black/white colors go well together. We can get multiple outfits out of minimal items.

Second, the bleak weather might be breaking as we get there. The forecast has been in the high 20s to low 40s (Fahrenheit) and rainy every day. I originally thought we’d need thick sweaters and layers upon layers to stay warm and dry. Luckily, within the past few days, the upcoming forecast seems to have changed for the better.

The joint luggage suitcase is for clothes only, and we’ve managed to split the space fairly even. I’m bringing the following:

Tops:

• Heavy wool coat (wearing on plane)
• Mid-weight sweater (wearing on plane)
• Two thin sweaters
• Two t-shirts

Bottoms:

• Pair of denim jeans (wearing on plane)
• Pair of travel jeans
• Pair of trousers

Underwear:

• We originally shared one packing cube for our socks and underwear. We found that taking them out and stuffing them in the space between the clothes saved a little bit of room (about one small souvenirs worth of space.)

With two people packing in one carry-on, everything else has to go into our personal item bags.

Once again, I’m using my Osprey Totebag, which has become my favorite personal item due to its usefulness once I arrive at a new destination.

Luckily, I just started a new Libre 2 CGM yesterday so I won’t need to pack a replacement one. Let’s just hope this doesn’t give me problems like I had in Mexico. I’ll have two new insulin pens and a backup glucometer, as well.

An extra pair of shoes, some snacks for our early morning layover in Reykjavik, toiletries, and a book will take up the remainder of the space.

---

I’m excited to see how this works out and I’ll post an update if I feel like there are any worthwhile changes to make after we get back.

Have any recommendations for Paris, let me know in the comments below!