by Wendy
Here is my packing debrief from 6 nights in Paris.

I took a large purse with a smaller crossbody purse inside. The small one generally held wallet, mints, hand sanitizer, tissues, lip balm, cell phone, hair clip, thin notebook, pen. The large one held toiletries, earbuds, printouts, glasses, passport, snacks for plane. I really liked carrying the smaller bag in Paris – while I missed extra space sometimes, it was worth it to reduce the shoulder/back pain you can get from schlepping a large purse. I could still fit a few souvenirs purchased while walking around. I wore my sunglasses and tied a scarf around the purse strap (instead of keep them inside the purse as I normally would).

I decided to leave the ipad and keyboard at home since they add weight to my bag, and at that time I thought there was a chance the rule would change requiring them to be stored in checked luggage. So I went old school and used pen and paper to write notes. On the plane I watched movies (actually saw three good ones!) and read a book. I took a long break from CandyCrush and social media – and it was refreshing.

OK back to packing.

Wore on plane: leggings, skirt, black t-shirt, denim shirt, Converse

In the suitcase were:
1 pair of jeans and belt
3 shirts – black short sleeve blouse, checked blouse, Minnie Mouse t-shirt (for Disneyland Paris, per my niece MJ’s recommendation)
2 dress – black, floral
6 pair underwear, 3 pair socks, pjs
4 earrings, 1 bracelet
ballet flats
wedge sandals
1 olive jacket with hood
1 cream jacket
scarf
travel flat iron
sleeping eye mask
travel adapters

All and all, I packed pretty well. It ended up being chillier than we anticipated, and I wore jeans for 4 days straight. In retrospect I wish I had worn a second pair of jeans on the plane instead of the skirt, which I did not wear again on the trip. I wore each of the dresses once, and was glad to have them for the warmer days.

For those of you who care about this type of thing, here is what I observed people wearing in Paris. Of course, Paris is a fashionable city and people make an effort – without overdoing it. Francophiles have tried to pinpoint and explain this balance, this “je ne sais quoi” for decades. Nothing is sloppy – but there is a simple, practical elegance. Jeans are fine, it’s really about the cut. Even if a girl is wearing jeans with rips in the knees, they fit her perfectly and she pairs them with a chic blouse and tall espadrilles, for example. Converse and Adidas are still popular, or other types of cool retro sneakers. Parisians seem to wear a lot of black and dark clothing, like in other big cities. Lightweight jackets and blazers can really pull together an otherwise casual look, for both men and women.

Luckily I was traveling with my beautiful niece MJ, who always inspires me with her fierce and individualistic sense of style – which looked amazing in Paris. Not only did MJ rock a pink beret, she knew that packing light should never exclude silver ankle boots.