Travel Tips From A Road Warrior: Part 1

I’ve been traveling a lot lately  and on last week’s trip, I started thinking about all the things I do to make travel easier for me. After years of doing this, so many of these things are automatic, which is good, because even when traveling for pleasure, the act of traveling can actually be a huge pain in the posterior. I’ll add segments to this post as I go but for now, let’s talk about travel clothing.

I absolutely hate wearing a suit on an airplane. In fact, most people I know who travel a lot feel the same way. The only time I wear a suit on an airplane is when I’m going directly from the airport to a meeting. Even after meetings, my coworkers and I change into travel clothing as soon as we get to the airport. Not only is it more comfortable to change out of suits, it saves the life of your suits as well. So what to wear on the plane? I default to comfortable pants, a comfortable top and a jacket or sweater of some kind. What I don’t wear on a plane (besides a suit) is anything revealing, cheap looking, or tight. I also almost never wear heels, preferring flat or low heeled shoes so that I can easily walk thru an airport while dragging my bags behind me. There’s nothing more ridiculous than seeing a woman in tight clothing with sky high heels, trying to walk quickly on slippery airport floors. Ridiculous!

The pictures, above, show what I wore on my trip to Denver as well as on the return trip. In each outfit, I’m put together enough that I could get by with these outfits in a pinch (like if my luggage didn’t arrive on time). Both are comfortable and warm enough for the flight (I’m always cold).

Here’s the list:

• Dark colored denim jacket
• LL Bean French Sailor shirt in picture on the left (here’s a similar one)
• Dobbin New Stanton Slim Pant in olive (here) on the left
• Black trouser socks
• Corso Como Ballasox in black (here) on the left
• Dobbin Alexa Stretch Ponte Pant in black (here) on the right
• Dobbin Maya Stretch Nylon Camisole in white (here) on the right
• Gentle Soles Osaki Mia booties in black (here) on the right

Everything I wore in the pictures, above, could also have been worn during the business trip. This time I was at an industry conference where my company was exhibiting. My job was to meet with prospects, host a dinner and just, generally, be around to meet with people as needed. Although our customers and prospects are in a conservative field, this conference was fairly “business casual” and didn’t require a full-on suit. I did, however, dress fairly well but could have matched the denim jacket to any one of my outfits. In general, when traveling, I try to make sure every piece I pack works with at least two others. Since I hate over packing. I try to plan it out as much as possible.

I packed clothing primarily in the gray/black/cream color palette. The dress above was one I purchased from Gwynnie Bee and over that I wore the new Dobbin Natasha Stretch Wool Blazer (here) which I LOVE!! My personal philosophy is that if I’m wearing anything on my legs, it’s an opaque tight. The reason is that sheer hose tend to run constantly and just are not reliable while traveling (learned that lesson many times!); opaque tights are much more reliable. I believe the ones I’m wearing are from Spanx. Click here to see what they offer. On my feet, I’m wearing the Gentle Souls booties I mentioned above. These are soooo comfortable and were great while walking in the huge conference center.

The next day, everything I wore was just as comfortable and all of it (except the tights and shoes) are from Dobbin. Pictured here are the Natalie Stretch Ponte Pencil Skirt (here), the Sophie Silk Blouse in the Snake Print (here) and a jacket that was available last spring (you can find a similar jacket here). Then I added some tights and the booties.

As you can see from the pictures above, I could have worn these pieces in just about any combination and they would have worked for this trip. I tend to take little to no jewelry (just my wedding band, a bracelet and a couple of pairs of earrings) and several pair of shoes (the two I have above and then a pair of traditional heels). These outfits worked well for me this week and by planning carefully planning, I did not over pack! When traveling, I also ALWAYS carry a pair of “fold up” flats (usually the Corso Como Ballasox) in my bag when wearing heels. You never know when your feet need a break!

So how about you? Do you have any travel dressing tips you’d like to share?