Three weeks ago, I broke a spell of refraining from shopping, and went in to (my arch nemesis) Winners. There I hemmed and hawed about a black purse that I did not need. After extricating myself from the situation, and going home purse-less I consoled myself with some minimalist blogs.
Of course, reading minimalist blogs by no means makes me a minimalist. Although certainly I was sold on the idea for those five minutes. When it comes to travel though, I have become a light packer through the years. I can remember bringing the biggest suitcase packed to the brim when I would traveled to Japan in college. A lot of travel websites have been mentioning the "1/2 rule;" that you will only need a half of the clothes that you pack. Items have gradually dropped off my list, and for this trip, I was down to a backpack and a purse for this trip to Cancun.
*I ended up buying a pair of more casual shorts in Mexico to use as pajamas.
**These heels ended up just taking up space. Next time I would just take my sandals--they were dressy, but simple enough for the beach.
***Flying out of Canada, I couldn't hop on the plane in shorts and a tank-top.
Besides the pajama shorts, I didn't miss a single thing from home. I wore all my tops, and the dresses a couple of times. The button-down came in handy for cooler evenings. The hat and sunglasses saved my face--and although the hat was a bit of a pain to carry around--I appreciated it in the end. I did wash a couple of pairs of undies in the sink--bring lot sof underwear, it's so hot, you end up taking many showers! I opted for a dressier backpack to try it out for travel, but a standard size backpack would have been a little more roomy. I am sure all of my stuff would have fit more than comfortably in a 28 L backpack. One other thing I would change is I would . I kept all my valuables in this purse, and took it absolutely everywhere--this was cumbersome on some of the treks. carry a purse with a shoulder strap
