191. Favorites: Packing for Italy

Packing for Italy is a challenge that perplexes many travelers. We're re-running this episode as part of a series of favorites while we take a short break.. in Italy of course!

Read the full episode show notes here > untolditaly.com/191

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
This is the Untoldishly Traveled podcast,and you're listening to episode number one hundred
and nineteen one Zaatuti and Ben Venutito one Told Italy the travel podcast to
where you go to the townsend villages, mountains, the lakes, hills and

(00:21):
coast lines of Bella, Italia.Each week, your host Katie Clark takes
you on a journey in a searchof magical landscapes, history, culture,
wine, gelato, and of coursea whole lot of pasta. If you're
dreaming of Italy and planning future adventuresthere, you've come to the right place.

(00:50):
Child friends, how are you alldoing? I'm actually initially at the
moment with my family having a mediabreak, So instead of our usual programming,
we're going to rerun some of myfavorite episodes of all time. With
over a one hundred and ninety tochoose from, this was a pretty difficult
task and I like choosing a favoritechild if I'm honest, But I have

(01:11):
narrowed it down to three and todaywe're kicking things off with a discussion I
had about packing for your trip toItaly with the wonderful Karina Cook. If
you're a member about Italy Travel,planning Facebook community. You'll know that packing
is a super hot topic and Ijust love all the practical tips and advice
Karina gave to make this process somuch easier. So Andy, Arma,

(01:33):
let's get on with the show.Ben Banou touch out and welcome back once
again to the Untold Italy Podcast.Karina, Hi, thank you for having
me back. Oh it's so greatto have you and fresh off the plane
from Italy, aren't you? Andit feels so good to say that.
So tell everyone how was it?It was incredible. It was amazing being

(01:57):
there. Obviously there weren't many tourso it was kind of wide open and
you could just oh, I waswonderful, just fabulous. Where did you
go? So? I spend alot of time up on the Venito,
then I was in Tuscany, andthen just a couple of days in Rome.
On the way back out, Iwas they're actually working on multiple projects,
so I was running around like aflea and effet. But it was

(02:22):
really great. Your photos and allyour stories on Instagram. I was just
I was a little bit jealous,I won't lie, but I'm always so
happy for you to be having thatexperience. It really look amazing, all
right, So I did ask youon to talk about packing, and I
think this is one question that comesup pretty much every day on our Facebook

(02:43):
group Italy Travel Planning, which hasgot a lot of people joining at the
moment, and it probably comes up, maybe absoly, at least once or
twice a day. And I askedCorina because she has a lot of experienced
packing for Italy and I've got someopinions on these two. So I thought
we would have a little bit ofa chat about what we think about packing
and how to do that effectively.So one of the big trends I guess

(03:06):
in the past maybe five to tenyears, is people who are kind of
very passionate about traveling with a carryon luggage. So let's talk about luggage
first and what luggage to choose.Because I put my hand up, I
am not on team carry on.I understand why people neither. I understand

(03:27):
why people would do it, butit's not for me because if I just
want to know where the shopping goes, how about you, Camina, Yeah,
No, I'm definitely not a teamcarry on, partly because where the
shopping goes, partly because of yourliquids. And your toiletries and all that
stuff, so you know it justto me, it's just a nightmare.
And then you're so confined with whatyou can bring, not for me.

(03:53):
And I think people do it becausethey can get a cheaper airfare maybe and
they don't want to be carrying aroundtheir luggage over cop stones and all of
that type of thing. But Ithink there's it's kind of like looking at
it from two extremes, like,you definitely do not want to be taking
a huge suitcase. I think unlessyou're like I think you can really mentioned
to me before, unless you're alllike the Kardashians and you've got like a

(04:13):
fleet of limousines taking your luggage withyou, then you don't want large luggage.
But there is a happy medium,I think. Yeah. So I
think that some of the things toconsider are, well, first of all,
I travel with a medium suitcase.You don't want to get your big,
big suitcase because you're going to fillit up. So part of how
I control itself is I use amedium suitcase. Then you want to get

(04:39):
the four way, you know,the three hundred and sixty degree wheels.
You want four wheels three sixty becausewhen you're having to move it a long
way across an airport or through atrain station. You want that glide because
otherwise what happens is when you startpulling and you start taking the stress on
your lower back, which you don'twant that while you're away, even though

(05:00):
you're not necessarily going to throw yourback out. Then it's just you know,
when you got a saw back andyou start getting irritated and just get
the easy gliding ones. It makesa lot of difference. Another thing that
I do because I got a fewyears ago, I swapped and got Away
luggage, which is a it's kindof a trendy, all over social media

(05:20):
luggage brand. But what I reallylike about it is it's ergonomically designed.
Because I was starting to get alot of saw back stuff with my previous
luggage, and this thing, theway the handle works and everything, it
just glides. You've got no stresson your lower back, and that's a
real big thing. Mmm. Guesswhat I've got Away luggage too? Are

(05:44):
you two were like twins? Really, we really are. But what I
also love about that, it's gotit some inbuilt laundry bag. You can
put all your laundry in there.And it's got a compression so you can
squitch more stuff in. But it'salso pretty sturdy case. And it's got
the TSA locks built in as well, so you've got that security. I
look, it's a worthy investment andI'll put a link to those in there.

(06:09):
I've actually got an article on theluggage that you can take. And
so some people really like to takebackpacks. That's not for me. I've
again luck you back issues. Butyeah, you don't need to take the
smallest bag you can buy. Ithink if you if you go from a
medium, you can get it onthe train, you can get it in
a car if you rent it,and then you can do some shopping and

(06:30):
you know, like I do likea shop and it's just these beautiful artisan
whereas that you will not be ableto get at home, that you'll be
able to buy. It's not it'snot like you know, shop till you
drop. It's like the beautiful souvenirsand things that you might like to remind
you of your chip when you getback home. I think it's part of
traveling. I think, I meanthey go over there all the time,
but I still bring back a lotof stuff, like for example, I

(06:53):
like drinking espresso, and espresso padsin Europe are half the price they are
in Americas. Load up on thosevolume there. You'll just bring back about
twenty thieves. And then this tripI went to a grapper distillery and oh
good lord, just so your listeners, no, I'm not a day drinker.

(07:13):
I can't do drinking during the day. Giving me all these different flavors
of grapper the days, and itwas actually it was really really good.
Like normally I can't even like lookat the bottle, but I wound up
bringing home a bottle of honey flavorGrapper, which is fabulous, but that's
like an extra whole thing going inmy bag. And then two wineries gave

(07:35):
me wine to bring back, andit's not like shipping back a case,
you know, it's just a bottlethat's got to go somewhere. And then
my friend Sylvan now we went tovisit her on her egotismo in Tuscany,
and they make unbelievable olive oil,extra virgin olive oil, so she gave
me some of that to bring back. And so just those things alone,

(07:56):
that adds a whole lot of volumein your suitcase. So imagine if I'd
had to say no, I mean, you can't do that, got to
be brewed. One thing that Ilike for those bottles that could potentially leak.
If you seen those wine wings wherethey're like the bubble wrap things where
you put you put the bottle inand you zip lock it up and it's

(08:20):
safe to go inside your luggage.That's another good tip. And that's also
why I like the hard luggage aswell, because you don't want things to
be knocked around. Well, youknow, just sit in any airport and
watch the baggage handling for five minutesand you'll see where you better off to
have a case. Also, Ihad one time where I was sitting on
the plane. This is not adomestic watching out the window at my luggage.

(08:45):
It was when I had a softcase sitting there in the pouring rain,
and I just sat there and lookedout the window. My luggage got
soaked, and of course that seepsthrough by the time you know, you
get to got to New York andit was just a smelling went mess,
and I'm like, I don't youwouldn't want that in winter or suwhere over
that better? Oh my goodness,Well, how about when you go on

(09:07):
the plane, I take a totebag because I can just shove everything in
and get it out or whatever.That's what I take on the plane.
What do you do so well?I normally have a tote and then a
larger shoulder bag shoulder handbag, becauseI want to be able to access everything,
and I want to be able tohave what I need under the seat

(09:28):
in front of me so that ifI'm cold, or if I'm too hot,
or if I want to brush myteeth or like whatever I might want
to do, I want to beable to access it fast. But before
I went away, this time awayhas a new It's not a weekend a
bag. It's a smaller size nowcan't mean what was called. It's like
an everywhere bag or anything bag,like a Duffle bag. It slides onto

(09:52):
the handle of the suitcase. Butit's about it's about a tote size.
I know that when you mean yeah, yeah, And it was really good
like it it could fit a tonof stuff in there. I don't know.
It was just a really good Iwas surprised at it when it first
arrived. I was like, oh, really, I'm going to send it
back. But it was actually areally good bag, and it's lightweight as

(10:15):
well, which was tremendous. Itwas actually lighter than my toad, and
thank goodness I had it, becausethen I wound up with all this extra
nonsense I brought back with me,so I really needed that extra space.
One thing to think about is whattype of travel you're doing. So if
your trip's going to involve moving backwardsand forwards through train stations then you know,

(10:37):
and getting on and off ferries andall that type of thing, then
you may not want to have awheely carry on bag because once you're like
trying to move through all these peopleand you've got two wheely bags, it's
somewhat of a nightmare. So Ilike to have something that can sit on

(10:58):
top of my suitcase, ideally thatI can slide through the handle of my
suitcase and pull along, just tomake it easier. Good tip. The
other one that I have is don'tjust take the normal tope. You's got
to have the one with the ziphbecause you do not want things flying out
everywhere. You don't want things flyingout everywhere, and you don't want hands

(11:18):
slipping into your tope bag and helpingthemselves to things as well. So it's
good to have one that you canzip closed and keep a tight rain on.
Yeah. Yeah, So I takethe topebag and also have a cross
body bags. I like to wearmy cross body bag. That's, you
know, just to I just havea normal one. Do you have a
normal one or do you get asecurity type one? No, I just

(11:39):
have a normal one, but Ialways wear a cross body So for your
listeners, we're talking about your handbagor your shoulder bag. Now you want
to get a cross body one.And then what I do with all my
tour groups is I have them wearit so the opening side is against your
tummy and you have it zip likeall your closures are closed, so that

(12:01):
if you get in a crowd,because the pickpockets are in the crowds,
like that's where they get their money. Yeah, they're gonna be fast and
you're not going to know which wayis up and your stuff's going to be
gone and everybody goes, oh,I'd notice it. It's like no,
you wouldn't. You better off tojust be proactive. And then the thing
is for them psychologically, they wantthe easiest pickings. So when they eyeball

(12:24):
you. If they see you've gota cross body bag on the opening side
is against your tummy, you've gotyour hand on it, It's like,
why bother with you? Because lookat Marjorie down the way, she's an
idiot and she's got a bag openand she's looking everywhere else. You know,
they can get in there and getthis stuff quickly and move on.
So and sorry to anybody who's thisthing called Marjorie, Yeah, sorry Marjorie's.

(12:46):
It's got to be a little bitsavvy about stuff like that. So
you know, that's another tip.But I start planning my travel packing when
I book my trip. So assoon as I'm committed to I'm going on
this day, now, I'm mentallyfiguring out what I'm wearing and what I'm

(13:07):
going to take. Some of thethings that I do is first of all,
I look at what season am Igoing in, and because I want
to be as pared down as possible, I want to have as few things,
like I don't want to have oneextra garment that I don't need because
that's just space and weight, andyou're up the years of traveling, I've
kind of got to refined down alittle bit. More So if I'm going

(13:31):
to Italy in the summer, andif I'm not going to be up in
the north North, then I knowI'm probably not even going to need a
sweater. I'm not going to needa jacket, I'm not going to need
a just in case because it reallystay. It's pretty warm all the time.
So I'll really refine that packing down. If I'm going in the winter,
then I have a whole different setof criteria for what I'm going to

(13:56):
pack. So really figure that out. Figure out how many days you're going
for. And then one of thethings that I do is I make like
I use those box calendars, youknow where it's on it like a grid
rather than a writing downwards one,because it's how my brain works. But
I'll write in where I'm going tobe each day, so like Capri,

(14:20):
Sorrento and Marfiico's Road, you know, wherever else I might be going,
like Florence out in Tuscany. LikeI have it all written down, and
now I make a plan of whatI'm wearing each day. It's going to
give me one less thing I haveto think about. It helps me to
figure out if I'm going to bedoing laundry or not, how I can

(14:41):
have clean clothes all the time.And it also helps me figure out things
for taking photos and stuff, whichI'll get up to it in a little
bit. And then you want tofigure out you also want to take into
account what type of trip you're doing. So, for example, are you
going to be on a cruise,are you going to be staying in hotels

(15:03):
the whole way? Are you goingto be doing Airbnb's where you have a
washing machine and can do laundry,because they really change things up, and
you might be thinking, well,I'm staying in a hotel, but I
can send out for laundry. Butif you're moving at a fast clip,
your laundry might not be back.You know, you can't guarantee that you

(15:24):
could put your laundry in at sixo'clock tonight and have it back at eight
o'clock tomorrow morning. So those arethings to put into your equation as to
how you're packing, what you're packing, and you know you might be staying
in an airbnb situation, but belike, guess, well, I don't
want to do laundry while I'm gone. So if that's the case, you
need to make sure you've been you'regoing for fourteen days, you need like

(15:46):
sixteen pairs of underwear or like whatever. Yeah, exactly. Well. The
other thing to note about an airbnbis that you cannot expect, In fact,
it's highly unlikely that there will bea dryer in the airbn be So
if you think you're going to dothe washing and then get it dried the
next day, it's not probably goingto happen because it's actually quite humid in

(16:07):
Italy and it does take you know, a day or so for your clothes
to dry there, so and theydon't have dryers, so yeah, you're
not going to find dryers. Electricityis really expensive over there, and they
don't get a lot into each apartment, so you're not going to have dryers.
And like I was there, itwas a few years ago now in
May and Tuscany, and I waswearing jeans and I threw them in the

(16:30):
washer and then hung them out todry, and like the next day they
were still wet, and the nextday they were still wet, and the
next day it was it was ridiculous. I'm like, ah, I'm not
going to be Yeah, I mean, fabrics are really important, aren't they
Just to actually get the right fabricsvery very very important, and that was

(16:51):
the next thing I was going totalk about, is really, when you're
starting this whole planning process, youreally want to think about the fabrics that
you're going to be trapped with.And now they have so many man made
fabrics that are designed for travel thatthey're phenomenal. You know, they'll they'll
wash out quickly, they'll dry quickly, they won't sweat while you're wearing them,

(17:12):
they won't increase. There's all kindsof great things like that that seems
like, you know, no bigdeal, but it can be when you're
traveling, Like if you get someonethere's no iron and you're cotton skirts all
like scrunched up and looking rotten,then you know that's not quite so much
fun. One of my best tipsis I plan what I'm going to wear

(17:38):
on the plane, and it's actuallymy flying uniforms. So I don't actually
plan it because I don't change it. But I have that outfit that I
fly in on and that I flyout on doesn't change and it's the only
time those things get worn. Sothat's like a big thing to not have
to think about. But I incorporateMarino. So you'll know Marino from being

(18:00):
in Australia, but I think probablya lot of Americans won't be conversant in
it. So Marino is a woolbut it's really fine, like almost like
a T shirt fineness. And ifyou're someone that gets itchy from wool,
which I do, I can't wearwool anything. Marino doesn't itch. But

(18:21):
what it does do is it temperatureregulates, so you can wear it in
fahrenheit from like minus twenty to seventyfive degrees, which is like I don't
know what that is in celsius,but up to say twenty twenty five degrees,
and it'll regulate for you. Sowhen you leave somewhere cold and fly

(18:42):
to somewhere hot, it helps you. Like it's really really great or I
get really cold on planes, butI live in Phoenix where it's a million
degrees all the time, So Idon't want to have to be like having
a thousand things that got to changein and out of and all the rest
of it. I can just throwon a Marino sweater. It's going to
be the weight of a T shirt, basically slightly more than a T shirt,

(19:04):
and it will be cool. WhileI'm in the hot places, and
if I'm like running through an airport, which I've run through many airports in
my life, you know it's goingto regulate. And Marino also it wakes
away perspiration. So if you gethot and you start perspiring, or ever
had to run across Philadelphia Airport,which I've done, you know you're gonna

(19:26):
like crack a sweat. This isgoing to wick the moisture away from you.
They have like anti smell properties tothem, So it's just something that
in the way that Marino works.So if you're going in the wintertime,
for example, when you're wearing Marino, you can wear that Marino sweater over
and over and over and you're notgoing to get stinky because of how Marino
works. It's so genius. Andthen it's really ran so it's it's it's

(19:49):
lightweight. Well. I also likethe Unique Low Heat Tick. They're like
little undergarments, so they're not quitedermals, but they do similar things.
So I kind of like to layerup with my wools like you're saying,
and the Unique Coheat Tech undergarments becausethey're really they're thin, they're not those

(20:10):
chunky you know would you have chunkythermals and you feel like the Michelin man
going down the street. Yeah,like that to me would be a nightmare,
and then I'd like psychologically overheat onthe plane anyway just having it.
But when you have these kind ofbass layer fabrics, they're the perfect thing
to travel with and you can havethe warmth but not take up the space.

(20:32):
It's not like having a chunky sweater. It's just like having a long
sleep tshirt. There's a few companiesthat make these fabrics and they're incredible.
I just always use like traveler fabricsthat they're just going to work with me.
So I have that in my planningprocess, and then I normally have
a rack that I'm just constantly puttingthings on, taking them off, and

(20:52):
like mentally figuring it all out.I want to make sure that each garment
that I'm packing is going to getwarm twice minimum. Do you have Eddie
Bauer over there, No, butI know it. So they have these
fantastic pants called Departure pants, andthey're just like this lightweight fabric that works

(21:14):
really well for travel. And there'sanother company here in America called Athletta.
They do a similar fabric pant thatyou can wash them out, hang them
up, and they will dry overnight. They're great to fly in. They're
just really good fabrics that work withyou. So, for example, if
I'm taking two pairs of departure pants, they take zero space, but I'll

(21:34):
plan on wearing them two or threetimes each. Your best bet is to
plan separates because then you can mixand match and you feel like you have
more outfits. I tend to becauseI'm there all the time in the summertime,
so I tend to wear a lotof summary dresses and I just find
lightweight ones that I can hopefully nottake up too much space with. Yeah,

(21:57):
what do you do about colors?Because I've got this rule that I
have, like a three color rule, and I try and just have everything
in that kind of huge ballpark soI can really easily mix a match.
Because when you try and adding lotsof different colors, starts to get really
complicated and I can't cope with that. So I and my normal life,

(22:17):
I wear like a lot of boldcolors, So I'll try and like I
always wear color over there, andI'll talk about that in a moment,
but I try and kind of curtaila little bit so that I can just
make sure I've got things that areworking well with one another. You know,
if you have too many things,you just wind up having too many

(22:40):
things. So it's a good ideato be able to try and stick to
a certain color palette and maneuver aroundwithin that. In the wintertime, I'll
wear quite a bit of black ifI'm traveling in the winter, but in
this summer I mostly avoid it.Like I might have one, like a
one black type and I used tohave like one black travel dress I would

(23:00):
throw in for the summer time.But I'm always thinking about the photos that
you're going to take, which soundstrivial, but when you're taking your travel
photos, this is kind of creatingyour legacy, and this is your story
that you're leaving your children and yourgrandchildren and all the rest of it.
So rather than just being a throwawaything, I like to really think it

(23:22):
out. And you know, andplus I've been in the fashion and entertainment
industry for my entire career, soI also like factor that into it as
well. But I look at theplaces that I'm going and I plan my
colors around that. So, forexample, when I'm in their Malfie Coast,
or if I'm, for example,in the chinquit Terre, if I'm

(23:45):
going to Burano, anywhere that's verycolorful, I want to have color on
because if you're wearing black and you'reon their Malfie Coast, you are the
dead space in every photograph that you'rein. You want to be vibrant with
the place that you're at. Ifyou're, for example, in Sienna,

(24:06):
or if you're trotting around you know, all these little towns and Tuscany,
and you're wearing a sand colored Safarisuit, you're gonna you're gonna disappear like
black works well in those environments,you know. So I really think it
out, and I'll look even whenI'm going to places i haven't been before,
I'll get online and look at themand see kind of what it looks

(24:27):
like to make sure that I'm notwearing colors that are kind of productive for
that and that can make you feelkind of fresh and nice. Well,
there's nothing worse. I'm going tosay that getting your photos back and you're
going, oh, this was suchan amazing time, and then you I
mean, I think we can beoverly critical of ourselves in photos anyway.

(24:47):
I think generally people can me,but I think you really do right.
You want to have those photos thatremind you of and look, I can
really remember what I was wearing incarpri on my favorite day trip of my
life. I can remember exactly whatI was wearing and I loved it and
it was fun and it was itwas like a blue and white geing anything
with a big flower on it.And I was like, oh, I

(25:08):
love these I love this top.I don't have to anymore. I didn't
where it is, but yeah,if you'd have that real carper kind of
vibe about it. And I dothink that that's it's fun to do that.
I mean not everyone finds that fun, but I do. Yeah.
And you know, like before Ireally thought about it too much when I
was going to Italy and I wasn'treally thinking about the color game. I

(25:30):
look now at those photos from liketwenty eleven, twenty twelve. I don't
know what I was thinking, butI wasn't thinking about that. And you
know, when I'm doing blog thingsand newsletter things, those photos I can't
really use because I'm like, whatthe hell was I wearing? What were
they thinking a lot of people sortof want to kind of blend in when

(25:51):
they're in Italy. But I thinkthe thing is that you've got to understand
is the Italians they are very stylishdresses as a general rule, and they
just sort of had some innate kindof style that they must learn in the
womb or something like that. Butit is a very European style and you're
probably not going to be able toreplicate that so much. So you have

(26:11):
to be comfortable. You have tobe comfortable, and you have to be
not sweaty, and like, youdon't want to wear fabrics that are just
going to not feel good on you, you know. And I also say
to people, you'll probably will swell, like you'll swell on the plane,
And if you don't live in humidityand you're going there in the summer and
it's humid, you will swell.So if you're wearing clothing, for example,

(26:33):
that's fitting around your belly or that'sfitting around your thighs, if you
swell, you're going to be reallyuncomfortable. So I try and factor that
in as well. But it wasinteresting on the trip that I was just
on, one of my friends camealong to help me out. And she's
a fashion stylist and she was amagazine publisher as well, and very New

(26:57):
York and she wears black and waitand that's her lifetime color palette. And
we got there and I was like, girlfriend, we're going to get you
in some color, and she's likem but I was like making her wear
all this color. And you know, you can pick up these fabulous linen
dresses over there for nothing. They'relike twenty euros. But we got her
in all this color, which atfirst she was really uncomfortable with. And

(27:19):
then I took all these photos ofher outside the Colisseum, for example,
and she had on a magenta actuallythe matching one to this one that I'm
wearing right now, linen dress thatwe both picked up for twenty euros,
and it was like boom. Itjust sets the whole thing off, and
it suddenly makes this picture really excitingbecause it's not about the building with this

(27:41):
person in front of it. It'sabout this dynamic person with this sensational building
behind her. And it was justsuch an incredible juxuposition seeing that. And
so she's a full convert now she'rewearing color I know, it sort of
happens that when you go somewhere.I know, if I ever go to
like a surftown only decided to becomea hippy, it rubs off after a

(28:04):
while. But you can definitely pickup some beautiful pieces and upier outfit game
for sure. Yeah, you don'thave to be spending a lot of money
either. You know, so muchof my life has been on single mummy
budget, So mentally I'm always goingto that space. I don't want to
go out and spend a ton ofmoney from a trip. I just want

(28:25):
to make sure I've got fabrics atwork. Colors are going to pop in
the right situation, or if I'mgoing to be wearing black or neutral,
I don't want it to be inthe wrong space. Like if I was
wearing neutral Tanny Beiji colors and Iwas floating around in Tuscany, you know,
I'd be like this floating head.Oh look at buddy boot into the

(28:48):
building. It's so true. Idon't think you know, I never actually
had actually consciously thought about that.So it's an excellent tip. Now I've
got it. One very important itemof clothing that we need to discuss,
and these shoes So ladies, okay, So Italy is all walking, and
it's really important to understand this.You are going to walk more miles than

(29:12):
you've ever walked in your life.And it's not flat tarmac. It's cobblestones
and uneven and so your feet andyour ankles are going to be doing an
enormous amount of work. So youneed to be in flat shoes that are
comfortable and that are going to supportyou. Otherwise you're going to wind up
with either going over on your ankleand you know, spraining your ankle.

(29:37):
Your footwear, when it's supporting yourfeet, it's also supporting your lower back.
So if you're wearing shoes that don'thave any absorption in them, your
lower back takes that stress and thenwhat happens is your upper back tries to
compensate. So then before you knowit, your shoulders are saw. Your
upper back saw, your lower backsaw. And you're on this trip where

(29:57):
you're going to be walking everywhere.Plus it's so much of it is on
hillsides and like you're up and downand all over us. You've really got
to be comfy shoes. So inthe summertime, I do like I'll take
one pair of like good sneaker typeshoes, not ugly sneakers, but you

(30:18):
know, you see photos of peoplewearing these ugly, big, clumpy sneakers,
Like you don't want to do that. Like, where's something that you
feel nice in, but something that'sreally going to support your foot. And
I'll often put a over here.They call them like doctor shoals. I
call everything doctor shoals. You know, those those inserts that you can put
in to give you some extra cushioning. And then I'll have in the summertime,

(30:41):
I'll have one pair of sandals thatagain have some really good cushion to
them, and then I can walkfor forever. There's this company called soft
which is so o fft, andthey have a sandal called the Mirabella.
And you know, when I'm overthere, because i'm over there, I'll
walk and walk and walk and walkwith all my tour groups. I'll be

(31:03):
over there for a long time,and so I keep track of how many
miles I'm walking or how many stepsI'm doing, and my Mirabella's average three
hundred and fifteen miles before I replacethem. Oh my gosh. You know,
so that's a good shoe. Butyou want to get something like that
that really that you can walk foreverin. And I try to tell people

(31:26):
just keep it to two pairs ofshoes. You don't want to fill up
your suitcase with all these different shoeoptions because you're probably not going to wear
them. So two maximum three.If it's winter trip or if I'm going
when it's going to be raining,I'll normally do like a boot that goes
up to the ankle, like alittle bit past the ankle. I don't
want to have a great big bootbecause that's a real nuisance to pack and

(31:51):
travel around with and all the restof it. And then I'll have like
another pair of sneakers. But ifyou're going during rainy season or during the
winter, you need to factor thatinto your shoe game and have something that's
waterproof, because again, when yourshoes get soaked, they're not going to
dry. There's not a dryer toput them in. No, it's just

(32:12):
going to be uncomfortable. Yeah,I totally agree. I am in the
flat shoes club with the sandals.Comfy sandals are in summer and sneakers and
boots. Now we've got in Australiawith a couple of really amazing brands which
I am not affiliated with in anyway, shape or fall, but which
I buy myself. And they're calledBeard and Frankie Flour, and they make

(32:35):
some really nice shoes, really fashionconscious shoes that are like orthopedic le' being
designed by paediatrists and they're amazing,amazing shoes. So if you can get
something like that, I think it'sreally great. I have never had a
blister, I have never had anyfeet problems at all, and they're like
designed to help you back as well. It's worth investing in those. Yeah,

(32:57):
it's so unportant, it's so important, So I entirely agree with that.
Yeah, And I think the onlyother thing was if you're going to
be spending a lot of time atthe beach, you need to know that
most of the beaches are quite rocky, so you might need to have some
sort of swimming shoe action. Yeah, if you're going beaching, you want
to do a little research on whereyou're going because there are a lot of

(33:21):
volcanic beaches, so there's also lotsof sand beaches. Like whenever I'm in
Venice, I always go able tolead. I always like block off an
extra day in Venice, so Ican go to Ledo or at least a
half day and I'll spend it onthe beach because you're on the Adriatic and
it's beautiful and it's clean and thewater's gorgeous, and so that one's a
sandy beach. But for example,when I'm down in the Aeolian Islands,

(33:42):
that's rock beaches, and you're goingto want like you're not going to be
able to handle doing that with yourbare feet. Yeah, so you really
want to do a research. Youwant to do some research when you're beaching.
Actually, while we're talking about beaching, another thing that you may want
to throw in because depending on whereyou're staying, they're not necessarily going to

(34:04):
have beach towels for you. SoI have you know those Turkish towels that
the Turkish beach towels. They've gota special name, Acatan what it's called.
But they're very thin. They're notlike a towel, normal towel fabric.
But you can double it up anduse it as a scarf for a
sarong or whatever. Well I can't. I can never make any of that
work. But look at all peopledo madly madly cheek things with them,

(34:28):
but they take up no space,and you know there are a good towel
to have with you. Oh.Another thing that I had here that I
want to talk about its planning forladies, planning your underwear. So really
you don't want to have like stacksof multi colored things with you. Ideally
from a fashion stylist perspective, ifyou have nude and black, if you're

(34:52):
wearing black and just work that colorpalette, it's going to go with everything,
and so there's one less thing tothink about. And if you have
the kind of thighs that connect,you're going to want to have something that's
going to stop your thighs from chafing. And that's not about being fat or
being thin. Because I had oneperson travel with me who has the best

(35:15):
legs I've ever seen in my life, and I've worked with models and supermodels
for forever, but her inner thighsconnected, and like halfway into her first
day, she was just miserable.You know, the skin was all torn
up. So if you think thatmight happen, or if like swelling a
little bit would put your thighs together, you need to think that out.

(35:37):
And there's lots of like underwear thatyou can get if you're wearing skirts and
dresses that will just extend down alittle bit and stop that rubbing. There's
products you can get like anti chafingproducts, but typically they don't really seem
to be particularly good. But it'ssomething to think about because if your skin

(35:58):
is torn up, and you know, sometimes it can be just raw,
and that's not fun. We don'twant that. You want to be enjoying
yourself. Yes, so well,actually, if we talk about toilet trees,
that's another really important one. AndI know a lot of people say,
well, when I get there,I'm going to go to the store
and buy stuff, and they'll justleave behind or throw out what I don't

(36:19):
use. I'm not a fan ofthat, because, first of all,
you can't guarantee that when you getthere the shops are going to be open,
because oftentimes they're not. You can'tyou can't guarantee you're not going to
be delayed getting in, which hashappened to me several times. I'm a
big supporter of decanting the products thatyour skin and your hair are used to

(36:45):
and taking that in small, travelsize bottles. And my rule is what
you take in, you take backout. So it's very environmentally damaging to
be throwing out all these soaps andthrowing out body body products and everything.
So you don't want to be partof the problem. You want to be
part of the solution. You know. If you if you have that mentality

(37:07):
of the bottles that I go inwith come back out with me, then
you're going to pack down what youneed and just have that. And then
like for things like you're a shampooand conditioner and you know some of your
body products and things, you wantto take something that your body knows and
knows how to work with because youdon't want to get there and god,
you know, buy this product andsuddenly you've got this itching scalp and you're

(37:30):
fleaking all over everything, and orlike have something that your skin is going
to react to. So I alwaysthink you just take what you know works,
just decant it down into travel bottles. For me, I have a
keratin treatment in my hair, andif I don't use the right shampoo,
it goes. It's a wasted investment. And the other thing I really like

(37:51):
about my keratin treatment is that Idon't need as much intervention from a styling
products perspective, so I don't needto bring so much stuff that way.
But I've got to tell you Ialways bring my hair dryer because unfortunately,
it's hair dryers you get in hotelsfor some reason or you know, if
you're staying in an airbb they're justlike blowing like it's soft breeze. My

(38:14):
hair will not dry in that regard. I have an amazing, amazing travel
hair dryer, and I've been througha few of them on my Amazon page,
which is Amazon dot com Flash SharpSlash, Corinna Travels. You can
go onto like travel gadgets, Ithink it is. And honestly, this

(38:34):
hair dryer like fits in my handlike that. It's really small, and
when it first arrived, I waslike, I don't know about this,
but it's really powerful. I havegot like enough hair for four people.
I've got so much hair and Ican totally blow out my hair with that.
It's really powerful. It's really good. I can't remember what it's called
now, but it's on that Amazonpage. I mean, I don't know

(38:58):
about you, but my hair isquite important to me. I'm not going
to feel great. It's kind oflike the outfits as well, I'm not
going to feel great unless my hairis looking fairly reasonable, so I think
it's worth taking. A lot ofpeople will say, don't bring your hair
dry, but I don't agree.I think you definitely want to bring.
You want to bring the things thatare going to make you feel pretty and
feel nice, you know. AndI used to get a carrot and treatment

(39:21):
and I need to again. Likeon this trip, my hair looked like
a toilet brush most of the time. It was just impossible. It was
really humid, and I don't knowwhat was going on with my hair about
I kept looking at photos and beinglike, oh my god, it's all
I think you're being a bit harsh. I all looked pretty fabulous to me,

(39:43):
Like I only showed the ones thatI was like doing a lot of
work with. So yeah, withyour toilet trees, do decant them down
into small travel bottles and get onesthat are specifically for travel so they don't
lick in your bag. Another thingis they get depending on how much rain
is. There's a lot of bitingmosquito things over there. Now, if

(40:05):
I'm in country, you're fine,They're going to blow right past you and
find me. They eat me alot, and I have found the only
only insect repellents that work for meare ones that have deep in them,
like really high amounts of deep.There's one you can get here in the
States by RAI called jungle juice.That's the only thing that saves me.

(40:28):
And I'm one of those people thatI not only get eaten alive, but
everything swells up in these big redgolf balls and I look like I've got
leprosy or something, and it's kindof blows the vibe a little bit.
It's really important though, because again, they can make you feel miserable,
and you don't want to be feelingmiserable on your trip. But I think
it's really important. My kids getthose saved welts, and it's I don't

(40:49):
get them myself, but now Ican see just how miserable it can be
if you if you get them,so it's worth while getting the repellent that
you know. Yeah, I havea super test for everybody listening if you
are someone that gets bitten. WhatI do is I take a small zip
blocked bag with baking soda in it. And this is a fantastic trick.
If you're super sunburned which can happen, or if you have bites and your

(41:16):
itchy, you make up this pastewith like a teaspoon of baking soda and
you just drop in enough water untilyou can get it into like a creamy
paste texture, and you paint thaton your bites. And I swear it's
a life saber because you've let itsit there until it dries, and then
once it's dried, it'll naturally likefall away. But it takes all the

(41:37):
redness out, it takes all thesting out, it takes all the itch
out, and so in the swelling, I had one of my travelers she
got a bitten right under her eyeand it was like this big swollen carbuncle.
It looked horrendous and it was brightred, and we put that on.
It took about thirty minutes and boom, it was done. It's a
life saber, and you know,it takes up no space in your suitcase,

(42:01):
so I don't go in anywhere withoutit at all. And then I
recommend bringing shower gel rather than hardsoaps, because hard soaps you tend to
leave behind, and again that's partof the problem, not part of the
solution. You want to make sureyou've got your duodrant with you obviously.

(42:22):
Well, I was going to askyou about makeup, because you're a makeup
artist. I do that would bereally interested to know what makeup you take
with you, so I really streamlineit down. You want to have one
look that you know, so yourfoundation and cheeks and eyebrows or whatever,
it's like one simple thing that youjust change your lip color or your eyeliner

(42:47):
to modify. But you don't wantto have lots of makeup there with you.
It's just a waste of space.You can buy a little empty palates
that you can as for over,like your four eyeshadows and your blush it
into and so now you've got thislittle rectangle with your stuff in it.
You really want to condense that downand really simplify it so that you feel

(43:12):
pretty. But you're not just havingtoo many things. I had one group
where they had these giant eyeshadow palettesand all the stuff with them, and
I'm like, what are you doing? And it's like, fire too much.
You're wasting all this space. Justkeep it really simple. Yeah,
when boot comes to shove, youmight take it all, but then you
get back and you realize you haven'treally used it, and I think that's
becomes a bit disappointing because then yourealize you haven't used it, and then

(43:36):
you realize that you've been liking yoursuitcase around it has been really heavy,
and it's sort of like I hadthese reflective moments where I've gone, yeah,
that's when I've had to change it. Does take a few trips,
I guess, to sort of figurethat out, and I've happily come to
that realization. And even just likegetting what I like to do is get
my eyebrows done and so I don'thave to or my eyelashes tinted, so

(43:58):
I don't have it even think aboutthat stuff really, you know, so
you don't have to carry all ofthose things with you all the time.
Yeah, And I decant down myfoundation, so I take it really almost
like a Bebe cream kind of foundation, really lightweight, because you don't want
to have that Kardashi face, youknow, where it looks ridiculous, especially
over there because like they're so chicand so sleek, and if you see,

(44:23):
like I'll see tourists stumping around andthey've got their contour going and their
highlight going and all this other nonsense. You know, it looks goofy.
So I want to have a niceshear base where it looks like skin.
But obviously most of us, youknow, can look a bit raw where
just plain. So I'll have likea bebe cream. I'll have one simple

(44:46):
blusher that goes the whole way throughit my eye whatever means with my eyebrows.
For my eyeshadow, it's like I'lltake three you know colors, light,
medium, duck. That's it.And I just do the same thing
every single day, and we'll changeup how much eye liner I'm wearing.
If I want to, like,if I want to do a pay all
lip, I'll have a bit moreliner on. If I want to a
darker lip, I have a bitless. But really streamline the whole thing

(45:09):
right down and howlps. When youget into that whole psychology of I'm going
to go with a not full suitcase. I've paired out all of my outfits
so I know these two lipsticks aregoing to work across all my outfits.
And you know, I've got thisreally simplified routine. And then I also

(45:31):
always take facial sunscreen. Like beinga makeup artist, I use this facial
sunscreen and a body sunscreen, liketwo different products, but I you know,
get those either in travel sizes orlike I never take a full size
sunscreen and I was get them intravel sizes. We've talked a lot about
makeup, and I know there aremen out there that we're makeup and that's

(45:53):
great, but we haven't talked aboutme. It's been a very female perspective.
So how about for the guys,what do you suggest? Because I
know, like I do review myhusband's packing, so I think, you
know, like he like, Ithink it's again, jeans are are problematic.
I would say, like you can, yes, have jeans in winter,

(46:15):
but if you're used to wearing jeansa lot, I would suggest the
Chino style of pants is really theway to go, and like a collared
shirt, even if it's a pololike I feel like Italians men are a
little bit smarter than what you willsee in our countries, just as a
general rule for sure, Like herein America or where I live in America,

(46:35):
you see lots of men wearing cargoshorts and graphic teas and that's just
you don't see that over there.They're very stylish, but I think,
especially when you're going to be goingout to eat and things, you want
to have a college shirt if you'rea dude, and you know, a
nice pair of pants, but they'vegot to be like comfortable too, So
you don't need to bring soup pantsor a suit jacket or anything like that.

(46:57):
Just something that looks smart, casualand that you're not going to die
of heat in. And just evenlike the shoes. My husband's got these,
you know, they're lace ups,but they're not sneakers, but they're
like soft, they're kind of slightlysmarter, and I know he always feels
like a little bit more comfortable,you know in those what he looks at
Tellian when he's Italian, so when'sItalian. But you want to again,

(47:22):
they need to be able to walkaround, like walk all day, So
always factor that in with your footwear. And there was one thing I forgot,
and this is a biggie for whenyou're flying. You want to be
wearing compression socks. So you wantto get the ones that go up to
your knees, and you know youcan get them everywhere, like there are

(47:42):
you know, even in the supermarketsand pharmacies and stuff. But you want
ones that are going to crunch ontoyour legs and bind you up. And
what they do is the exert pressurefrom your foot all the way up your
leg and they keep the blood stirculatingso it stops you from swelling. And
especially when you're doing long hall flights, you need to be concerned about DBT,

(48:02):
which is deep fame thrombosis. You'vegot to keep that fluids circulating.
And the way the difference in howyou feel when you're flowing with compression socks
versus not as unbelievable, but alsoyou might find again with all the walking
that you do, and especially ifyou're there in the summer time when it's
warmer and it's more humid, youmight find it at the end of the

(48:25):
day your carves and ankles are reallyswollen. And I was really paying attention
on this trip, like I was, you know, because when there's not
the sea of tourists, you canreally like actually look at people and see
what's going on. And they keptsaying how many people had swollen carves and
ankles and feet. So if thathappens to you, you can wear you're

(48:47):
a compression socks to bed, whichis like mad sexy, but say,
but it really will take that swellingdown, and again, it can be
very uncomfortable. I had one personon one of my tours who again,
and it's not about being overweight orunderweight or anything. She had amazing legs,
but she swelled up and her feetand ankles were so swollen for the

(49:13):
first few days, and so shewas having to wear a compression socks every
night, well mine actually because shedidn't have any to help bring that swelling
down. Yeah, because if yourfeet swell, and I might be talking
from experience here that you may notbe able to fit into your shoes and
then you might have a problem.You know, you do not want that
on your trip. You do not. Now I've got another section of packing.

(49:37):
This packing is so important is thatthere's so many things to think about,
but really as important the tech.I mean, I always take my
phone and a camera, but thenyou put all the extra bits, the
charging chords. But I like totake a power strip. This is This
is one I got from my dad. Actually, it's like he used to
travel a lot for work. Hegoes, don't buy all those extra plugs

(49:59):
and everything, just buy power streetfrom one plug. So you can plug
everything into the wall and you canhave like they will come with USB ports
now as well, so you cancharge your devices. They do so well.
I do as I pack a poweradapter because they have different voltage over
there. And if you, forexample, coming from America, if you

(50:21):
plug in your hair dryer or yourcurling iron for example, into just the
you can get the things that justhave the prongs that go in the wall.
If you do that, it's goingto fry it like the second you
turn it on, because it's goingto get too much electricity coming through.
So you want an adapter. Andagain on my Amazon page, I have
like pictures of the ones that Iuse. They cost nothing. You can

(50:43):
get them anywhere. They cost aboutwhat twenty dollars now twenty five dollars,
and they will convert to the voltageof the country that you're in, so
I just like slide it over toEurope and it does everything. And then
they all have like nowadays they willhave like four USB ports as well,
so you can be charging anything youneed to charge. But the big thing

(51:04):
is plugging in your electronics, youyour hair stuff and all that kind of
thing, because you don't want toblow you know, we're lucky here in
Australia. I think we've got thesame voltage as Europe, so it doesn't
have that same problem. But yeah, I've heard a lot of people have
had ruined their things over there.Yeah, the US voltage is one ten,

(51:25):
and I think all the rest ofyou are like two twenty or something,
so two hundred and something. Soit's just an automatic fry. So
if you don't have that power adapter, your Americans listening, you will fry
your hair dryer or your curling ironor whatever it is you're plugging in.
It's going to fry like that.And then now what's your plan? I
would cry actually if I didn't.I know that sounds vain, but it's

(51:50):
true. No, I totally would. I totally would. Another thing is
with your cell phone. Depending onwhere you are in the world, you
need to check in with your cellphone carrier and find out what their international
plan is because you don't want toget over there and find that you're running
up like a seven hundred dollar phonebill. So here in America it's particularly

(52:14):
pertinent. And then what I dois because you want access to lots of
data and like fast data, especiallynow when we're uploading so many things and
you want to be walking around withdata so you can work your maps and
you can google what is this thingI'm looking at and everything. I have

(52:35):
a I don't know what you callthem. It's like a little WiFi hotspot
thing. It's about the size ofa cell phone. And I actually got
my first one. I bought atthe airport in New Zealand at voter Phone.
So you already have those in Australia, but the one I have now
I actually so the first one Ihad, it was brilliant and I left

(52:57):
it on a train in Italy.Then I had to buy another one,
and I just went to voter Phonein Italy and bought it. And it
was like sixty dollars to buy thegizmo and then the simcard that they put
anne. Like just on this trip, it was I think eleven dollars for
fifty gigabytes of data and then Ican have multiple devices. So my friend

(53:19):
Jennifer, who just traveled with me, she was able to be on it
as well and upload everything she wantsand do everything, and we just had
this ton of Wi Fi. Wewere never out of data. But here
in America if there's a couple ofcompanies that make those things, but you
have to be on a monthly planwith them and they only give you a
small amount, and you know it'snonsense. I've actually got a sky Ron

(53:43):
that does it, and it worksreally well, and you can buy it.
You can buy a monthly plan,or you can buy you can just
buy it by the day, oryou can buy data packs or whatever.
And I've used it all over theworld and I love it. It's about
the size of like maybe a quarterof a candi of beans or something like
that, and it's light and youcan connect. I don't like a lot

(54:04):
of people say get a sincard,But what I don't like about that is
a lot of the security of apps. And even my bank now is tied
to my sincard. So if Itake my sincard out, which has got
my number on it, which hasthe authority for everything, you know,
I'm in real trouble. So andalso like to be people to be able
to contact me on my normal number. Yeah, so I think I agree.

(54:27):
I think the way to go isthe Wi Fi hotspot, and yeah,
there's a few different options. SoI've had my little voter phone Gizmo
for I don't even know how long, but they're phenomenal and if you're going
to be there for a couple ofweeks or more, it's really well worth
your while. And then another thingthat I sincerely recommend everybody is that you

(54:51):
get I call them all mophis,but you know those external charges for your
phone, and you want to getone that's scart least ten thousand mh's so
that you can take an iPad anda cell phone from completely dead and charge
them all the way up. AndI always have one of those in my
handbag because I'm always either charging myWi Fi gizmo or my phone like between

(55:14):
the two of them, so something'salways running out. But you don't want
to get in a situation where you'resomewhere fantastic and you want to take these
photos on your phone and your phone'sdead, or where you need to get
maps up to find out how toget to wherever you're going and your phone's
dead. You don't want that.So it's really handy to have, you
know, like what do they callit. They're like external phone batteries,

(55:36):
external batteries. MAFFI make them.Yeah, but I think I like.
What I like about the sky roomis it acts as a battery as well.
Yeah, I've got another techy thingthat I learned from one of the
photographers that I work with. Ifyou're taking a camera camera, like,
you can't always have your laptop andall of your gear to like upload from

(55:57):
your card. So my friend KeithPitts, who's a photographer here in Phoenix,
he said to me, take asecond SD card and every day stop
it out because that way, ifyour card fails, you've still got half
your photos. If one of yourcards fails, you've got half your photos.
If somebody steals your camera, you'vestill got half your photos. Like

(56:22):
you've got the photos from every otherday back at your suitcase, you know.
So it's a it's just a littlephotographer trick, but I think it's
quite brilliant because I have known peoplewho've who've like had a card wipe and
they've lost everything. There'll be floodsof teas. Oh my god, I
can't even imagine. And then fora selfie stick or one of those you

(56:45):
know, those tripods are really good. You can get those little they're like
they've got little bendy legs like littlelike three legs and they're bending, and
you can wrap them around a tree, you can wrap them around anything,
you can stand it up. Thosecan be really good and you can use
that sort of as a SELFI stick, although the selfistick salers are everywhere in
Italy, so if you wanted oneof those, you could use that.

(57:07):
And I take a kindle with me, so I used to forever just use
my iPad and have the kindle appon my iPad and read books that way.
If you're like me, I'm anavid reader, so I don't want
to be carrying tons of books withme. Finally, at Christmas time,
bought myself a kindle and I'm likeobsessed with it because it takes up no

(57:29):
space and wears nothing and it canhave something like three thousand or five thousand
or I don't even know all kindsof books on it. So that's a
real another real help. I've gotsome other random things that are good too,
like a reusable shopping bag, becauseyou would go to the shops.
They don't actually hand out shopping bagsin Italy. You have to actually purchase

(57:50):
them, and so I like totake it like one of those ones that
just folds up and you can justput into your handbag if you want to
be doing any grocery shopping. That'sone of my favorite things to take.
I always take. Have you everseen these collapsible water bottles? Yep?
Because in Italy you can go fillup your water in taps that have been
there for centuries, you know,fountains with very fresh drinking water, so

(58:13):
you don't have to actually go andbuy bottled water. If you're out and
about, you can just go fillup. And I like the collapsible ones
because if you once you finish,you can just shove them back in your
back. And that's actually a reallybig sustainable travel, eco friendly thing to
do. The biggest eco damage thatreally is happening is from single use plastics,

(58:34):
so the plastic water bottles. Andif you think about it on a
hot day, how many water bottlesare you going to buy? It can
be quite a few. And wheredoes all that go? So I always
think about Venice when all the cruiseships are, and when you've got five
cruise ships and you've got twenty thousandpeople, if each of them buys one
bottle of water, that's twenty thousandbottles that have to go somewhere and if

(58:57):
you think, well, what aboutthey're buying two bottles or three bottles,
like that's just horrible waste that youknow, it's a nightmare. So having
a collapsible bottle with you, orbuying one bottle of water and then it's
keeping on refilling it is tremendous.And then you'll see they call them nazone.
They're like a fountain with this thingthat looks like a nose that sticks

(59:17):
out and they're perpetually running, soyou get no bacteria in there and the
water is really icy cold. Youstick your bottle under, fill it up
and the way you go, it'sbrilliant. The other thing I know for
our American listeners that we don't reallyit's not really a thing here is wash
clots. Hotels don't have them.That was on my let's de beat me,

(59:43):
but tell us about that because italways baffles me. In the Facebook
group, everyone's getting quite concerned aboutwash cloths and you know, we don't
really use them here in Australia somuch. Yeah, so they don't have
them in Italy. So if you'resomeone that uses wash cloths like I use
them, when I'm take my makeupoff, I use them to cleanse my
skin at night. You want topack a couple with you, and I

(01:00:05):
always pack, so one of myfew exceptions on the single use plastics is
zip block bags. So I'll alwayspack a handful of ziplock bags for anything
that you've got that's damp that hasto now go in your suitcase. So
if you're a washcloth user, chancesare when you're packing and moving to your
next place, that wash cloth isstill going to be damp. So if

(01:00:27):
you can put it inside a ziplockbag, it's going to help you out.
And you'll find that they're just reallyhandy to hab If, for example,
you are being being it and you'vebeen to the grocery store and bought
bits and pieces and now you're moving, having ziplock bags to put them in
really helps. And then I alsobring for example, I bring a laundry

(01:00:49):
detrigent with me, so I'll havethat, like I don't want that opening
and spilling in my suitcase, sothat's going to be in a ziplock bag
as well. I want to tellyou how to avoid the whole ziplock bag
think completely with your laundry detergent.Have you seen these laundry detergent strips?
Light It's a feather and they justgo in the washing. You only need
like one little strip and it's like, oh no, it's like a like

(01:01:09):
two pieces of gum or something likethat and they go in the wash.
They do an amazing job. Ihaven't seen those. I learned something new.
Yeah there's something else that's just goingto tell you then too. Oh
yeah, yeah, yeah. SoI have zero travel phobias apart from one,
and that's bedbugs. I'm like,I'm phobic. Like when I go

(01:01:30):
into a hotel room, for example, I always tear it back the bedding
and have a look, and I'malways something that would just give me the
scream and here bdbs. Anyway,I always put those dryer sheets, you
know, the smelly dryer sheets thatyou throw in the dryer. I put
those in my suitcase just to keepsuitcase not stinky, you know, because

(01:01:52):
when again, when you're traveling,your suitcase can start getting smelly and then
that makes you close smelly. Soyou don't want that. So having dryer
sheets, two or three dryer sheetsand your suitcase, we'll keep it smelling
fresh. But I've found out thatbed bugs don't like dryer sheets apparently,
so if you put your suitcase ona bed that's got bed bugs, they're

(01:02:13):
going to go away from it rightthen go to it. That is a
good one. The other thing,which I think is kind of like I
must have, is, especially ifyou're a woman, is a pashmina for
a couple of reasons. One isto keep you warm. It's like it's
like a proxy jacket in the summer. We'll keep you, you know,
just cover up. But also ifyou're out in a bout and you're going
into a church, you do needto cover your shoulders. And if it's

(01:02:35):
a hot day, you can justput the pashmina over your shoulders and that's
that's fine to go into the church, and it's really important. Unfortunately,
someone very famous in the world didenter the Vatican the other day without her
shoulders covered, which I wasn't veryimpressed with, to be quite honest,
But all she needed to do wascover her shoulders with a pashmina and it
would have been much more acceptable.Yeah, even just a simple scarf,

(01:03:00):
you know, and you can buythem in the markets there for five dollars.
But just having like apachmin is greatbecause it'll keep you warm on the
plane, you know, So they'revery, very useful. But I always
have at least a scarf tied tomy handbag so that if I'm going in
somewhere, I can cover my shoulders. And that's this kind of a respect
thing as well. And you know, you shouldn't be wearing mid thigh skirts

(01:03:22):
and stuff to go into churches either, because all the churches are you know,
they're functioning, and they crack downon that. At the Pantheon in
Rome over the last few years.They won't let you in if you're you
know, got all this bare thighhappening and shoulders out and everything. So
that's another really it's a really good, really important one, because you want
to be respectful. Of course,all right now, for when we started

(01:03:44):
this conversation talking about testing, thishas been We're going this is an epic
episode. But I think there's someimportant things we need to take with us
just in these COVID times where doyou need to take your own masks,
because there it is still a requirement. One I can imagine it's going to
be for some time to wear masksindoors and on public transport, et cetera.
So we don't want to be takinga whole heap of disposable masks with

(01:04:08):
us. I think everyone now shouldhave like a collection of mask that they
can take with them. Well onthe planes. Some airlines require you to
have medical grade masks, so yourkN ninety five's are like, that's what
I flew with and they like.What I like about the kN ninety five
is that you can steal it atyour nose. They kind of have a

(01:04:28):
pouch over your nose and mouth becauseI find for me a lot of the
time I end up sucking the mouthmask to my mouth and getting frustrated and
irritated. So kN ninety five isreally really helpful. And you want to
check in with your airline as towhat their mask rules are, because you
don't want to get there with yourfabric masks and find that they don't allow.

(01:04:50):
Like I know, Luftanza is kNninety five and that's it, and
I can't remember what American Airlines was, but you have to have a mask
on the entire a flight, andI think that rule might stay in for
a while. So you need tobe making sure that you have a mask
that is comfortable that you can actuallybreathe and breathe in, and you know

(01:05:12):
that doesn't give you dumbo ears,So you don't want that. And I
think as well, just like theseare the things that it's just those little
things and if you forget them,it's annoying. Another little thing that people
forget is their medication. Take acopy of your prescriptions, take a backup
credit card. Yeah, you wantto back up credit card. You want
to take a copy of your prescriptions. And you want to separate any of

(01:05:34):
your prescriptions so that they're not allin one place. So if you've got
them in your suitcase and your suitcasedoesn't arrive when you do, then that
can be a problem. If you'vegot all of your medicines and your carry
on and they get confiscated for whateverreason, now you got to problems.
So just separate them off and thenthat keeps you safe. With the whole

(01:05:56):
COVID thing, I didn't want toget into a situation where I got over
there and got sick and didn't havethe things that I would like that I
know. So for example, herein America, we have dayqual and night,
well where if I start getting likea bad cold or something, that's
what I'll take. I didn't wantto be over there and feeling sick and

(01:06:19):
having to figure my way through apharmacy for what I wanted to use,
So I took some bits and piecesfor that, and some extra hydration,
you know, like electro light packetsand things like that, which I mean,
I'm fully vaccinated, so I wasn'texpecting to get sick. I just
don't want to be in a situationwhere I am I don't have with me

(01:06:39):
what I need. Yeah, I'mthe same. It's a balance, isn't
it. You can always buy thingsover there, but I don't. I
prefer not to waste vacation time goingto buy things. Yeah, And it's
just that thing if you're not feelingwell, and you know the products that
you would use at home, ifyou can get them in travel sizes or
in like capsule form instead of takingbottles of things, that that can be

(01:07:00):
a game changer, just the psychological. I know that dquill and night will
work, so I take those andboom, we're down. It's over.
Yeah, I have to make ajudgment. Cool, Karina, I think
we have packed. We have everyonepacked, so I think we've thought of
everything. I can't think of anythingthat we have and I do. It's
how you pack, so I'll goreally really quickly with us. Oh yeah,
so sometimes I'll use packing cubes.I'll normally do like a combination of

(01:07:25):
things. So packing cubes can bereally helpful, like separate off your tops,
separate off your bottom, separate offyour underwear, your somewhere or whatever.
It can be really really effective.I roll everything, so when you
roll your clothes, and you cango on YouTube to see how to roll
your clothes for travel, it justcondenses everything down so much. And then

(01:07:46):
it helps you stay very organized inyour suitcase, which again you want to
be. You don't want to havelike a big shamozzle or everything all over
the place. If you can rollall your things, all your tops in
a row, and all your orskirts or dresses her in a row,
it makes everything work really well.And then my friend Jennifer who just traveled
with me, she's when I wastalking about as a fashion stylist. She

(01:08:10):
uses space saver bags where everything goesin these like two coarse bags and the
air sucks out and they're like socompressed and so even though she had the
same number of outfits as I did, she had a half suitcase because everything
was just compressed down so much waseverything increased. That's what I be worrying
about. No, no, so, and I take a small it's like

(01:08:31):
a hundred meal or three ounce bottleof downy spray, which is spray.
You hang yourself up, spray itand all the wrinkles drop out. So
it's really effective. But the rollingis a game changer. It's so great.
I swear by it. Well.I love my packing cubes, especially
if you're traveling with kids or youknow you've sharing your suitcase with someone,

(01:08:53):
you just need them. We havethe color coordinated Griswolds Griswold's Family bake Asian
packing cubes, So it just makesthings a lot easier when you're packing and
unpacking for a family. But yeah, I love my packing cubes. Yeah,
well even even for an individual,because it helps you stay really organized
with what you're bringing and what you'rewearing and you know where everything is.

(01:09:16):
And the more you can keep thatside of your trip organized, just the
easier everything goes. I think.So I like to be organized, and
I think most of the people thatlisten to us really like to be organized.
We're not. We're not We're notwing it kind of people. I
don't think. I think we're allin the same wheelhouse here. I can
be disorganized with other things, butlike just knowing what my outfits are going

(01:09:38):
to be, what needs washing,what doesn't like it just clears a whole
lot of mental space and I canfocus on other things like Grappa Tasty.
That's the most important Grena. Thankyou so much. You always have such
excellent advice for our listeners, andI know they would like to stay in
touch with you, So how canthey connect with you? You in your

(01:10:00):
work. So my website is Karinacookdot com so c O. R n
Nacook dot com and that kind oflinks out to everything. I have a
newsletter that comes out twice a monththat's all about unusual places to go to
in Italy, places that you don'totherwise know about, or within the big

(01:10:23):
cities, things that you haven't heardof. So it's kind of fun.
Yeah, So if you go tothe websites, it's easy to link out
to everything there. I think Ithink it clicks into socials as well.
Oh it does, and we'll provideall that information to our listeners as well.
Gratama Karina for being my partner incrime again. I'm untold. Thank
you for having me back. It'sbeen so fun. We always have fun,

(01:10:46):
and I'm so glad you made itback to Italy and had such a
wonderful time. And let's hope weare all packing our suitcases very soon.
Grats here show everybody by wow.I think we cover everything there and if
we didn't, please let me know. I'd love to hear your packing tips
too. As always, you canreach out to us at chow at untold

(01:11:09):
Italy dot com via email. Now. We mentioned quite a few of our
favorite products on these episodes, soif you're interested in them, please head
on over to the show notes atUntold Italy dot com. Forward slash eighty
one for episode eighty one and you'llfind the links and details there. Show
for now. The Untold Italy podcastis an independent production podcast editing, audio

(01:11:31):
production and website development by Mark Hatter, Production assistance and content writing by the
other KD. Clark. Yes thereare two of us. For more information
about Untold Italy, please visit UntoldItaly dot com.