Travel Packing Secrets

What do you wear when you’re flying into the biggest storm the UK’s seen in decades?? Let me share my travel packing tips with you! I’m flying to London today to work with some of my favourite clients AND squeeze in some much needed girl time. I’m actually on the plane right now but we ain’t going nowhere thanks to Storm Eunice.

So I thought I’d share with you how I pack. It may be the only outing these outfits get!

Travel Packing Secret #1: Prepping Outfits & Taking Photos

Here’s my biggest travel packing secret: before a trip I workshop my outfits in advance (and take photos!) so I can see what works and what doesn’t.

This process helps me to…

• Pack light – more outfits from less items
• Stops me having a wardrobe meltdown when I arrive and realise nothing goes together & I forgot my shoes!
• Gets me really excited about my trip! As I start thinking through what I’ll be doing each day.
• Helps me make good choices. Outfits look different in a photo than in the mirror. Weird but true. Take full length selfies. The extra perspective makes better decisions.
• Calms my homebody travel anxiety. Feeling happy & comfortable in my style, helps me feel happy & comfortable in myself. Prepping my outfits in advance removes that extra layer of stress that being more ‘out & extrovert’ than normal causes little ‘ole introvert me.

 

Travel Packing Secret #2: Outfit Alchemy Exercise

What I’m looking for when doing this outfit alchemy exercise is… Does this work?

• Does this work functionally? For the occasion & environment? For me this trip when it’s gonna be cold, wet & I’ll be doing lots of walking, but I’ll be seeing clients and going for nice meals too, so I want comfort, functionality AND style. This meant finding trousers & skirts that work with rain boots & trainers, cosy layers that don’t add bulk, a super lightweight raincoat that fits over my coat and fun tops & sweaters for indoors.
• Does this work visually? Do the colours work together? Do the proportions work – the length and shape of the tops with the bottoms?
• What would make this better? A different bra? A different base layer? A different shoe? Basically EVERYTHING looked better with my white Hudson London boots but I couldn’t fit them in my cabin bag 😂
• Is there some contrast? Contrast is key to bringing outfits to life and adding interest. Think masculine with feminine (like rainboots with a silky maxi skirt) old & new, smart with casual, texture with smooth or baggy with fitted.
• How does this outfit make me FEEL? There were many options that just felt really meh, and that’s helpful because when I created something I really liked, my whole energy shifted! Like when I paired the print clash maxi skirt & layered tops with the rain boots – my inner child squealed with delight! Print! Contrast! Slightly weird layering! Old & new! Yay!

What are your top tips for travel packing? Let me know in the comments!

While I’m here, I also wanted to share with you something that really helps me keep calm even on a stormy flight..

Meditation changed me

I am super excited because I am also going to London to learn something NEW! I’ll be making a big upgrade that I have been wanting to make for the last two years! The clients I’m travelling to London to work with also happen to be my meditation teachers from London Meditation Centre.

I met them 16 years ago when I attended one of their free Vedic Meditation intro talks and went on to do their 4-day meditation course. I had tried meditation before, many kinds actually, but none had really worked for me. I’d almost given up on the idea of EVER being able to meditate when a friend recommended Jillian Lavender and Michael Miller.

Their approach, an ancient technique presented in a very modern straight-talking way, had changed his life. And it changed mine too. It makes me emotional to think back to how I was when we first met.

I was struggling. I was depressed and anxious. Meditation changed me. It literally changed how my brain works. Meditation made me resilient. It turned my weaknesses (#HighlySensitiveHSP #introvert #empath) into strengths. Meditation expanded my consciousness and let me dive deep, deep, deeper into that place where all the good stuff is, but that I’d only had hit n miss access to before. The place where creativity lives, new ideas, curiosity, connection and LOVE.

Now I can drop into that place any time I choose to, even on a packed tube train…or a stormy flight just by closing my eyes for 20 minutes. Vedic meditation is deceptively simple AND deceptively powerful.

And now I’m taking it to the next level! Whoop! Whoop!

If you’re curious about meditation and you’d like to know WHAT it does and WHY it actually works, check out the new book by Jillian Lavender “Why Meditate: Because It Works”. It is absolutely brilliant.

Do YOU meditate or have you tried it before? Let me know!

Right, 3 hours on the runway & we’re finally taking off! I hope you enjoyed these travel packing tips!

Big Love,
Leesa ✨