We got back from Park City, Utah on Sunday. It was beautiful and I loved it. If I could live there I would move today right now!

Here are some photos from Park City; the beautiful flower, valley with trees, and sun coming up over the hills are my mom’s 🙂

It was a little weird packing this year. We went for the Holy Days we have every fall; it’s always church every morning, and a couple of times, morning + afternoon.

But this year, with social distancing (thanks, COVID), church was a little bit different. Instead of going to church every day, there were two groups of people who would go on alternating days, because the hall was not large enough to accommodate everyone while practicing social distancing. For those having the “off” day, there was a live webcast to watch.

So I packed very little church clothes…and made up for it by packing 6 pairs of shoes and two pairs of slippers. This might sound ridiculous to you, but it absolutely is.

I don’t always pack 6 shoes, but I had room so why not?

Below are some things that I ALWAYS pack when traveling, and you should too!

I may have been a little gung-ho about this, but we each have a couple of masks that we wear, I wash them so why have more? At home we keep them in the same place, and in each car is a single use mask just in case.

But I decided to get a pack of 5 throw-away masks and pack them, just in case. Carry-on and checked bag.

Being in a new place I didn’t find the spot to keep my masks to grab when rushing out of the door, so I’m glad I brought them. And once, Glen thought he forgot his, but it was squirreled away in the glove box so we were ok!

This next one is pretty major:

This, of course depends on how much you’re packing, what sort of place you’re going and if you’re doing just carryon, or checking.

My #1 piece of advice about luggage: if you can, spend a little money. Luggage can be expensive, but go for the good quality – it will last longer, and most of the higher priced brands come with warrantees, which is great, because that stuff gets thrown around and banged up.

Here are some brands that I like: Rimowa, Tumi, Swiss Gear – and hard cased so nothing gets wet or poked through.

When I’m only taking a carry-on, I will use a soft suitcase or weekend bag.

This weekend bag is old, probably have had it for 10 or 11 years; here’s why I like it:

The fabric on the outside is waxed canvas – so water repellant; it is lined; the zipper is solid, as well as the other hardware. Really thick fabric handles attached with leather, and pockets with two magnet fasteners that really have to be pulled to open.

I prefer the cloth bag over leather or other material because with cloth, it can fit/scrunch into smaller, strange shaped places.

This particular bag is over 10 years old and I couldn’t find it anywhere, but I’m linking one here that looks about the same and great quality: Wooser Weekend Bag

Now, these two things below are very important:

Who knows what your skin will do in different climate? These saved my life (slight exaggeration) in Utah. Actually, I had the Bee Magic skin cream as well as a really thick body cream – both of which I used…coming from humid Houston to dry Utah sort of did my skin in. But I would still move there today 😉

Back to the shoe thing, when I pack, I put all of my shoes in shoe bags. It keeps them organized and easy to find when unpacking.

I also do prefer my shoes to not touch my clothes, so there’s that. The shoe bags I have are ok quality, not the best, BUT they have a clear plastic bit at the bottom so that you can see the shoe:

I will add two more items: sunscreen, and some heavy duty mints; is airplane breath a thing? I’m asking for a friend…

So there you have it! Pretty basic stuff, but definitely things that make my life easier when traveling!