more questions for seasoned travellers

[ritaxis]

What kinds of clothes do you take to Europe in late August? Or more to the point, what do you take for an extended trip? I'm doing experiments with my clothes to see if they drip dry because Zac says that laundromats tend to be inconvenient. But clothes don't say "drip dry" on them anymore, they have all this bs, fussy directions for taking care of them I guess so theycan't be caught on a false promise.

It says here it rains 60-70 mm in August for both Amsterdam and Berlin. What does that mean? One or two big downpours, or a little drizzle everyday, or what?

Emma's going to have whopping big bottles of pain relievers and muscle relaxants. What kind of documentation does she need for the snoopers at the airports? Does she need a letter from the surgeon? Or just the prescription things? I'm going to have whopping numbers of non-scheduled prescription drugs, and I don't want to take all the bottles with me -- I just want to take the little boxes with the days marked out. If I have the prescription receipt things I get at the drugstore, will that be enough documentation?

And why is modern luggage so ridiculously heavy? I understand about the wheels, but what about stairs? I need to be able to lift the thing easily.

We have a couple of duffels, and that's what I mainly want to use. They're easy to carry and easy to stow. We might even be able to get all our stuff into carry-ons.

Comments

[ellarien]

I usually take a selection of medium- to light-weight skirts and pants, a few light sweaters, a jacket that is not a 'light jacket' in the American sense, lots of socks, T-shirts, walking shoes as well as sandals, a dress or two for really warm weather. I don't think this applies to northern Europe quite as much, but the UK at least is a bit more formal than California, and women wear more skirts.

I hear you on the heaviness of luggage. In the UK I can usually find elevators in the stations and airports, but not so much in Denmark, where the trains have steep stairs.

I'd suspect the rain would mostly be in the bit-of-drizzle category, but August can be thundery too.

There was a long thread on Making Light a couple of weeks back about carrying drugs through airports -- you might be able to pick up some pointers there.

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

Just wanted to second ellarien's suggestion for clothing.

Really just think layers. For city sight-seeing you need light weight tops or blouses (T-shirts and shirts for the blokes) and either thin sweaters or cardigans to layer over them in case the weather turns chilly, which it might in the evenings in a few week's time. Smart jeans or light weight trousers will be fine most of the time and can be dressed up with a nice top if you want to eat out in a restaurant in the evening. In addition you need a waterproof but lightweight jacket something like this. (Which reminds me that I must buy another one to replace the one I managed to lose at O'Hare airport.)

For beach or country walks, whatever you wear at home for that purpose will be suitable (shorts or jeans), but as ellarien said, in town you need to be somewhat smarter, but casual. By the way, if you're staying at some kind of holiday village in Denmark, I would think there would be a laundromat.

At present it's very very hot on this side of the Pond. How long it will last is anybody's guess! It was cool and occasionally grey and drizzly two years ago in Copenhagen, but hot (with one very spectacular thunderstrom) last year in Amsterdam.

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

You absolutely MUST carry medication in prescription bottles if you're going through international airports. Otherwise it can be confiscated, and you might be arrested. If you have big prescription bottles you don't want to carry on a short trip, some pharmacists will make small bottles with the same label information. Then you can put the small bottles in a cosmetics case. Once you get where you're going, you can transfer pills to your daily or weekly reminder case.

What do you mean by "non-scheduled prescription drugs?" There are 5 schedules of drugs...schedule 1 means the FDA does not recognize any legitimate medical use. schedule 2 means prescriptions are tightly restricted (for some narcotics and stimulants), schedule 3 prescriptions are much less tightly restricted, and the prescriptions are renewable in the ordinary way...schedule 5 medications include things like antihistamines and antibiotics. Even if you're carrying medication that is not restricted where you live, how certain are you that it's not restricted in any of the places you will be traveling? Can you prove you're authorized to carry it?

As for luggage, I find duffel bags cumbersome because they need to be carried over steps. The rolling kind are heavier than the non-rolling kind. A big backpack is easier, if you can handle it. There are backpacks with a rolling-suitcase frame, which seems to combine both advantages, but the rolling frame takes up space you can't use to pack stuff. So it's a trade off. The other trade-off is that people don't put the bag down so much when it's fastened to their back as when it's held in the hand.

For clothes, I recommend socks in lightweight wool if you're not allergic. Good against blisters and dries fast. Some plain silk shirts travel and wash beautifully -- the lightweight kind with no lining, no stiff stuff in the placket, usually a solid color. Some of them are labelled "dry clean only," because the manufacturer was paranoid, but the only thing that can go wrong in cold water hand-washing is the dye can run. Test by wetting inside the shirt-tail and rubbing with a white towel. If it's colorfast, or if the dye only runs a little and you decide you don't mind, wash in mild soap and cold water. If you squeeze it out with a towel before hanging it up, it will dry very fast. If you hang it up dripping wet, it will get rid of wrinkles.

[blackoakdreams.livejournal.com]

One thing to keep in mind is that you are probably taking too much luggage. I went with my class once, and for the three week trip (20 days, but whatever), we each had four changes of clothes, all of it relatively light-weight.

[green-knight.livejournal.com]

Clothes:
-Two changes of summer (shorts/skirt, delete as applicable)
-Two changes of trousers (one jeans, one more formal)
-Seven or eight T-shirts (I tend buy some abroad. They're more expensive in Europe, but make good souvenirs - which means I usually take one or two old and tatty/really *really* cheap which I can discard at the end of a trip)
-one formal shirt/blouse
-one light sweater
-one medium sweater
-one light jacket
-ten day's worth of underwear
-ten pairs of socks
-one towel
-toiletries&medications
-pyjamas
-sandals
-trainers
-formal shoes if required
-rain gear of some description. For city travel I tend to opt for a fleece and a hat; some people take/buy umbrellas, if I expect to get out and about in the countryside, I take a proper raincoat; but of of the tiny folding ones will do. The advantage of a proper raincoat (Goretex or derivates) is that, with a fleece underneath, it's nice and warm.)
(hand luggage:
-two books (more for longer journeys)
-walkman/MP3player
-sweets/nuts/carefully wrapped chocolate
-camera
-one outfit for the road - underwear, T-shirt, socks. When you're on the road for twenty hours, you really appreciate it)
-mobile phone
-sunglasses
-address book [these days, a private entry on livejournal is probably the better alternative, but when you get off the plane and need to find your hotel, you really want to have the details at hand with your passport]

That's the basic kit for a backpacking trip where space is limited and weight counts. (I can set out with 15kg and be away for months. I will come back with 25kg, most of which books, but that's a different issue)

Bear in mind that this allows for a moderate restaurant/family visit, but not for weddings, posh places, or anywhere else you might want to dress up; and that most people tend to be pickier about the number of outfits they travel with than I am; but this is what you _need_. Anything else is nice.

If you're taking a heavy jacket, wear it. Board the plane in lose-fitting clothes, you'll wear them for a long time. If you're having any doubt about deep vein thrombosis, get special stockings - *not* comfortable, but safer. (& on the plane, get up and walk about.)

Weather - nobody knows, anything can happen - scorching heat, moderate warmth, blowing winds, downpours, drizzle.

For the medication - take several smaller bottles, at least one of them in your hand luggage (you don't want to lose your only bottle), and take, if possible, a brief letter from a doctor explaining she's had back surgery and *needs* medication. If you're paranoid, try and find out what the local equivalents would be in case there _is_ trouble and she needs to see a doctor over here.