Travel Tuesday: Week 13

Hello, and welcome to another edition of Travel Tuesday! This week's topic: What’s the longest continuous vacation you’ve ever been on? What was hard about it? What did you like? How did you pack? As always, you are free to write about anything travel-related; don't feel obligated to answer my prompt. And, of course, don't forget to link up below!

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I already talked about packing for a long trip in my second Travel Tuesday post, but it was my very first link-up so many of you might not have seen it. I'll re-summarize my packing tips here, but check out the old post for my complete packing list for a 24-day overseas trip and more detailed advice:

• Choose one neutral color (black or brown usually) to plan your outfits around. This cuts the amount of shoes, belts, purses, etc., you need to pack in half.
• All your pieces should coordinate. If you have a shirt you can only wear with one other piece in your suitcase, don't take it.
• Wear your bulkiest items on the plane. For me, this usually means running shoes, jeans, a light jacket and a scarf. Wearing layers will also ensure you can comfortably adjust to the temperature of the plane.
• Leave room for souvenirs.
• Put dryer sheets inside your shoes and between clothes to keep everything smelling fresh. Bring a plastic bag for dirty clothes to keep them separate from your clean clothes throughout the trip.
• Don't buy travel-sized toiletries; they are a total rip-off. I bought plastic 3-ounce squeeze containers at Target for less than a dollar each and filled them with shampoo, conditioner and body wash from my regular stash
• Remember to keep all your valuables and irreplaceable items (e.g. laptop, valuable jewelry, money, passport, travel itineraries, prescription medicine) in your purse or backpack in case you have to check your carry-on at the gate. I always like to keep an emergency set of clothes and my toothbrush in my purse, too, just in case my bag gets lost. 

My trip to Africa was my most recent long trip, but when I was younger, my family would often be gone for three to four weeks at a time in the summer. This usually meant a week at a conference in one state, a week at my grandparents' in Pennsylvania and then another week at my grandparents' in North Carolina, or some other combination of connected trips. In those cases, we could do laundry at my grandparents' so it wasn't as hard to pack.

Mostly, I chose this prompt because the last time I addressed taking a long trip was at the very beginning of my link-up, and I'd like to hear stories from all the wonderful bloggers who have joined since then. And, of course, if you have any ideas for future topics, please leave them in the comments.

Next week: What's the funniest thing that even happened to you while traveling? This can either be an actually funny story, or something that was terrible at the time but is funny when you look back now. Thanks to Jessica at Sweet Green Tangerine for the topic idea!