What I Packed For A 24 Hour Trip

I tend to overpack, especially for shorter trips. Last week I went on a 24 hour trip, and I deliberately tried to restrain myself when packing. Here’s how it went.

Last week I went on a short one-night stay in Gothenburg, Sweden. The purpose? Attending a concert with the Swedish household name Håkan Hellström. I went with a childhood friend, who’s pratically been my life witness since the age of seven. Now, we try to do these short road trips each or every second year to have some time to catch up. This time too, we had a great time.

But back to what I packed: As mentioned, I am not great at travelling light - especially not for short 24-48 hour trips. I simply bring way too much clothes and too many shoes. There are probably several reasons for this, but it has definitely got something to do with me wanting to have some options and also playing it safe in terms of “what if…”. So I often end up with a huge bag of clothes quite unproportional to the length of the trip.

This time around I wanted to restrain my self a bit, and one of the tools was simply to limit myself with a smaller bag than usual. My go-to travel bag is a vintage french pilot kit back (still some available at Universal Surplus), as it easily holds clothes and shoes for up to a week (depending on activities and season of course, winter garments typically take up more space).

I have recently purchased a Porter Yoshida Two-Way Helmet Bag and wanted to road test it. A more spacious bag than it looks, but I would need to limit myself in what I packed.

My thoughts on what to pack went along these lines: No need for tailoring, but still need for something casual-elegant for going out for a meal and a couple of beers. I also wanted something that could be layered and work in a stadium concert setting (taking the risk of light rain or showers into account) and something where the different elements were somewhat interchangeable.

So here is what I packed:

• Dark Blue Selvedge Jeans (Allevol)

• Dark Brown Boat Shoes (Paraboot)

• Selvedge Denim Shirt (PS x 100 Hands)

• Heavy Black Cotton Tee (PS x Allevol)

• White Undershirt (PS)

• Navy Twill Chore Jacket (Drake’s)

• Jungle Jacket (Vintage via Universal Surplus)

• Cotton Knit (Rubato)

• Neck Scarf (Anderson & Sheppard)

• Two pairs of socks (Rubato) and underwear

Along with toiletries, a book and a few other things, this could exactly fit in the bag. It actually impressed me a bit just how flexible and roomy the helmet bag is (though it looks a bit better not stuffed to the brim).

In itself, the above gives some different possibilities, mostly varying jacket or tee/shirt/knit. Combined with what I wore for the trip, a few other combination were possible.

For the trip (Copenhagen to Gothenburg by train - a 4h ride) I wore this:

• Wax Jacket (Barbour Beaufort)

• Suede Chore Jacket (Drake’s)

• Cream Knit Polo (Berg & Berg)

• Mid-Blue Selvedge Jeans (Rubato)

• Dark Brown Deer Belt (Rubato)

• Suede Tassel Loafers (C&J x Anglo-Italian)

• Cap (Prologue)

All in all a lot of combinations with (relatively) few garments. For the concert (no rain) I went with the navy chore jacket, Allevol jeans, denim shirt and boat shoes. It felt quite “me” in the setting, and the concert was great as expected.

In retrospect I could have left the jungle jacket at home, as I only wore it sparsely. Or, if it hadn’t rained heavily when I left for the train station, I would probably not have brought the Barbour. Also, I didn’t wear the black tee, but opted for the cotton knit under the suede chore jacket on the trip back to Copenhagen. One of the two pairs of jeans could have been cream instead of blue.

Had the weather been warmer, I would probably have added a pair of semi-high-rise shorts, but kept tops and accessories, as I think they would still work. For a more holiday-ish trip, I’d probably swap the tassel loafers for some canvas trainers. Variations are endless, but for me context is king: Activities, location and so forth (The Time/Place/Occasion-Doctrine).

Now, these were my considerations. I’m sure readers have their own rules of thumb for packing for shorter trips without bringing one week’s worth of clothes. Do let me know in the comment section.