A difficult trip and how I discovered that a mix of light green, peach, and highlighting eye shadow can hide dark circles

When I have an uneventful trip, I consider that a small miracle. Today, I paid for all the stolen small miracles with a trip from hell.

Trip: Scranton, Pennsylvania to Denver, Colorado.
Original plan: American Airlines, leave at 7:30pm, arrive at 11:50pm.

Morning of the trip: American Airlines informs me that I will be missing my connection in Charlotte because of a delay out of Scranton. I call and they rebook me on United, flying through Chicago instead of Charlotte.
New plan: United, leave at 5:30, arrive at 9:20pm (I am actually happy about the change, as it gets me to Denver earlier).

At the gate at the Scranton (Wilkes-Barre) quaint little airport: I notice that American Airlines is not flying any of their planes. I get online and discover that Charlotte underwent a major computer meltdown and the airport has essentially been shutdown since the day before.

Boarding gets delayed 15 minutes because the coffee maker on board was malfunctioning (or maybe not).

We get on the runway, right on the wide strips. Expect a revving up of the engines, and the acceleration. We taxi for a while on the runway, then veer off of it. We wait out a thunderstorm. 15 minutes. By then, I am starting to worry about my connection in Chicago O'Hare, it's a big airport.

We arrive over Michigan and start going around in circles. Weather over O'Hare has grounded all traffic. After 45 minutes of holding, we have to land for fuel. We end up in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where we wait for hours.

10pm: We finally make it into Chicago. But upon deplaning, we are informed that the jet bridge requires repair. We sit on the plane for 10 minutes while they take care of that. My connection got delayed to 11:45 so I am in no hurry.

11pm: At the gate, we are informed of a further delay. Now 12:20, arrival 2am.

2am: We land in Denver (that's 4am for me, with the jetlag).

3am: I am at the United lost luggage service desk. Despite over one hour in Chicago to transfer luggage, my suitcase stayed behind.

4am: I turn in for the night at my Airbnb. I don't sleep much both because of jetlag (by now it's almost time for me to wake up) and because of the fact that my earplugs are in my overnight toiletries kit that I cleverly put together... and put in my checked luggage. I didn't want to go through the headache of little bottles and baggie for my liquids. And because of unfortunate living arrangements in the past, I have gotten addicted to sleeping with earplugs.

8am: I get out of bed looking awful and missing all my liquid makeup. That includes the concealer. I make do with eye shadow.

There is a happy ending. One, I got to my destination and two, my luggage was delivered in the early afternoon.

Packing: trip to Austin, TX

Nature of the trip: 3 weeks, activities ranging from business to home improvement, possibly some dancing. Climate: season change from spring into early Austin summer. Hot to very hot, with possibly one more "cold" front (for reference, in case you are wondering what high summer is like if early summer is very hot, the third kind of hot I use to describe the climate in Austin is "miserably hot"). The weather in May is mostly dry, but when it rains, it comes down hard. Extended periods in ferocious indoor air conditioning (Texans like heat, as long as they can spend their summer in the arctic blast of AC set to "freeze everything in sight"). Leaving from cooler climate.

Step 1 The base outfits

Because this is summer travel (light clothing), I am allowing myself to break the rule of bringing mainly separates for increased versatility. Instead, I am centering my travel wardrobe around a set of selected dresses. Dresses take less thinking, as one garment can make an outfit. With a dress, one also has the option of having a loose waist or no waist at all, much appreciated in hot weather. And with cover-ups and layering pieces, dresses can also be versatile.

The dresses, arranged from least formal to most formal. In the middle, there is a wide crossover between dresses that can be worn both for business and leisure purposes.

Another rule of packing light is to pick a color palette and stick to it. Since this is a three week trip and one color can get boring, I picked two: blue/greens and pink/orange.

The left-most dress is one I will wear when at home. It doubles as a nightgown if needed, or as a swim-suit cover-up. It's easy slip-on slip-off and comfortable.

The next 3 dresses can be dressed up or down. The blue one and the salmon one are my favorite dresses to wear when it is hot. They are both light cotton. The blue one ties under the chest, while the salmon one barely touches the body. It also doubles as a long skirt for added possibilities.

The salmon dress working its magic in Hawaii.

The green dress with white flowers is another comfortable one. Rayon, no belt. The last two are more dressed up and also better for cooler temperatures, having defined waists, and being lined. The right-most is my go-to dress while flying, because it absolutely does not wrinkle, is non-constricting, and has a medium length, flowy skirt (no worries about sitting down and showing too much of anything, or on the flip side being impaired while walking or running). It is the dress I will be wearing flying to Austin. In Austin, it is not clear that I will be able to wear it past the first week.

Step 2: Layering pieces and cover-ups

When I stay in Austin in the spring (I don't do summers anymore), I am torn. One part of me wants to go outside butt naked because the thought of wearing clothes seems unbearable considering the heat. The other part of me wants to be stylish, and in a professional setting, a little modest. That's where the art of the cover-ups that don't cover much comes in.

The cover-ups. From left to right: a sarong, two lace almost-no-there vests, one short-sleeve for more cover, and a classic cardigan when a little warmth is needed

Most of my cover-ups are white or off-white, for versatile pairing. With the exception of a light purple one that fits within my color schemes. It goes well with the blue dress, and brings it from sundress to office wear.

I never travel without a sarong anymore, be it summer of winter. In the winter, they can accessorize a plain sweater or double as a winter scarf. In the summer time, they do a lot. Lay it down on the grass and sit on it, use it as a shawl when a little warmth is welcome, wear it at home as a dress or a skirt, use as swimsuit cover-up. A light fabric makes them easy to wash and dry.

To further modulate the desired amount of coverage and level of warmth, I am also packing two tank tops (one white, one grey), a white T-shirt, and a white long sleeve T-shirt. The latter is almost exclusively for indoor use (where it's cold in Texas), or if it happens to be cold when I leave Pennsylvania, possibly for the early part of the trip. Also, white leggings. They work for added warmth with the green dress at home, with my jean skirt (see below), or with the shorter dresses.

Some separates

It sounds insane to bring nothing but dresses on a trip, right? Even for me, yes. So I am bringing a few separates, for added versatility.

I am keeping with my palette of blue/green, pink, and off-whites. It's still mostly skirts, because that is mostly what I wear. And again, when it's hot, they are more comfortable. On particularly miserably hot days, when I am about to step out the door and get arrested for public indecency, I put on my jean mini-skirt. It's low waist and short. The tops I chose are non-restricting or breathe otherwise. Again, there is a range in how formal the bottoms are, from a summer suit skirt, to lace shorts. Off camera, I have another pair of shorts, to wear at home and for the home improvement part of the trip.

Shoes

That is the trickiest part of the planning for a trip, as shoes take up a lot of space and weight, even my child size summer shoes. So a lot of thought goes into minimizing the number of pairs one brings along. My standard choice for summer travel is a pair of pumps (for when closed toe footwear is desirable), a pair of sandals to wear everyday, and a pair of sneakers.

My favorite summer travel pumps are a sturdy, nude pair that crosses over from office to leisure. They can be worn with a formal outfit while not looking strange when paired with my jean skirt. Both the pumps and the sandals are mid-heel, for comfort and style. This time around, I am bringing my Highschool musical sneakers. They have survived through medium hikes and moderate amounts of dirt and mud and are a good choice for this trip. Both the pumps and the sneakers can be useful when it rains, though it is best to stay out of the rain altogether when it comes down, as when it rains in Austin, it rains hard.

For the trip, I will be wearing the pumps. They come off the easiest at security and go well with my dress.

Bonus Japan post: the capsule hotel experience

While reposting pictures on this blog, I realized that I never talked about my capsule hotel experience in Tokyo, back in 2012. Following a lodging booking mistake on my part, I nearly ended up homeless in Asakusa. I was able to find a bed in a capsule hotel and spent two nights there. In a way, while it was stressful going around Tokyo with a friend and colleague without knowing for sure where I would be spending the night, I am glad I got to experience the capsule hotel.

The hotel was far from luxurious, but safe, clean and the staff was professional. That pretty much describes Japan.

Much like a hostel, you are essentially renting a bunk bed in a dormitory style room. However, your bunk bed is outfitted with full privacy, your own outlet and light. You can read at night without disturbing other people in the dorm and you have a dark, quiet space to sleep. It is a great low-cost accommodation.

The hotel was gender separated, with men on different floors from the women.

The door to the dorm room.

The capsule bunk bed. A heavy curtain closed off the entrance if I wanted privacy.

Next to each bunk bed, there were personal lockers for valuables

There was a common storage space for luggage, and a personal locker for valuables.

The rest of the hotel was setup to accommodate a high population density, while minimizing wait times for access to the miscellaneous facilities.

Outside the bunk beds room, there was a common area with low sinks to brush our teeth and do our makeup.

There were also restrooms on the same floor. This is where I first learned how to use a Japanese toilet (they had helpful diagrams on the walls to help with that, as it is not intuitive).

A Japanese toilet. Now you understand the use of special slippers to use the toilet (see post on the slipper etiquette)

The washroom was on a different floor. There was a common bath and even a small sauna. I elaborate on the Japanese bath in a post on the Japanese bath etiquette. 

There was also a surprisingly nice common area for meals. And I am not sure if that was included in the price, or if the old lady who took care of the place felt that I was not having a healthy breakfast, but I was treated to a very nice miso soup and rice in the morning. It gave me the opportunity to practice my "gochisosama" (see Japanese table etiquette) as I was leaving and spotted her sweeping the stairs. 

The dining room

Travel makeup kit

I often travel for business, so having a complete, compact makeup kit is important. Even as a tourist, I like to maintain a minimum of a semblance of being put together. The challenge is to do that with a minimum of volume and weight.

This is it, at the moment. This is good for about two weeks, if I use my foundation every day.

It includes:

• Day moisturizer with SPF 50PR+++ for good measure 
• Eye cream 
• Foundation 
• Loose powder, concealer, cream shadow and highlighter 
• Peach blush, pink blush 
• Mascara 
• Brow powder 
• Eyelash curler (the purple device, special travel version) 
• Blush brush 
• Lipstick, one in pink tones, one in red/nude tones 
• Lipbalm and lipgloss permanently reside in my purse and so are not pictured. 

Aside from my travel eyelash curler and a number of small tubes of foundation, there are more items that I save for when I travel.

One is the loose powder/concealer and more set. The whole things gets screwed one on top of the other, to form a single, compact cylinder.

I also like lipstick palettes. It's like bringing multiple lipsticks in one. This one is in pink tones, good for summer. The retractable lip brush is stored in the top, which also comes with a built-in mirror.

Speaking of retractable, love my blush brush in a tube. The gold sleeves comes out to gather the bristles, then one can put the cap on and push everything in.

For summer travel, I replace the liquid foundation with a tube of green BB cream (the kind that hides redness). It is light, but can be built up. It is still good to set it with loose powder so I always bring that. And I skip the mascara, unless I expect to have to dress up for a formal occasion. I curl my lashes and fill my brows to give the illusion of having done my eyes.

For light travel or shorter term, I might do without eye cream and I bring only one shade of blush and one shade of lipstick (and coordinate with the clothes I bring accordingly). I usually end up bringing the pink blush and nude lipstick. I really like brow powder, but if I want to save space, I can go with a brow pencil.

Some further travel makeup tips, good also for a long day at the office or at home:

• lipbalm can be used to wipe makeup smudges around the eyes. Pat on the smudge and wipe gently with tissue paper. 
• body lotion doubles perfectly as makeup remover. But it can't be used for mascara removal (another reason to skip the mascara when traveling light). I use body lotion as makeup remover even when I am at home, as a cost saving measure.