What to Bring
I started thinking about packing around two months ahead of time, I started out by researching the weather averages for the months of May in June in all of the places we would be visiting. However, I’ll just say this now, doing this is not necessarily accurate, so depending on the season bring very transferable clothes that can be used for different temperatures. I was not expecting the high temperatures we got… so I ended up wearing my cooler clothes more than I was planning.
That leads to another helpful hint, bring clothes that are easy to wash and dry. Having clothes that dry quickly after washing them in the sink is crucial. It’s also nice to bring clothes that can all go together so that it doesn’t feel like you’re wearing the same thing over and over again. I had to keep in mind that some places need more conservative clothes, I packed a lightweight scarf.
I made my packing list a few weeks in advance and I used Google Docs, that way whenever I thought of something I needed to bring, I could just add it to the list no matter where I was. I made it as detailed as possible, including what goes in my carry-on vs. my personal item vs. what was going to be on my body on the plane. I also made a list of what I wanted to buy once in Europe.