Packing for Paris – & Everywhere! :-)

I’ve been asked this question now *a lot*. Though I had a section on “Packing for Paris” in my very very very OLD book “Fempowerment: A Guide To Unleashing Your Inner Bond Girl,” some of the suggestions are from 20 years ago (wow that book is old LOL), so here you go.

THIS ARTICLE was the best one that I have found about what women should wear in Paris, from what we saw there a couple months ago. One thing it doesn’t mention – Parisian women don’t really wear earrings. It’s one of those annoying articles with a LOT OF ADS in it, but the information is 100% sound.

Below is a list I made for a friend who wanted a list of “what works for me” when I am traveling. NOTE: I DO NOT get paid for any of these Amazon links. You’re welcome. FWIW, I keep a ridiculously long packing list “template” in my “travel drawer,” and just edit as necessary. It includes things like tweezers, a folding metal straw, a folding metal “spork,” and then different clothes/hats/etc. for different seasons. It’s split into what goes into a carry-on and what gets checked (presuming I’m checking a bag), plus a section on what to do “before I leave” (such as set up a vacation response, hold my mail via USPS.com, etc.) I’d share it here, but it’s in the free version of Evernote which doesn’t let me download it. Whaa-WHAAA. HERE is a post from a few years ago with some “travel tips,” too. Some of these tips are no longer relevant (for example Mime & Moi went out of business :-( ) so take it for what it is. Anyway . . . That List! –

1.  “HIDDEN POCKET” travel scarf (ordered a ton of these on Amazon, returned all but this one). Way way WAY better than any of the “hide your passport here” suggestions that generally involve weird zipper wallet things you wear around your neck (until you don’t, ‘cos it’s a pain).
2. Have a coin purse for Euros! Since you generally won’t need your driver’s license, etc. don’t take them. Put them somewhere you will FIND THEM when you get home! (like in your fridge LOL)
3. Be sure you have the Uber app. There are Ubers EVERYWHERE in Paris but more importantly, the TAXIS use the Uber app too. You put in where you want to go (if you’re not going to take the Metro, which is SUPER EASY) and then choose which “method” you want. At Charles de Gaulle, however, do NOT use an Uber – walk out to the taxi stand. It’s a set price to the left bank, a different one to the right bank.
4. The Metro has an app too!!!!! Download it, fund it, then you don’t have to buy tickets.
5. If you have Clorox wipes in your purse, keep them in a ziplock. Mine leaked. Be sure to wipe everything on the plane, including the fold down tray (saw someone change a baby on one and then fold it back up, and no one of course cleaned it between EEK!), seat arms, seatbelt, window shade, etc. If your seatmates gives you a turned up nose (sometimes they do, thinking you’re being “overly paranoid” ‘cos “COVID is so 2 years ago”) just tell them the baby story. They’ll ask you sheepishly for their own wipe….
6. Keep an extra N95 mask in your purse. Wear one on the plane. Just do it. Do you want to get sick 3 days after you start your trip?
7. CELL PHONE STRAP: *Amazingly* useful because it can be made long enough to put your phone in your back pocket, or short enough to just be around your neck easily without fumbling. Keeping your cell phone in your purse is dumb. Be sure to have the “camera” button on the home screen so you can just “swipe and shoot.”
8. Another thing in the “smartest thing I’ve ever bought” category – hard shell case with 4 card hinged back – at home, contains my drivers license, medical card, ATM, and Amex. I didn’t bring my driver’s license to Paris, so added an additional Visa that wasn’t my ATM. I never carry a purse any more when “out and about.”
9. Presuming that you’re wearing your N95 mask in close public places, a strap like this keeps it near you versus in your purse where you’ll say “Oh, it’s too much trouble to get it out.” I also bring COVID tests.
10. Purse Fan: The directions are in “Japanglish” so be sure you know how to use/plug in/etc. before you go, but SO GREAT if it’s going to be warm.
11. My travel partner to New Zealand had this travel clock/flashlight and I LOVED IT and so I bought one.
12. BY FAR the easiest/lightest/quickest charger I have (this stays in my purse and a “plus” is that it has the “wire” attached for charging either a <newer> iPhone or Samsung).
13. This wall charger was a LIFESAVER since I could charge my phone, ipad, watch, etc. in ONE plug that I then attached to the universal charger.
14. Speaking of, this is a great universal charger (you plug #13 into the top and still have more plugs on the bottom if you need them). Doesn’t work for Australia/New Zealand/Fiji/Argentina, but that’s what this one is for LOL.
15. BY FAR the best “no show” socks – they don’t slip. Used with my loafers and my “cool” sneakers (Keds or Chuck Taylors are okay – big-bottomed “athletic shoes” not so much.)
16. Although not small enough to fit in a purse, this umbrella folds “backwards” so is fantastic for getting in/out of cars/taxis/etc. This travel umbrella is small enough to carry. Both are “bomb proof” – especially in strong winds.
17. These “makeup washcloths” REALLY WORK (mascara stains, get black). Also suggest you bring a washcloth for your shower if you use one, ‘cos for some odd reason our hotels didn’t have them “standard.” Also a slim, packable robe is nice.
18. Herbert always swore by these tablets, so I use them and seem to have less jet lag.
19. If you’re not bringing enough clothes and will need to wash, get these – otherwise, Tide “stain sticks” are a LIFE SAVER (always have in my purse – they “eat” food stains and are available at my grocery store).
20. Love this headphone/mask! I use on the plane. (Another thing that I had to “plug in”) Also great if you really need it dark in the hotel room and/or you’re for example near an elevator or a loud street. Download a “Calm” app or playlist and snooze away.
21. By far best/easiest luggage locks I’ve used. Only issue is that the numbers go through on “both sides” so I put a laundry marker “dot” on the side that I had set the numbers!
22. Supplement recommended by my doctor – I took every day and not a sniffle. Not inexpensive, but nearly EVERY time I travel I catch something – not this time.
23. This is Trader Joe’s version of “New Wash” (for like 10% the cost) is AMAZINGLY GOOD as a shampoo/conditioner (and my hair *really tangles*). I squeezed it out of this tube into a smaller “travel” tube.
24. I would NEVER travel without these steam masks – I use on the plane – they are “single use” but I put them on under the above blackout/headphone “mask” and it makes a warm lavender steamy spa luxury for about 20 minutes or so.
25. I got “air tags” for my luggage and put them in an inside pocket. (There are both Samsung and iPhone versions.) That’s how – when my checked bag didn’t arrive back home – I knew exactly where it was! (First, Dublin airport….Then a storage facility…Then to San Francisco via New York…Then in a van from SFO to, finally, my house.) I mentioned this in my last Paris post, but that “taught me” not to pack “everything that wasn’t valuable” in the checked luggage . . . that took a week to show up . . . with <ahem> all my undies, camis, bras, etc. Whoopsie!
26. Best carry on I’ve ever had. Secret compartments all over! It doesn’t have a “shoulder strap” so I “jerry rigged” one off of another bag (mentioned below). I previously did a post on my favorite travel bag, which still holds if you want a bag that does what it does (handles are cut-proof and can be “locked around” a pillar, can hold blue ice packets and convert to a cooler, etc.) This would not have been right carry-on bag to take to Paris – but quite an amazing bag to take, for example, on a trip that would be less urban and more beach ;-) As a completely separate thought on this already-too-long post, I always pack an over-the-shoulder cloth bag when I travel. It’s invaluable if you wind up picking up some groceries, trinkets, taking off “a layer,” etc. And *so* much better looking than anything that resembles a backpack! Because (duh) I keep this blog when I travel, the one I use lives in my carry-on with a small notebook and an “astronaut pen” (i.e., writes even if upside down) for taking notes (it’s too hard on your phone). I also have a tiny sunscreen that just lives in there, etc.
27. Really pleased with this compression pouch/suitcase organizer combo, especially the zip-together “closet hangers” – this changed my packing forever lol. Might not be available any more (this was a Kickstarter) but here are similar compression cubes. I happen to have a Solgaard “check-in closet” suitcase, which comes with an “organizer” as well and doesn’t have a zipper so stops the potentiality of break-ins by just jimmying the zipper. This actually happened to a friend who had a lock on the zipper, but they just jimmied the zipper. Frustratingly, we surmised it was after her bag was X-rayed to get on the plane and they saw what was in it. I also have the Solgaard “Voyager weekender” – in fact, this is the shoulder strap that I used on the carry-on that I mentioned above.
28. Polarized glasses are generally a must – these are inexpensive, and they float. Why polarized? Because if you just wear “dark glasses,” they make your pupils dialate – and then the UV rays can go STRAIGHT into the back of your eye… :-( How do you tell if glasses are polarized? Take a pair you know are, then turn the pair you are wondering about “crosswise” to it (so the lenses are 90 degrees from the ones you know are Polarized). If you can’t see through – both are Polarized! If you CAN see through, one is not :-)
29. This “window shelf” for the plane is something that I get so many comments on – generally by flight attendants! This is super useful for the two “extra legroom, over the wing” seats on Southwest flights (the flight attendants always stand in that row when you’re boarding) because they don’t have a seat (and therefore no “seat table”) in front of them. Yes, I know it seems spendy for “what it is” – but I use it Every. Single. Time I am traveling by plane. Has a “hole” to hang things off of (glasses, etc.) plus gives you a spot for your coffee or book or soda without opening the seat table.
30. In the “TMI” department – these wipes are sure great for travel . . . Also, love these little chocolate bars for travel, especially because they aren’t easily melted.
31. If you’re in Paris, the “Wallace Fountains” have great, clean water (see HERE if you don’t know what I’m talking about). One of these is useful and can be rolled up in your purse. Paris is really trying to move away from “plastic water bottles.”