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Hi! Today I'm going to talk to you about what I packed for my trip to Banff.
If you don't know, Banff is a beautiful national park in Canada
and we've been dying to go here for a long time. Especially Crystal. She's been wanting to go forever.
So we're finally making it happen. The trickiest part was packing.
We're both from southern regions. I am flying in from southern California and Crystal from southern Florida
so we're used to nice, warm weather all year round
and Banff, Canada is a mountainous region so it is going to have fluctuating temperatures,
possible rain or snow, and it might be really cold.
The reason why it's tricky is because we're going during a transitional season.
We're going at the end of August to the beginning of September
so it's not quite summer anymore. It's the end of summer and beginning of fall
so you really don't know how cold it's going to be and how warm it's going to be.
At first, we were guessing... while we're following the weather a little bit,
it's going to be chilly in the morning, maybe in the 70s during the day, and then it would be cold at night.
But we just checked the weather this week
and it's going to be really cold in the mornings, snowing during the day, and really cold at night.
I get a little bit nervous when it's cold because I don't want to get sick.
I'm not used to cold weather.
I really plan out my packing,
what I'm going to wear and pack so I'm not cold and freezing
and so I don't catch a cold because I didn't pack properly or I didn't dress properly.
We're leaving on Wednesday and coming back on Monday so it's a pretty long trip.
Not quite a week but it's also not a quick weekend getaway.
I always like to challenge myself, whenever it's a trip that's under a week,
to see if I could fit it all into one carry-on suitcase.
I do have the Bigger Carry-on suitcase,
so if I brought my small one, I definitely could not fit all my outfits into a small carry-on
but with my bigger carry-on, I was able to pack all my outfits
So I'm going to tell you what I packed.
When I leave Wednesday and come back Monday, I'm going to wear the same outfit.
I'm just going to be flying all day anyway and I don't think my outfit is going to get dirty
so for those two days, I am only needing to pack one outfit.
Actually, I'm not packing it. I'm going to be be wearing it
so I don't even need to pack for two days worth of clothes.
So really I'm only packing for 4 days. Four outfits.
I packed 4 tops and 2 bottoms.
The two bottoms are leggings but also I packed inner wear. HeatTech Inner Leggings.
So really like 3 pants but the inner wear is super light.
It really doesn't take up much room in the suitcase.
For the tops, I packed 2 sweatshirts and 2 sweaters.
Also 3 inner wear HeatTech long sleeve tops.
Again, those inner wear tops, they don't take up much room,
but they are also extremely warm and they really do work with your body temperatures
so I always pack my HeatTech innerwear whenever I go to cold climates.
Also I don't want to pack my tops. Sweaters especially. I like to either pack wool or cashmere
because they are a lot warmer than packing acrylic or cotton.
Another thing I packed was winter accessories.
I didn't pack a hat because I'm bringing a heavy coat and my heavy coat has a hoodie.
I packed headbands that cover my ears.
I also packed gloves but I didn't really pack them. I stuck them inside the pockets of my my heavy coat.
I think that's it.
Besides the other things that I think everyone always packs anyway, without really thinking about it,
like it socks, toiletries, undergarments.
Those don't really take up too much room.
The key thing for me was to be able to find tops and bottoms that I can mix and match easily
so I don't have to pack 4 pairs of pants because I would not have had room for that.
I actually could pack less tops if I wanted to wear the same top for two days
but because I still had room in my luggage, I decided to go ahead and pack 4 tops.
So that's it. That's how I accomplished packing all of my outfits into my bigger carry-on suitcase.
And now off to Canada we go! I'm so excited.
I'm back from my Banff trip and I think I did really well as far as packing appropriately
or packing really warm for this trip.
I'm going to show you the things that I brought that I'm glad that I brought
and there is one thing in particular that I didn't bring that I forgot to bring but Crystal brought it.
I'm glad that she remembered to bring it because without that
it would have been kind of a hassle shooting and capturing all those beautiful photos in Banff.
The first thing I brought that I always bring on every trip and I'm glad that I brought it on this trip
is my Bandolier case.
This is a phone case where you stick your phone in there
and in the back there's a little slot where you can put your cards.
And if you want, this is additional, but you can add a little pouch to it
where you can put other cards, cash, change, and even a passport will fit inside of it.
but the great thing about this is that you wear it like a purse
so whenever you want to capture a photo, you just grab your phone and then you can put your phone back down
and you don't have to ever worry that if the phone did slip out of your hand, it's going to drop
because it's secured around you.
The next thing that I brought that I'm glad I did was my headbands.
It was really cold in Banff so having these headbands were great
and also they don't take up much room in your suitcase
so if you don't like wearing hats and you want to try something different
I recommend bringing these headbands.
The third thing I brought that I'm glad that I brought...
and I bought this last minute.
Leg warmers. I bought these on Amazon for $8.
These were great for those really chilly mornings
or even when we took the gondola up to the summit
Oh my gosh, it was so cold up there.
But having leg warmers over my boots really did add that extra warmth
because the cold air wasn't getting inside of my boots at all from the top
so having these leg warmers really helped
and during the day, if I wanted to take them off, they were easy to take off
and I can just put them in my backpack.
Those were awesome. I liked having those leg warmers with me.
Of course, bring a down coat. It's really cold in the mornings and up in the summits
because during the transitional season, it's almost like it's dead winter in the mornings and at night.
There was no snow... actually, it snowed once when we went to Lake Louise early in the morning for the sunrise.
I think was between 6:00 and 6:30 but it was snowing and it was really cold.
Luckily, the snow stopped and we were able to capture a really beautiful sunrise.
I also bring this on my trips. This is my Pacsafe Anti-Theft Security Backpack.
With a lot of hiking and walking around downtown,
it's nice that I have a backpack that has anti-theft features
so I don't have to worry about getting pickpocketed.
Not that Banff is an area where pickpocketing is common. Actually I don't even know...
I'm sure it does happen but it's not common there.
Regardless, I just like to feel that peace of mind
and I don't have to worry about not being able to see what's behind me.
Having anti-theft features on my backpack really helps
and I also like this bag because there's two pockets on the side
where I can always keep a bottle of water with me.
When it's cold during the winter months, you really need to stay hydrated.
I grew up always being told that staying hydrated helps you from not getting sick.
Not that you won't get sick, but the chances of getting sick are less if you stay hydrated
so I always have a bottle of water with me.
The only thing that I forgot to bring with me, which Crystal remembered, are fingerless gloves.
We take so many photos and video. We're always on our phones capturing everything
that we're constantly needing to take off our gloves.
I forgot to bring my fingerless gloves and it was such a hassle every time I wanted to take a picture,
removing my gloves sticking it in my pocket.
Thankfully, I didn't lose my gloves or happen to drop it somewhere
and I was okay but every time we were out, I was wishing I had brought my fingerless gloves
because she was able to keep her hands warm and shoot away
or do whatever she was doing hassle-free.
That was the only thing I forgot to bring that I wish I would have brought.
I hope these tips help you.
Again, I went during the end of August to the beginning of September which was Labor Day weekend.
It is very cold in the mornings
and pretty nice temperatures during the day when we were walking around downtown Banff
but anytime we were on the lakes or up in the summits, it was pretty cold
so you definitely want to dress like you were going into winter.
That's it. I hope you get to go to Banff because it is beautiful there
and we actually want to return and go a little bit further into the national park and visit Jasper next time.