Hi there. I haven’t been around much for the last few months. I’ve been preoccupied with some serious health issues. After I got the all clear on an important scan, my husband and I decided to take a trip to London. Our first holiday since 2018.

I was a bit nervous because my husband collapsed with a severe virus on our last trip. I had to call an ambulance. Alas, he did get sick again on this trip (sigh!) but not as seriously. It was a disappointment because it robbed us of some sightseeing opportunities. But we made the best of it and still had a good time. Travel is restorative. I feel intellectually and emotionally refreshed.

What I packed:

Wearing my favourite clothes is part of the holiday experience for me. I didn’t pack light.

I put together a series of mini capsules, starting with bottoms. Each mini capsule consisted of one bottom + around 4 coordinating tops + at least one coordinating overlayer (long sleeve top, lightweight jumper or jacket).

This means I had 4 potential outfits in each mini capsule, each with at least one layering option.

The bottoms I took were my favourite summer skirts, 1 pair of jeans and 1 pair of shorts. Although each capsule notionally contained 4 tops, many tops worked in more than one capsule so I didn’t actually pack 4 tops for every bottom.

I didn’t try to limit my choice of colours or go all neutral. I took all the colours of the colour wheel.

What I wore:

We had maximum temperatures ranging from about 20 to 26. I would describe 20 as mild to cool (depending on whether the sun is out) and 26 as pleasantly warm (not hot). I very much enjoy pleasantly warm days. However, even on the pleasantly warm days, I was shocked at how cool it was in the mornings when we left the hotel. Usually around 14-16. This was an issue for us as we ate all of our breakfasts outdoors (we ate most of our meals outdoors, we love that). If the sun was out, it felt warmer. But it was often cloudy.

Sometimes it was cold in the morning but warm in the afternoon and evening. Sometimes it was cold in the morning, warm in the middle of the day, but cool to cold again in the evening. Sometimes it was mild to cool all day. Very occasionally it was warm all day. It was so variable! It is different from my part of Australia, where it tends to get warm and stay warm in summer. I felt like I was dressing for at least 2 different seasons. I was constantly layering up and layering down again. I now understand the English love affair with cardigans and trench coats.

In hindsight I could have packed more items for my autumn (more long sleeve tops and a pair of cargo pants would have been useful) and fewer items for my summer (especially sleeveless tops). I could have left my shorts at home. I wore my jeans much more than I wear them at home in summer. Plus, I don’t think I’ve ever worn merino in summer. And definitely not with sandals, haha.

But it kind of worked. In fact, the manager of the cafe where we had breakfast every morning told me I was her fashion muse, which was very pleasing.

I grouped the photos together by bottoms to show my capsules in action. This is not the order in which I wore the outfits. Sometimes the photos show the layers that I wore in different temperatures.

Fun fact: I think of my jacket (a very old Zara linen blend) as my “travel jacket”. It came with me on my trip to NYC in 2018 and previous O/S trips. Back then, it was navy blue. I dyed it red a couple of years ago and it came out a deep grape colour. Nice for it to have a new look and new travel opportunities, like me