I'm still here.

Just in case you were wondering.

I don't mean to be such a bad blogger, writing posts is frequently at the top of my to-do list and I do write a lot of posts...in my head...

My trip is so close now I can almost taste it (I leave in 15 days!) so I am going to make an effort to churn out a few posts before I go. And get back into Instagram and Twitter, I've been absent from those lately too. I will probably post trip photos to Instagram, just because it's so easy to use on my tablet.

I'd suggest I should also add something to my Miss Directions Facebook Page for those 30 fans I have there but that might be pushing it a little too far.

Not a lot has been happening for me over the last few months, yet at the same time, there seems to be a lot going on. I'm still hoping to get a job in Brisbane late this year/early next year with work but SJ has also applied for a job he really wants in Melbourne (that's a three year role), so either way, keep those fingers crossed for us and hopefully I'll know the fate of our lives/careers for the next few months/years before I get back from Europe.

In other news, my younger sister (well one of them) MissE has had a big year, she got engaged early on in 2013 and has recently announce that she's pregnant. You heard it hear first people, I'm going to be Aunty Ash! Baby is due before Christmas so another reason to try to move back to Brisbane ASAP.

MissA's wedding planning is almost sorted as well, as maid of honour I am currently in talk with the other bridesmaids about the hen's weekend we're planning for September. At this stage we've only managed to line up 30 male strippers, but we have high hopes of finding more. Haha, just kidding. She reads this blog so I can't reveal details until it's too late for her to pull out of attending. If anyone has any suggestions for ways to really embarrass a bride-to-be in Sydney, please let me know.

I think that's about it. I have to deal with this whole 'no more Google Reader' thing soon too. Not sure whether to go to with another reader (like Feedly) or just go back to reading Blogger blogs through Blogger (makes sense, right?). I'm so behind on my blog reading that the idea is incredibly daunting. Maybe I'll wait for Google Reader to die and deal with it all when I get back from Europe (I'll export first obviously).

Just reminded myself that in exactly four weeks time I should be eating dinner in Paris. Suddenly I don't care so much that it's 3am and I'm at work haha.

My Travel Wardrobe

I have a heap of travel related posts I keep meaning to write, but I never seem to find the time to take photos. Instead, today I have spent my lunch break on Polyvore putting together a travel wardrobe that looks very similar to the one I have packed at home (I'm not joking, everything is set aside and waiting!).

I'm planning on taking only one carry on sized bag and actually intend to carry it on my flight over to Europe. I'm flying Malaysia Airlines, so that means keeping it to below their 7kg limit. I should manage it.

My wardrobe looks like this:

As you can see, the colour scheme I have gone for includes a coral/red colour. I based it around the red leather jacket I already own which is a little bit pinker than the one I found on polyvore. You get the idea though. I love my leather jacket for it's warm and cooling abilities (always seems to be the rigth temperature adjuster) plus it's water resistant so it should cover me for small showers. Rather than take a full on rain jacket, I intend to buy an umbrella over there if it looks like rain.

The rest of the wardrobe includes: 

Three tank tops (coral, black and white) bought from Jeans West and Target (no links because you can find similar anywhere).

Three scarves, the grey and black are jersey knit scarves from Target. I love jersey scarfs because they are so soft and blanket like. The other one I picked up at a junk-style shop and is more pashmina style, it's just the perfect colour match.

[I'm not a fancy scarf wearer, I'm a practical one and these babies double as sarongs/blankets/towels etc. Also great for sun protection, or a sun shade in the car and I will be using these to cover my shoulders/knees when entering churches etc. in Europe as well. I have no issues taking three even with my reduced baggage, I'll wear all three on the plane if I have too (I'll end up using them as blankets anyway!). Though I'm not into Hermes scarves tied in fancy knots, I have been looking at my options and love this video by Wendy's Lookbook. Definitely a few I can try.]

A little black dress. The one I have is from ASOS (see it here) and reasonably cheap. It's made from a viscose/elastane blend. More on this later. I also have a skirt and a pair of shorts (that are more cullottes) from ASOS. Again, both viscose. If I really wanted to cut down further, I could probably cull the dress and pair the black tank with the skirt instead, but I'm not. I like the dress and I like the way it makes me feel, plus sometimes you just don't want a waist band.

Two buttoned shirts, colours a little different to what I've shown but basically sand and grey. The only part of my travel wardrobe that doesn't 'match' but I won't be wearing them together so it should work okay. I think I got these from Valley Girl and again, not very expensive. Also again, has a viscose blend. These shirts are great, they have sleeves that can be rolled up and buttoned at the elbows so they can be worn long or short. I can also wear them open over a tank, or open belted over a tank, or belted or just tucked in or tied up over a tank..lots of options there.

I'm not taking any pants (the cullottes don't really count), instead I'm taking footless fleece lined tights (and maybe ordinary ones? still deciding). I find fleece lined tights to be as warm as jeans but more comfortable. Jeans are heavy and I wouldn't wear them much, I am going in summer after all.

Accessories wise, I have a thick stretchy black belt and colourful necklace (that matches obviously!) and a few other little bits and pieces (cheap gold bangle, possible long dangly necklace etc.). The belt will be handy to dress up the cheap shirt/shorts when I have tucked in one of the tanks, or for belting the buttoned shirts.

So that only leaves shoes. The ones I'm taking differ quite a bit from what I've shown. First up, pump wedges actually look like this:

A little less pretty but a lot more pratical. They are Pumps by Robert Robert which I picked up from Styletread (only size 7 left). They have a decent sole on them, so I shold be able to manage most surfaces and they are leather and quite comfortable. A very slight wedge, mostly because I get heel pain from walking all day in flats. The criss-cross straps are good for keeping the shoe one, but I'm tempted to cut them off...

My sandal wedges look like this:

And, as much as I hate to admit it, they are CROCS! They only pair I own (none of those clogs for me) and really comfortable. The heel may look a little large for many girls, but for me they are quite perfect. I've had a test run in them for day out in the city and had no leg/foot pain whatsover. I actually found that when I stood still I balanced my weight much better than I usually would, rather than shifting from foot to foot constantly. So a definite winner in my books. Anyway, they're called the Crocs Leigh Wedge and you can get them in an oat colour online, I found the red/coral ones in store though.

So I think that covers what I'm taking, just for fun (and since I was on Polyvore) I put together a few outfit ideas:

This is the sort of outfit I'll wear on a cold day (or on the plane), tights, dress, buttoned shirt, jacket and enclosed wedges. Actually on the plane I probably will have all three scarves on.

This is likely to be my usual travel day uniform, tank, skirt/shorts and buttoned shirt. Probably with the shirt open or tied in front.

This is more of an outfit for a hot day (like on the Isle of Capri), the scarf will be used more for sun protection than to keep me warm.

And a simple 'going out' outfit.

I'm also taking a grey, cross body camera bag (more on that in another post) that I will probably have with me everywhere, so I should consider that a part of all my outfits too.

I have been wondering how many outfits I could put together using this wardrobe, any guesses?
Excluding shoes and accessories (inc. the scarves), I have four outfits for the dress (jacket, each of the shirts and plain) and eleven each for the skirt and shorts (three tanks, two shirts, then each of the shirts with each of the tanks). That's not counting wearing the buttoned shirts open or tied or with a belt or including the jacket (though I probably won't team the coral tank or scarf together or with the jacket).

So with some rough calcs that comes to somewhere around the 220-250 mark, not counting wearing alternating shoes...or the tights, forgot about them. So I can proably safely assume I could wear close to 500 slightly different outfits from this wardrobe?

I'm only gone 40 days...

Homemade Travel Goodies

Been a busy little bee over the last few weeks continuing to plan and organise my trip. I've been having internet issues and have had multiple attempts to book train tickets today, it's frustrated me so much I've decided I'd rather attempt to deal with blogger. I think that says it all!

SJ has recently gotten into leather goods, just as a hobby and because he's wanted to 'try some things'. He made himself a wallet and a mini-wallet and has now started on a bag for his bike (that will sit under the seat). In the process, I was able to get him to make me a new wallet for my trip.

I had been looking at wallets, I wanted something small but big enough to hold pound notes (which are bigger than Australian notes), I also wanted the ability to hold coins. I'm fussy though, I wanted it to be more of a wallet than a purse, I have plenty of those and they're all too big for what I had in mind.

The final design ended up being two wallets, one is a bifold wallet that has four card slots (all I've worked out I will need) and a sleeve big enough to hold pound notes, the other is a small coin purse with a single card slot hidden inside. Then there is a buckled strap so I can hold them both together.

I liked the idea of two wallets for travel, it means that I can keep larger notes and my cards hidden if I am our in a local market or slightly dodgier area and just have the coin purse accessible. I can fit both or one of the wallets into my passport pouch (more on that in a sec).

Since I didn't make it myself I can't really go into all the steps involved, but it was made using vegetable tanned kid leather and involved a bit of cutting, gluing and sewing. The picture of the wallet with all the watermarks on it is after I had oiled it, the oil seeps into the leather from the inside at different rates and has evened out by the next morning. It ends up a bit darker and more golden as per the final version.

And here is my homemade Passport pouch/money belt. Last time I went to Europe I took one of those typical nylon neck pouches and spent most of the trip either with it safety pinned into my pants (over my thigh) or tucked into a zippered pouch on my bag. This time around I will be travelling in summer and don't intend to take any pants (well one pair of culotte shorts) so I knew that for this trip safety tucking it into my pants wasn't an option. I could have gone and purchased a money belt to wear under my dresses but decided to try and make my own first.

I had an old silk shirt (which was ruined by someone in the wash and is now sleepwear) that had flouncy material heavy sleeves. I cut off the sleeves and had plenty of material to play with.

I had a black elastic 'bra extender' strap which is too big for it's intended use (to make a bra a low sitting one?) but sits quite happily around my hips. I created a pouch that's big enough for the passport and my wallets and stitched it up. The silk was a bit of a pain to work with and stretched a bit, but it's going under my clothes and no one should see it anyway.

I've tried it on under clothing and it's not visible, I can also twist it around (i.e. wear it in the centre or over my thigh) and it's lightweight and breathable and when it's empty it takes up almost no space. If I feel the need to protect my passport from 'the elements' (or it's a hot day and I might sweat) I've got a small clip seal bag that should do that job.

My second DIY project with my silk shirt cut offs was to alter my sleeping mask. I had an old sleeping mask (from Lorna Jane actually) that didn't do a great job. The red satin didn't block out enough of the light and the original shape meant it gaped over my nose and let in light.

So I hacked it (literally). I cut a gap for my nose, lined it with the silk (nicer than the satin) and even made a little pouch for my ear plugs that clips onto the front.

So that's all my homemade travel goodies. I've also bought a few goodies for my trip (and am almost packed!) but I'll save them for next months post....