Unpacking after Dublin, or The Most Boring Travel Capsule Wardrobe Possible

July 29, 2026

I’m actually back from Ireland since Friday, but it takes a while to get caught up!

I debated about even sharing this wardrobe with you, because it’s just not that fascinating or creative. But I get tired of coordinating outfits and accessories and all that stuff, so I gave myself a brain break and packed a fool-proof assortment…

But first, I highly recommend our wonderful hotel:

 

Interestingly, the hotel belongs to someone who ALSO owns one of the coolest little museums in Chicago – the Driehaus Museum! 

The location of our hotel couldn’t have been better:

In the summer, a measurable portion of the Dublin population is sitting on the grass or the benches in St. Stephen’s Green. It’s a lovely place, full of enormous trees, swampy ponds full of birds, and a coterie of attack seagulls who routine punish the tourists who innocently feed them…

Dublin’s not the most picturesque city in Europe, by a mile, but there are hidden gems everywhere:

The one place that’s a “must visit” is the National Gallery of Ireland. There’s a delightful little cafe, a painfully tempting gift shop, and a surprising range of art. It’s one of those places that you could drop into every day of your vacation for just a few minutes, because admission is FREE! Drop in, soak up something glorious in your heart, and then head out for the rest of your day.

Okay, let me share with you my packing plan for this trip. As you may remember, I’m not that long back from Paris, so packing AGAIN was not all that interesting to me, for some reason. At least I knew that the weather would be much more congenial!

My plan? A column of black, every day. And then bring five “second layers”: a cardigan, a sweater, and three linen shirts.

And for accessories? I literally just grabbed a handful of jewelry in gold and pearls, and then called it quits. I wore my exceptionally comfortable sneakers on the flight, and packed two pairs of sandals. My wee handbag fit into the top of my backpack during travel, and then I carried it every day.

Dressing without thinking!

The backpack is a complete and utter winner. I wish I had this bag years ago.

I start packing for every trip with the same things: lingerie, hosiery, pajamas, handkerchiefs, and toiletries. I’ve been putting my liquids in my checked suitcase for a few years, so I don’t have to deal with them in the airport. There’s that tiny risk that they’ll blow up during the flight, but I’m willing to risk it – so far, so good!

How HERE’S where it gets boring – the core of black! Yes, I own at least three sleeveless black tops; I realized a few years ago that I reached for the ONE that I had all the time, and was always irked when it was in the laundry. This is an easy way to realize that you need duplicates of some things in your wardrobe!

And this is the same black dress and pants that went to Paris with me 3 weeks ago. And the same sandals. Why tamper with success?

I found that if I hung my linen pieces up as soon as we arrived, the folds hung out of things quite nicely. The humidity in Ireland will do that…

I’m fudging a little bit here – my sweater AND my cardigan are both black & white marl. They’re years old, and obviously no longer available. So for this post I just added a linen cardigan and a cotton sweater – they could, literally, be any color or pattern! That’s the joy of the neutral column…

And my linen shirts were, in fact, brown, ivory, and black & ivory striped. Again, they’re far from new. I could easily have packed the three shirts shown here, or any three linen shirts in the world.

This is, therefore, the entirety of my travel capsule wardrobe. Most people would abhor wearing this much black in the summer, but for me it was comfortable, both physically and mentally. Sometimes I’m happy being very low key…

It was absurdly simple to get dressed each day. If the weather had varied at all, I could have checked it before I chose an outfit, but we had six days of flawless, rainless, low 70s sunny wonder. The grass was turning brown in places because it had been so long since it had rained – not normal for Ireland.

And how does all of this look when one gets dressed? Predictable, but comfortable, effortless, and always appropriate. You couldn’t POSSIBLY be the most oddly dressed tourist in Dublin even if you tried for the rest of your life; some people’s sense of what’s suitable is interesting…

Okay, what can someone learn from this?

First – if you are constantly doing laundry in order to get your favorite garment back in rotation, buy duplicates. You should seldom do small or partial loads of laundry, to save water and electricity. And you shouldn’t be longing for something as simple as a sleeveless top when you could get yourself a second. (or third, or fourth)

Secondly, you don’t have to look AMAZING every day of vacation. If you’re traveling to a tourist destination, there will be lots of interesting people wearing lots of interesting outfits – you don’t have to contribute to the entertainment.

Third, nobody will remember what you wore. While the staff at our hotel almost certainly remember Belovedest and me, I’m willing to guarantee that none of them would ever remember that I wore black every day!

Fourth, your comfort  – mentally and physically – is the most important thing. You vacation to relax and give your brain a break. If getting dressed each morning is easy, that’s good.

Fifth, if you want to assemble a small wardrobe for emergencies, or stressful times of life, keeping things simple to the point of boring is one option.

But I know, you would hate this much black…

love,
Janice

p.s. Ten years ago, the travel outfit of the day was for a trip to Northern Ireland and England, and the colors are black, blue and white. It’s still a pretty attractive wardrobe!