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Revisiting the Triple Top Secret

June 9, 2020

Watching lots of people wandering about with backpacks, this last weekend, I was wondering what everybody was carrying! I know, water bottles, spare phone batteries etc. but I wondered if they had any clothes with them...

And that got me to thinking about what you want to have handy if you're going to be out for a LONG day. Say you start out with breakfast and sight seeing early in the morning. You're going into areas that are air conditioned, and the weather might turn flat-out cool later in the evening. What to do?

This is something that I've tried to remember to do, when packing, for years - make certain that I've got at least 3 tops with me that can ALL be worn together, or in any various combination of 2, or ... View the Post

Packing: A 5-Pack Would Have Worked…

Or, in my world, 8 = 42...

You might remember my excellent travel outfit:

I had this outfit on for an eternity of time, and I don't regret a thing!  It was ideal, and I will almost certainly wear something very similar for future trips.  But my suitcase was TOO MUCH STUFF...  I'd have been well-served to have just packed this:

I understand that this seems like amazingly little, but I need to remember something really critical about my trips to Europe - especially my trips to Paris:

I SHOP!!!

I shop a lot.  I start shopping the second or third day, and I tend to wear my purchases almost immediately.  Thus, I leave things in my suitcase unworn, and I run out of space to bring back my purchases.  So for ... View the Post

Casual Packing: The “Triple Top” Secret

 Here are a couple of examples of how my Triple Top Secret selection of tops can work for a really casual trip (or just a day to day wardrobe).  First, I started with a cool flowered shirt, got really gutsy and tossed in a striped tee shirt, and worked from there.  Yes, I would wear the stripes and the flowers together...

 I realized after working with this idea for a while that there are, in fact, two "triples" inherent in this idea:

Yes, the button-front shirt is critical!  A shirt that can both be worn as a jacket or 2nd layer, but also layered under a sweater or sweatshirt, is key.

Here's an example of how this can work with some bright, warm colors, to get you through the icky weather ... View the Post

Packing: The “Triple Top” Secret

I found, after a few days of travelling, that the shirts and sweaters that I had packed gave me a lot more options than I had anticipated!  A reminder: these are what I had in my bag:

Of course, I could wear any of these except the cardigan on their own.  But as the weather, and my location, shifted, I began to experiment with different ways to layer these 5 garments.  I discovered that, ultimately, I had a DOZEN options.  In the coldest weather, I was able to layer three tops together for maximum warmth, and thus the Triple Top Secret was born!

 But I quickly realized that, if I had chosen JUST a little bit more carefully, I could have had even more options!  Buttons on the cardigan would make a ... View the Post