Winter Hawaiian Cruise

After a terribly long hiatus (sincere apologies!), I'm a bit back-logged with the posts I had planned.  I have yet to do a post on shopping in Argentina (coming soon, with pictures!), in part because I have been busy traveling to more places, starting new art classes, and doing a major New Year's clean out of every nook and corner in the house.  This means I have a lot of disorganized digital photos, paint and clay on a good deal of play clothes, and plenty of sorted piles destined for other locales.  

Whilst I continue to get myself out from under the mess, I thought I would write up a quick packing post on our trip to Hawaii over New Year's.  We spend 10 days including some alone time on Oahu before joining my parents on a cruise of several of the islands.  This was an especially challenging trip to pack for because we were transitioning climates (East Coast winter to Pacific tropical), but also the number of days and varied activities.  I had to break my rule and check a bag on the plane - the first time in years!  

(Photos approximate the items as closely as possible - actual items described below.)

Winter Hawaiian Cruise by cestca featuring off shoulder tops

Formal Night - three-quarter sleeved dress with full skirt and off-the-shoulder neckline, Chanel WOC, Chanel bow pumps (not pictured) Alexis Bittar cocktail ring

Beach Wear - skinny stripe long sleeved t-shirt, white linen pants, swim dress, sunglasses, crushable striped sun hat (purchased in Hawaii)

Travel and Sightseeing Wear - Essentially I formed my outfits around the two scarves I packed, which were also used as sarongs/wraps/cover ups/travel blankets as needed:

• Hermes Brides de Gala silk 140 cm scarf in green
• Hermes Astrologie cotton 140 cm scarf in purple and etoupe
• Black and beige (not shown) linen pants (seriously, the best go-to linen travel pants ever!)
• White cotton stretch pencil skirt
• Beige linen skirt
• Black linen shorts (not pictured)
• Green silk skirt
• Green silk dress (not pictured)
• White cotton/linen t-shirt, black cotton t-shirt (not pictured)
• White silk/cotton sweater, white linen sweater (not pictured)
• Off-the-shoulder blouse
• Linen embroidered blouse
• Saint James striped t-shirt (aka old reliable)
• Etoupe cardigan in light merino wool
• Other shoes: Chanel two-tone flats, nude pumps and a couple pairs of flip flops
• Other bags: Hermes Marwari in etoupe, and Hermes jige clutch in gold (not pictured)
• Sporty clothes for a hiking trip (not pictured) - sports sandals, t-shirt, and rain jacket

All in all, entirely too many bags and shoes, but from a clothing perspective I got good use out of everything except that darned formal night outfit.  With that exception, I found it to be the right amount of clothing for a frequently-changing-your-outfit type of trip.  I washed out a number of items, and repressed linen clothing after each wear to keep myself looking neat and tidy.  Doing it over again, I think I'd skip formal night (who wants to dress up when it's so balmy and tropical?), and cut down on irrelevant* shoes.

* Let's just say there was a bone of contention in our household over the number of shoes I packed.  My spouse seemed to think two pairs of heels were excessive and one should stay behind; but I had visions of grand outfit changes each evening a la An Affair to Remember.  I found the sports sandals to be silly and was willing to leave them behind instead. (We were hiking across a lava field, surely that could be done in bejeweled flip-flops, no?)  In the end, we compromised and took a larger bag so I could both hike safely on rugged terrain and swoon about our carpeted cabin to my delight.  And isn't that in part what vacationing should be about?  :)