What clothes do I pack for full-time travel? Lessons learned from 3 years on the road (& rekindling my sewing skills!)

Kim & Izen, owner of Antakesuma Batik Shop in Central Market, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

My husband and I have been traveling full-time for almost 3 years.  During this time, my idea of what clothes to pack has evolved.  I have learned some things about myself, and what I feel good wearing. I have improved my skills so that I can fashion a wardrobe that suits me.  If you’re the kind of traveler who can wear the same thing for days in a row, or can easily find clothes you like anywhere, then this blog post is probably not for you.  But if you are someone who likes to hone their personal sense of style, yet maintain the practical aspects of a travel wardrobe, perhaps what I have to share is helpful.

First, I should mention that I have always had a complicated relationship with clothes.  I have been overweight most of my life, and fashion trends rarely look good on me. I can remember being in 7th or 8th grade and fighting with the mini-skirt trend, which made me feel like a beached whale. Pants were always difficult for me – most of my excess weight is in my hips and stomach, so blue jeans - which I desperately wanted to wear – made me feel unattractive and were uncomfortable. I was constantly tearing the seams in pants. It felt like there was no size that was right for me.

When I went to college, I fit in somewhat because at my school (Oberlin College), most girls dressed very casually and like me, wore little or no make-up, and usually wore Earth shoes.  Also, I lost a lot of weight in college (in an extremely unhealthy fashion – mostly by eating one yogurt a day until I fainted.  But that’s another story).  When I was a new lawyer, I fought the suits.  I hated them.  I made do with mid-length dresses with short jackets most of the time.

Fast forward to my retirement in 2021.  As I packed for our first journey of our nomadic life, I tried to guess what I might need.  This is what I've learned from 3 years of full-time travel:

-I had way too many synthetic fabrics, which tend to be hot and wear poorly when walking a lot, and which tend to weigh a lot (an issue for packing a suitcase that is not overweight). Solution: look for lighter weight clothes, in natural fabrics.

-The plus-size blue jeans from the U.S. are made with a blend of spandex, and not only were they hot but they didn’t dry easily on a clothes line. And they were heavy.

Solution: don't take blue jeans.

-My one pair of “dressy” shoes were useless since we walked everywhere, even to dressier events (think, walking on cobblestone streets in Lisbon to got to a Fado show). And, the beach shoes I brought, or the Birkenstocks I packed, just weren't enough added value to take up the space or the weight in my suitcase.

Solution: buy one pair of comfortable, all-purpose shoes. As my husband pointed out when we got to Helsinki, all the women were wearing sneakers, even with dresses.

-Nobody wears T-shirts outside the U.S. unless they are working out, on the beach, or hiking. And, I tend to use a beach coverup for the beach.

Solution: take few or no T-shirts.

-I was quickly bored with what I had.

Solution: take items you can combine in different ways, and take lighter items so you can take a few more. If you buy something new, you have to give something up.

-I had dress-down (T-shirts and jeans) and dress-up (black dress and scarves) but few items that could be worn anywhere. When we went on a Pacific cruise late the first year, I bought island tops everywhere I went.  Then, we went to Japan and the island tops were inappropriate to wear there. 

Solution: Pack all-purpose clothes (and give your island tops to your daughter when you get to home base).

-It is extremely difficult for me to find clothes in many countries; in most European and many Asian countries, nothing fits me.  I remember having a very hard time finding a pull-over sweater (jumper, for you Brits) because it was a bit cold in Portugal in late January. The plus-size women’s sweaters were hideous and I ended up buying from a unisex section of a department store. When I did get to a country where the clothes fit me (Finland, for example) I bought more than I should have and had too many clothes.  The only store in Japan that had clothes that fit was an East Indian store.  So I ended up with a mish-mash of clothes that didn’t coordinate and weren’t quite right.

Solution: Make my own clothes.

This is the sweater I found in Lisbon (which is in storage until we travel somewhere that might get cold)

My entree into sewing many of my own clothes began by accident. On our Pacific cruise in late 2022, I saw a piece of fabric I liked in Papua New Guinea and impulsively bought it.  Now, I had to do something with it.  I downloaded a dress pattern from Ministry of Patterns on Etsy, printed it at a print shop, and hand-stitched a dress.

 I had learned to sew when I was in 8th grade, taking Home Economics in school.  My mother didn’t sew, and neither did two of her sisters, but my Grandmother and youngest aunt sewed.  I remember one summer where the three of us – Grandmother, me, and my Aunt Cathy – sewed up a storm.  I even made the dress I wore in Cathy’s wedding in 1971.  My parents bought me a sewing machine around this time, and it still works. By the time I bought the fabric on the cruise, however, it had been years since I had sewn.  With a few fits and starts, I realized it wasn’t that complicated.  The dress I made from the Papua New Guinea fabric is pretty, but the fit wasn’t quite perfect, so after wearing it a few times, it now resides in our storage unit.

Nine months later, we went to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and I shopped at a batik store in Central Market.  The beautiful batik tops were too small for me, but one store had hand-made batik fabric that sold by the meter.  Paul urged me to buy the fabric to make a dress.  So I did.   This time, I went to a fabric store at a mall in KL, and bought a dress pattern.  I liked the look of this one much more.  The batik fabric is a viscose blend, is lightweight, and washes well in a machine.  I usually hang it to dry.  And this dress has pockets.

I bought kimono fabric in Japan, and we traveled back the U.S. in late 2023.  I got the sewing machine out of our daughter and son-in-law’s basement and made myself a dress and kimono to wear to their May wedding, and another block dress with the modern kimono fabric.  I wore both during wedding festivities.  Those items are now back in storage. I might take some of them out when we travel to Europe, but the styles are less all-purpose in Asia. I also hand-stitched a top and kimono for my cousin.

By this time, I had bought and ditched several pairs of pants.  None of them were right.  They were too tight, or too hot (again, jeans fabric or synthetics), or had no pockets.  I did buy pants in Suva, Fiji that fit OK and were a nice linen, but over time they seemed to have permanent wrinkles and they had no pockets.

In June, I decided I would, from that point on, switch to a wardrobe of pants and tops only with pockets.  I wanted to stop carrying a purse, and realized I needed better access to my phone and wallet than my backpack.    I had a nice dressy pair of pants I had bought in Louisville around the time of our daughter’s wedding, and they had big pockets. So I was starting to realize how useful big pockets could be.  I even bought the new Samsung folding phone to fit into a pocket.

In August, 2024, I bought some red fabric – a linen/bamboo blend, bought the pattern below, and hand-stitched a pair of pants.  These have been the most comfortable pants I’ve ever owned.  They fit with elastic at the waist, are loose in the stomach and  hips in a design that embraces a flowy pattern, and have 4 pockets!  The fabric is comfortable and can be washed and dried by machine.

I put the dressy pants in storage because we were set to travel out West where it would be hot and dusty.  A month or so later, I bought a pair of pants online.  They were really nice – big pockets, the fabric a nice, light, linen-cotton blend, tailored - but not quite large enough.  So, I bought a strip of bamboo-linen fabric and expanded the hips, putting in a zipper.  I had enough fabric left over for a bonus top – sewed caftan style but short. Basically, this is just a hole for the head, hemmed, side seams up to where the armholes would be, and a bottom hem.  I also offset the front to make it asymmetrical with decorative buttons similar to two cotton-blend tops I bought online.

Now that we’re back in KL, I have bought three more batik fabrics: two from the same shop as my black dress (Antakesuma): I made a long tunic (with pockets) from the blue/teal fabric, and have ordered a different pattern for a shirt out of the red.

I bought a silk batik at a store in the Sunway Putra Mall for a swim-suit coverup caftan. There was enough left over from the silk to make a short top, caftan style.

So now my travel wardrobe consists of the following:

-One pair of shoes. I bought Skechers, black.  They are comfortable, and go with everything.  I would wear them anywhere except a wedding (which we are not likely to attend on our overseas travels).

-3 pairs of pants: a)the red bamboo/linen pants I made b)the tan pants I modified and c)a pair of gray pants I bought in KL from an Indian vendor; they are the first pair of Indian pants I’ve ever bought that fit like a dream, and have big pockets.  They are a 5x (I usually wear a 2x or a 3x in U.S. sizes in pants).

-1 T-shirt.  This T-shirt is a really nice multi-blend with wicking features.

-1 nightgown (a beach coverup I bought in Cairns, Australia).

-7 pairs of underwear (bamboo blend).

-5 bras (If you don't want to read about bras, move to the next bullet point.) I want to explain why I have 5. I came to KL with 3 but it is so humid I sometimes have to change in the same day.  I perspire a lot in 90F temps with almost 100% humidity. I don't want to wash clothes daily, and they take a night to dry on the line. Most of our overseas accommodations do not have clothes dryers. My Aunt Doll used to say to me, "I don't understand why you wear a bra. It is so much more comfortable without one." I would respond, "Yes, if you are built the way you (meaning my Aunt Doll) are built . But if you are built like me, it is extremely uncomfortable to go around without a bra." Add to that humidity and my inclination to perspire and you will see why I have 5.

-1 mid-calf batik tunic (teal) I made (with pockets)

-2 short caftan-style tops  I made (the tan bamboo blend and the green silk)

-2 short cotton-blend tops, plus a short tunic I bought in Stratford, Ontario.

- 1 dress with large pockets from Torrid, lightweight polyester fabric that washes easily; roomy and loose fitting. 

-1 batik dress that I made, with pockets

-2 extremely lightweight UV-protection button-down shirts, long sleeves that roll and button into short sleeves (good for long walks in bright sun, or that time you need a little extra layer for warmth).

-1 lightweight travel/rain jacket with many pockets.

-1 extremely lightweight swimsuit from smartswimsuits.us and 1 long caftan to cover the suit, that I made

-socks (2 pair long compression socks and 6 pairs of footies); footies are so small and take virtually no space.

-1 UV-protected travel hat

-1 more button-down short-sleeve, but long shirt that I will make in January with the red batik fabric.

I realize this is a larger wardrobe than most full-time traveling nomads take with them.  But it makes me happy to feel good in comfortable, good-fitting clothing with big pockets, that wear well, and that are light and easy to pack. I do have some other items that fit my criteria in the storage unit - I can't carry all of the clothes I like - and when we go back to home base I can switch some of them out, to help with the boredom factor. I have cold weather clothes in the storage unit in Michigan for when we’re back there. I have a couple of light sweaters I could switch in if we go someplace that dips below 60F. In that case, I would leave behind some of the tops. I am trying to recycle clothes when I buy new ones – here in KL, for example, I selected a tunic top, a pair of pants and an extra rayon dress to leave behind to compensate for the batik I made while here.

I never thought of myself as being fashion-conscious.  But, as Miranda Priestly tells Andy in the movie, "The Devil Wears Prada":

You go to your closet and you select that lumpy blue sweater, for instance, because you're trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back.

But what you don't know is that that sweater is not just blue. It's not turquoise. It's not lapis. It's actually cerulean.

And you're also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar de la Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns. And then I think it was Yves Saint Laurent who showed cerulean military jackets? And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of eight different designers. And then it filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic Casual Corner…where you, no doubt, fished it out of some clearance bin.

However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs.

And it's sort of comical how you think that you've made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact…you're wearing a sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room…from a pile of "stuff."

That’s me.  I’m Andy.  I think I don’t care what I wear, but I really care deeply and I'm influenced by my own style role models. Paul says, the only problem is, many of my clothes are very similar. I told him that it is not a problem, it's me developing my signature style. But after he said that, I bought a different pattern to use for the red batik so the teal and red ones will look different. And now, almost half my wardrobe are clothes I made myself, on the road, by hand, to fit my body. That feels pretty awesome. 

All of my clothes must fit in a my checked bag, and weigh whatever the luggage limit is.  Coming here, it was 50 pounds for Delta domestic.  My electronics, jewelry, some of my medications, and my good camera go in my backpack which I carry on along with my ukelele. I have a few miscellaneous items, such as a LARQ water pitcher, my toiletries, and sewing kit.  But I forego other things that take up weight & space – no hair dryer, no extra shoes, no cosmetics, no books (except the electronic ones) for example – because I want to have clothes I feel good in. 

To celebrate the empowerment of making my own clothes, I have recorded myself singing a song called ,”I Had an Old Coat” by Paul Kaplan.  I first heard this song when my kids were little on the Sharon, Lois & Bram show (The Elephant Show) on Nickelodeon. You can see Paul Kaplan sing it here.

To watch Kim sing, "I Had an Old Coat" click here.