Packing for the snow: 1 adult + 1 child in Japan
Pete and Alex have headed off on their 6D5N Father-Son adventure to Japan (check out their detailed itinerary and travel blog here, and the original plan for their itinerary here).
Pete is 4 going on 19 and we borrowed the lion's share of the stuff he took on holiday. I hate taking checked luggage, but in this case, it was necessary (plus I wasn't going, so...). We have a medium sized Samsonite suitcase and a medium sized Kathmandu backpack and that's all Alex wanted to take, so he'd be able to handle it easily, travelling solo with Pete. I couldn't pack it as tightly as I usually would, because Alex was spending only 1-2 days in each hotel and would need to do a lot of repacking. The lifesaver here was to use packing cubes.
The key concept in this packing exercise was layered clothing. If he was really cold, Pete could wear a singlet, long-sleeved thermal shirt, long sleeved shirt, hooded sweatshirt, puffer vest and ski jacket. And if he wasn't that cold, he could just wear a lesser combination of those items.
Since Alex hasn't packed for himself in over a decade, I did the honours...
For Pete:
- 6x undies
- 2x thin thermal shirts
- 2x thick thermal shirts
- 2x thick thermal pants
- 5x singlets (for sleeping and for under clothes)
- 2x long-sleeved shirts
- 4x short-sleeved shirts
- jeans
- 3x tracksuit pants
- ski pants
- ski jacket
- hooded sweatshirt
- hooded puffer vest
- mittens
- beanie with ear warmers
- 5x socks
- sneakers
- snow boots
- toothbrush & toothpaste
- sunscreen
- hat
- RideSafer vest for road transport
For Alex:
- 6x undies
- 5x socks
- 3x thermal shirts
- boxer shorts + 1 tshirt for bed that is nice enough to wear on the flight home
- 3x shirts
- sweatshirt
- ski jacket
- puffer vest
- compression socks for the flights
- beanie
- snow gloves & inners
- jeans
- snow boots
- sneakers
- phone charger and power adapter
- toiletries: toothbrush & toothpaste, lip balm, deodorant
- book
- hat
What I thought I'd pack but left out:
- Tula toddler soft-structured carrier: Deb's husband, Farhan, had the excellent advice to take a toddler carrier for Pete in case he got tired while exploring Tokyo. It was a great idea, but then I remembered that they didn't really have time to explore Tokyo - they were just there for Disney and Alex was prepared to take Pete on his shoulders instead. The shoulders trick wouldn't really work around Tokyo as Alex is 6'4" and already has to duck to get through doors in Japan.
- Toys and books: Alex figured that there would be too much cool stuff going on that Pete wouldn't miss these, and he was right. Plus, I think there may be some arm twisting to buy a Bey Blade and maybe some Disney paraphernalia too...
- Duplicate warm items of clothing: I was planning to pack two sweatshirts and two beanies for each of them, then realised that they probably didn't need that as much.
So there is it! I'll get Alex to write a little debrief about what worked and what didn't, but in the meantime, what are your thoughts?
xx Elise
