What to pack for an active vacation.

We love to travel. Italian vacations are the best. Great food, wine, and cycling adventures top my list of fantastic places to travel. When traveling, I have two requirements- packing light and looking good.

Spanish Steps, Rome

Most importantly, I want you to look good when you’re out riding, particularly in foreign countries. Those pictures you will come back to again and again. Italians are much more formal than Americans, they dress up to go out! You would never see an Italian drinking a cappuccino in sweats pants. Italian women are either gorgeous or old – this seems crazy, but I’ve been all over Italy, and women are seriously dressed up and fashionable or they are old.

So when you go on vacation, you need to be more European than American.

Since all of our vacations involve exercise of some variety or other- most often cycling- I have compiled a list of MUST HAVE clothes for the trip. The most important thing I can share with you after five trips to Italy is to pack LIGHT. Most Americans bring entirely too much luggage on a trip and in my opinion look of foolish dragging it through the airport, into the rental car or dragging through train stations. Pick out your favorite clothes and lay it all on the bed based on the number of days you will be gone, then unpack that pile by half. Take your suitcase half empty and pack a tube of tide!

For recreational riding or touring that involves rolling through valleys of lavender or sunflowers with the daily mileage less than 30 miles, I’d pack 2 cycling outfits, such as those offered by Sheila Moon, Athleta, or My-Alibi. You will need a high-performance chamois which can be worn under skirts or Capri pants. My-Alibi has a great short for cycling and it’s designed for wearing under your clothes. Athleta has a super cute “wrapper skirt” that can be worn over your shorts. You will need to have a pair of well-fitting mountain bike shoes. On a touring style trip, you will be stopping a lot and walking around- road cycling shoes do not allow walking. I ruined several pairs of socks because of this!

One classy, sophisticated dress for nights out is a must. I chose this one because it can be dressed up or down and look great. Also, there would be no ironing needed!

Finally, I would suggest bringing a classic-yet stylish coat. A coat can really tie an outfit together and make you look finished even when you have workout pants on underneath! This coat offered by Lucy is fabulous! The pants in the picture are the Lucy Power Pants which I positively love!!

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