April 24, 2017

Travel Essentials – Jeans

I know what you’re thinking. There is nothing original about suggesting that you take jeans when you travel. I agree, it seems like an obvious packing choice. But those of my mother’s vintage would be aghast at the thought of packing – jeans. Denim? Oh no.

Every time I plan an overseas trip my mother starts suggesting packing ideas anywhere from 8 months in advance.

Is that a new top? Ooh you should take that to (insert continent /country).

Those shoes will be great for walking around when you’re on your tour…

You should have bought two of those jumpers. One will be great for the plane!

But she always poo-pooed jeans. “Too heavy! Too uncomfortable! Too bulky! “They won’t dry…”

And I always ignored her and packed jeans. And I would often wear them on long haul flights!

The trick is to pack/wear/buy the right sort of jeans for travel. Denim has come along way from the thick heavy mum jeans of the 80s *shudders as mom jeans come back in fashion…

The jeans you want need to be soft, stretchy and lightweight. These days I bypass the jeans and go straight to jeggings. All the comfort, cotton and elastic of leggings, in a slimming, stylish denim colour. The great thing about jeggings is you can get them almost anywhere, any budget. I wouldn’t recommend spending too much on a pair of jeggings for travelling, you’ll wear them to death and they don’t last like real denim does. I never spend more than about $40 – whether thats USD, AUD or pounds.

Here are some of my favourite jeggings, from River Island, H&M and Dorothy Perkins.

Jeans or Jeggings are Great for Travel Because:

– They can be dressed up or down. I have worn the same pair to do a glacier hike in Iceland and go to the opera in Prague.

– They go with almost any item of clothing. Hoodies, sparkly singlets, trench coats, blouses, raincoats, the list goes on.

– They are pretty forgiving. You can usually treat them a little rougher than your other clothes, and if you choose actual denim, they can be worn for longer than other items before needing a wash.

– Roll up the bottoms for instant cutoffs! (like when I had to get busy cleaning the Great Wall in the photo above)

– They will try it on with any shoe – sneakers, sandals, heels, ballet flats, flip flops (thongs to us Aussies), boots of all seasons…

– Nowadays you can seriously have jeggings or jeans in every colour. Black, blue, navy, grey, khaki – which is way more classier than cargo pants, a little backpacker chic shall we say?

– If they do get trashed, you know with holes, rips, faded parts – it all just adds to their character. And if they get super bad, a pair of scissors and voilá! Instant shorts.

So many colours and styles to choose from. The ones above are from River Island, Boohoo, Levi’s via Thred Up and Asda for like 8 pounds.

I was demonstrating to this nude chick at Hearst Castle the stylishness of wearing jeans. Not sure if she was getting me…

Road tripping around Canada in some trusty jeans. Those jeans saw a lot of lakes, like the beautiful Lake Louise.

Jeans from back in the day. In Iceland at Kerið crater, 2007. Straight leg and stylish! NOT.

And on the left, some hideous boot legs (urgh) that travelled all the way to Austria in 2005! I hope I burned them…

And if you’re a fancy schmancy, business class flying, Shangri-La staying traveller, you could rock some jeggings with heels like these! From MissGuided, Lauren Conrad at Kohls, Styles for Less and Luxury Divas.

Thanks for sticking around throughout this ‘jeanious’ post!