Dressed for Teutonic success

The clothes that I pack for a vacation are of great concern to me in the months leading up to a trip. For a cruise that B and I took a few years ago, I planned my outfits for every day. Every day featured two outfits, and they were carefully plotted in (of course) an Excel spreadsheet. The daytime outfits were specially designed to fit with the excursions that we picked for each day, such as closed-toe shoes for our ziplining terror in Jamaica. The nighttime outfits were dressier because you have to dress up for dinner on a cruise, though only two nights required formalwear.

We nearly had to pay overweight-luggage fees on that vacation, so in the spirit of Yankee frugality, I have since scaled back on the quantity of clothing that I pack for each trip. However, the clothing planning is no less rigorous and begins the day that we book plane tickets.

My compulsive planning tendencies mean that I am currently planning the clothing that I will pack for two vacations, a daunting task that I am tackling with the excitement that--I suspect--few would feel. My packing list for Italy is nearly finished, so now my focus is on Germany.

I posted on the Rick Steves question-and-answer boards to ask what style of jacket we should wear in Germany to fit in with other Germans. The answers were mixed, but a few people mentioned having success with lighter-weight winter jackets and lots of layers. Although May is probably not the ideal time of year to buy a winter jacket (in the northern hemisphere, anyway), we headed to our local EMS to see if they had any leftover items on the sale rack.

The women's sales rack had few options, and most of them were sized XS--a tad petite for my statuesque frame. We both headed to the men's rack and found some great jackets. As it turns out, men's jackets have very long sleeves--long enough even for me! We both picked up lightweight jackets (Ben's is lighter than mine--more like a spring jacket--a great rain coat) and fleeces that button right into them. Our jackets are water-resistant, windproof, and have more pockets than we can count. There is plenty of room for stashing passports, cash, cards, room keys, and maybe even the occasional Christmas market souvenir.

And now on to shoes--what kind of shoes do Germans wear in the winter? I think more research is in order.