Packing for Pula was a difficult task: what’s the weather like in April (changeable!), what am I going to need, what am I going to want and what am I going to do? I had the luxury of a big bag despite my easyJet flight – by which I mean cabin bag, not hold bag, so I could afford to bring a few extras, yet when I hoisted it, it seemed alarmingly light. And I soon realised why.
Clothes
Not that I wear it often but I have something of a holiday capsule wardrobe. It’s based around blues and yellows with a bit of light pink for fun and a hint of white as an accent. But because I live in the 21st century and on the internet, there’s far more of it than I’m ever likely to need on a short trip so this is which bits I opted for.
My travel day outfit was a pair of navy wide-legged linen mix trousers. I’ve already cut three inches off the bottom of them because they were far too long but they definitely need to be folded over and rehemmed again, not least to hide all the ragged edges. Still, they’re comfortable and they look reasonably put-together if you’re comparing them to the hiking trousers I’d wear almost anywhere else.
With them, I wore a blue t-shirt. The t-shirts make up the main portion of this wardrobe. I wanted to bring my navy t-shirt but having turned the house upside down and not found it, I had to give up on that. Probably for the best, since a navy t-shirt with navy trousers is a bit of a heavy monochrome look and the weather never really got good enough to wear the denim shorts. But I’m getting ahead of myself. T-shirt number one is a mid-blue one that goes just fine with navy trousers.
Over that, I wore a light yellow zip hoodie. Do I need a jumper in Croatia in April? Well, I think it’s foolish to go off for four days without some kind of warm layer. The yellow hoodie is really the only outer layer in my summer capsule wardrobe, so that was a no-brainer.
For once I brought two pairs of shoes and the one I travelled in was the bulkier of the two – a pair of bright yellow Vans. I also packed some no-show trainer socks in various capsule wardrobe-friendly colours and immediately discovered that they very much show. But not under over-long linen trousers!
In the afternoon, I had to walk 1.6km up the road to the nearest supermarket that actually sells butter and fresh bread and since it was wet and my over-long trousers were getting wet around the hem, I chose to put on my dress. I bought it quite a while ago in Mountain Warehouse and it’s a kind of skater style with long sleeves, a slightly flared skirt and pockets in a dark blue print with little birds on it. The hem is knee-length so it kept out of the puddles but it’s not so floofy that I was worried about it flying up in the breeze.
On day two, I swapped the mid-blue t-shirt for a white one and since it was a warmer but slightly breezy day, I added a blue checked shirt open over it. It’s a dark blue approaching but not quite at navy and it’s quite a large and not too fussy check and I quite liked the navy and white. It felt, by my standards, quite chic. I swapped the yellow Vans for my blue sandals. I’ve been living in mountain sandals, or sturdy waterproof sandals, for quite a few years now and have accepted that I have to take what I can get. These are bright blue and from the Decathlon children’s department last year. My previous ones were green. What would probably have looked better would have been a pair of classic leather sandals but I’m not a leather sandal girl.
On day three, still hoping for the weather to wear my denim shorts, I swapped the white t-shirt for a light pink one. In my imagination, this is a slightly salmon-tinted pink but standing in front of the mirror, I think it’s acceptably pale Barbie pink.
On day four, I swapped the pink t-shirt for the last time to a pale yellow one. This is the one t-shirt I can’t really get away with the almost matching yellow hoodie with, which means I either need to wear it on its own, with the blue shirt or with the hoodie zipped up high enough that you can’t see the yellow t-shirt. Had the weather been more like Dubrovnik – hot and dry the whole time – that wouldn’t be an issue but Pula in April definitely had damp and windy days when I didn’t necessarily want to be wearing a t-shirt on its own.
Being optimistic, I brought two hats. The first was a denim bucket hat with a daisy on the front which I carried with me more than I wore because it’s just that bit too big that it feels very insecure in the lightest breeze. The second, which I wore a lot in Dubrovnik last year, was a massive pink straw hat with a very floppy brim which I immediately realised just doesn’t suit Pula’s vibe and never wore once, except for this little photoshoot on the terrace.
I also brought a waterproof coat, the kind that rolls up into its own pocket, and my down jacket, which was useful for walking down to the Lighting Giants in the evening but otherwise stayed home. For all it was damp and breezy, Pula was generally warm enough to not want many layers.
For jewellery, I wanted jewellery I didn’t have to worry too much about – nothing fussy or flappy. I travelled in my waterproof un-tarnishable stainless steel gunmetal small hoop earrings and then swapped them for an equally indestructible pair of hammered gold hoops. I also have some hoops of a similar size but much fatter, also in gold, but they’re just heavy enough that I can’t sleep in them and they’re also just that bit less subtle. I wore my Creativity/Skapa bindrune and I always wear a little gold St Christopher my grandad gave me for my 18th birthday. For day-to-day, I swapped the rune for a couple of fairly slim gold chains that go with the gold earrings and are equally waterproof. For bracelets, I’m still on silver, and by “silver” I mean “stainless steel”. I have a little chain bracelet and a hinged bangle, both in nice shiny steel, I added a turquoise El Camino bracelet with my western/central European steps on it and I also wore a beaded bracelet with a shell that I bought in a beach shop in Dubrovnik last year. Last detail, a black and pink Baby G watch because it’s also indestructible and I don’t need to change the base time to put it on holiday time.
For bags, I brought the yellow Marimekko x Uniqlo round mini shoulder bag and that was an error. Everyone raves about how much you can get in them and I think they must be talking about a different bag. I got in my wallet, phone, portable charger, sunglasses, tiny notebook and then could hardly close it. No room for snacks, no room for shopping, no room for anything. So the first thing I bought was a small backpack – navy, naturally, since it goes with my colour scheme. I was concerned that it wasn’t actually much bigger than my half-round bag but when I tipped the contents into the backpack, they almost disappeared into its depths. So that’s my travel day bag from now on!
I said earlier that I realised what I was missing. What I was missing was… well, practical everyday clothing. My hiking trousers! The linen trousers are excellent in summer but on a trip where it’s mostly damp, they’re just too long and soak up the rain. It was too cold (and not holiday-ish enough) to go out in denim shorts or even the dress, which is relatively thick and has long sleeves. I just wanted some trousers that weren’t going to soak up the puddles or look like I’d overestimated the weather or even trip me up whenever I tried to go up stairs. I didn’t want my holiday capsule wardrobe. I just wanted normal clothes! Maybe even my normal trainers instead of the yellow Vans. Maybe it’s not even time to wear my sandals yet – my winter feet that have not yet been revitalised to deal with the breeze around them would agree.
Everything else
I brought the bare minimum of toiletries – a plastic bag containing toothbrush and toothpaste, mini deodorant from the travel minis aisle although I try not to do that as a rule, a tiny bottle of moisturiser and some sun cream decanted into a 37ml mini GoToob. I also brought a mini can of hairspray to use as a setting spray in case I did any charcoal sketching (which I didn’t!). I brought my solid haircare bag – solid shampoo and conditioner bars in tins along with a draining mat. Nearly forgot my hairbrush – that is, nearly forgot to list it, didn’t nearly forget to bring it.
For technology, I brought my phone, tablet, Kindle, digital camera and film camera plus my little charging kit which consists of an Ikea three-USB plug with European prongs and three cables neatly tied up with velcro strips and the whole bag is smaller than my fist and saves me running round the house looking for suitable cables and adaptors every time I go away. Just pick up the little bag. I also put in my tiny miniature Gorillapod tripod and the little bag containing my clip-on mic and transmitter, which I always bring and never use because I’m a writing kind of girl, not a video kind of girl.
Sundries consisted of a Croatian phrasebook and Croatia guidebook, a mini notebook, a 6×4 mini scrapbook left over from my Dubrovnik trip last year where I also never wrote or drew a thing, a small basic beginner’s watercolour pallet, a pencil case containing a few waterproof ink pens, a pencil and some charcoal and a packet of cyanotype paper which I actually believed I might use (I did not use it). Plus of course my passport, my wallet, my prescription polarised sunglasses, the tiny box containing my old-fashioned wired earphones (and splitter and Lightning adaptor) and the book I’m currently reading (Pod, by Laline Paull).
I think that’s everything. The clothes and toiletries went in my big bag, which is the Osprey Farpoint 40 and it felt so light that it made me wonder what I’d forgotten. The tech and sundries mostly went in my personal item, which is a square zipped tote bag I made two years ago out of ripstop nylon to the precise specification of Icelandair’s personal item size limit and which has served me really well on every trip. On this trip, I used it as my shopping bag, since the half-round bag is utterly incapable of even the basics of a day in town and was never going to take juice and bread and butter. I absolutely wish I’d brought a collapsible backpack for days out – maybe the black & white checked Ikea one isn’t very pretty but it’s capable of carrying about 45l of stuff and that would have served me well on Friday when I spent the day in the Brijuni National Park. The navy one was nice but it was still a bit on the small side.
That sounds like a lot and I admit, my bag did feel double the weight on the way back but I promise, it felt freakishly light on the way out. The amount of clothes was fine, it just wasn’t quite the right mix of items for the weather but I guess you take your chances every time you go somewhere, even if you think you know what the weather is like there.
I Am A Polar Bear 