spruced by marlene

Okka’s question to me: What are your holiday essentials?

My reply…

It doesn’t matter where I’m travelling, the same thing happens every time the day before I leave: I wish I had had one more day. There’s still so much to do, four loads to wash, 37 mails to write, nails to paint, nails to re-paint, because I dunked them in the dishwater too quickly, and shouldn’t I clean the windows, too?

As though the world would end if I’m gone for two weeks.

When Steffi, who I’m going to Mallorca with, told me a couple of days ago: So it seems we won’t have Wi-Fi in the finca, I thought: But how are we going to survive? I pictured us running throught the garden with our open laptops, hysterically trying to get a signal.

Then I decided: perhaps that’s exactly what we need. Going offline. Read a couple of books instead, hang out, talk, not talk, read another book, fall asleep in the hammock, cook, look out at the sea, and eventually forget that we haven’t checked our emails today.

And that’s how I packed for this holiday, the essentials and a lot of (old) favourites.

| Floor-length silk dress from Ganni – day, night, beach, city, dependable everywhere
| „Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls” by David Sedaris and „The Yellow Birds” by Kevin Powers – saved the first one specifically for this holiday, reading the second a second time, because it’s heartbreakingly good
| Earrings from Anthropologie – just in case we’re going to the beach club
| Panama hat – 34 degrees on Mallorca!
| High heels from Mango – you always need to take high heels, even if you won’t wear them even once
| Tank tops, from & Other Stories and Cos – can’t take too many tank tops and they take very little room in the suitcase
| Bathing suit from Petit Bateau – for the days when the bikini takes a holiday
| Sunglasses from RayBan – and, no, I will not loose this pair on the beach
| Denim cut-offs from Cos – I spontaneously chopped off a pair of old jeans yesterday. Because I didn’t have anything else to do
| Sandals from Patrizia Pepe – the elegant alternative to my Birks
| Cheesecloth top from my mom – she wore it before I was born and I’ll keep wearing it, until it falls apart.
| Clutch from James Castle – we’re definitely going to the beach club
| Sunscreen, from Kiehl’s and Biotherm, and lotion from Aesop for after the sun – I repeat: 34 degrees on Mallorca!
| Turkish towel from Bed & Beyond – thinner and lighter than bath towels; more room for a second pair of high heels

Something else that happens before every holiday: I plan to pack like a pro – heavy things at the bottom of the suitcase, lighter things on top, silks lightly folded at the very top, shoes in canvas bags, take at least one pair of shoes out again at the end etc. – but by the time I got around to packing it was 11pm and still so much other stuff to do. Who knows what I’ll arrive with on Mallorca. But as long as I remembered the bikini, it doesn’t really matter.

Happy holidays!