Review a packing list for a female business woman on a one-week trip somewhere snowy?

[joy_of_cooking]

She grits her teeth and gets on with walking across the parking lot. Damn the weather. So. Pointing out that she ignored a scarf in favor of another set of workout clothes gives you a chance at character development along those lines.

Wow, that's really interesting. To me that would read much more silly and impractical than go-getter. Do people actually go places unprepared to stand outside for fifteen minutes? I could imagine her maybe not bothering to bundle up if she knows it's only N metres, but not even packing adequate clothing seems a step too far.

 

[oneagainst]

Her name's Beatrix, but she hates the name and asks everyone to call her by her second name which is Shannon, thanks to her dad's intervention. In addition to her toy she's got a battered paperback copy of "Far from the Madding Crowd" on the off chance she falls into a reading mood. But it's more likely she'll use a bit of downtime to play on her Switch. She enjoys traveling - even the inconveniences that come with it, because it's better than sitting at home on the off chance one of her circle of friends will feel like doing something - and there's only so many hours of the day you can spend catching up on emails or at the gym.

Her uncle taught her that, a perennial drifter, always between girlfriends, always someplace else every few months. When he came round, he'd be all smiles, but there was always something in his eyes. Sometimes, in some goddamn cookie-cutter hotel room in some utterly replaceable city, she remembered that look in his eyes. Was that the life for her too? Did she really want that? Or maybe, just once, to have someone who called her Bea.

 

[onehitwanda]

Her uncle taught her that, a perennial drifter, always between girlfriends, always someplace else every few months. When he came round, he'd be all smiles, but there was always something in his eyes. Sometimes, in some goddamn cookie-cutter hotel room in some utterly replaceable city, she remembered that look in his eyes. Was that the life for her too? Did she really want that? Or maybe, just once, to have someone who called her Bea.

One night, when she was staying in a small but exquisite hotel in Barcelona, she woke at one in the morning. She rose to refill her water, but noises from the street tempted her to the window; she stared down at a man and a woman slow-dancing to the soft liquid notes of a single guitar, projected upwards by the cheap circuitry of a small portable speaker. Other people were watching from gently-lit windows in buildings across from her - watching these two unknown dancers and their slow, beautiful caresses.

She went back to bed and, for the first time in years, fell asleep with tears on her cheeks and an empty ache deep within her.

 

[oneagainst]

One night, when she was staying in a small but exquisite hotel in Barcelona, she woke at one in the morning. She rose to refill her water, but noises from the street tempted her to the window; she stared down at a man and a woman slow-dancing to the soft liquid notes of a single guitar, projected upwards by the cheap circuitry of a small portable speaker. Other people were watching from gently-lit windows in buildings across from her - watching these two unknown dancers and their slow, beautiful caresses.

She went back to bed and, for the first time in years, fell asleep with tears on her cheeks and an empty ache deep within her.

I have a cheating wife on a bed about to get a plot twist royally served to her, that I need to just damn finish. Stop baiting me @onehitwanda - this is gratuitous writer nerd sniping!

 

[onehitwanda]

I have a cheating wife on a bed about to get a plot twist royally served to her, that I need to just damn finish. Stop baiting me @onehitwanda - this is gratuitous writer nerd sniping!

I'm not holding a pen to your head or anything. You can stop any time you like. muahahaha.

Her favourite scent is jasmine, because it reminds her of her mother. Her least favourite scent is also jasmine, because it reminds her of her mother.

 

[oneagainst]

Her mother was part of the problem. She'd always been at home, the faithful wife, the good mother, taking what was given and never seeming to want any more. Beatrix remembered the smell of jasmine, snuggled up against her, but later it became a thorn, a reminder of the difference between them. Beatrix wasn't going to settle. She was going to make her mark. The memory of her mother doting on her father, with a casserole in her oven mitts, feeding the family, it had always be anathema, driving her on. Now, looking out of her hotel window into the grey, washed out dawn, it felt like something else, something she'd missed. It felt like home.

damn you to hell, siren

 

[onehitwanda]

siren

NEE NAW NEE NAW NEE NAW

 

[SexyVita]

Cold weather gear
- wool scarf
- wool hat
- fleece leggings
- down jacket
- leather gloves
- knee-high wool socks
- bean boots

So I've actually done this, one bag for 5 days, for business in cold place. It's amazing what you can get into a carryon if you're determined. I used to roll my skirts, dresses, and tops because they take less room and get less wrinkled in a full roll aboard. That being said, as someone who lives in a place that get much colder than you are describing, I'd scrap the scarf and hat for a jacket with a lined hood. The gloves go in the jacket pockets. Choose either the fleece leggings or the wool socks, or neither, I rarely planned to be out of doors on business trips and as someone else said a quick trip from the hotel to the car, or car to the office is not going to be painful at those temps. Even a few minutes outside isn't going to be much more than mildly unpleasant.

She'd be wearing the bulkiest stuff onto the plane to save room in her carry-on.

Wear the coat to the airport, stuff it above the carry-on once aboard.

Workout gear
- sports bra
- wool ankle socks
- canvas sneakers (think Keds or Plimsolls)
- wicking tank top
- running shorts

If she works out daily, I'd suggest 2x the above, if every other day, then laundering them is fine.

Underwear
- panties 3x
- beige stockings 2x
- garter belt
- bra 2x

Definately panties x5 (at least) I usually pack a few extra.
Stockings x3, and I'd make at least one pair black, it's a classier look for after work.
Bra x3

Shoes
- round-toe pumps, low block heel, black
- pointy-toe pumps, high spike heel, black patent

She'll wear the low heels on the plane, and stuff panties inside and around the high heels to save space.

Outerwear
- shell top, high neck
- wool cardigan, black
- blouse, long sleeve, buttons all the way up (or not)
- little black dress, below the knee
- A-line skirt, below the knee
- wool pants, hemmed for low heels

Definately going to need more tops, I always brought one for each day and often an extra one. Packing a glitzier top as an extra gives you a night option and an emergency top to wear if something happens to one of the others. I would probably skip the cardigan. It's bulky and if she's outside, she can wear the jacket anyway. Maybe add a wool jacket (not a coat but the woman's version of a sportcoat), instead of the cardigan, she can wear it on the plane to save space. A great way to go day to night with little fuss is to wear a top that is a little to glam or revealing for the office, but cover most of it with a two button jacket. After work, take off the jacket, change shoes and presto, you're ready for the night. Even the little black dress can work this way.

 

[Ambient4190]

• shampoo
• conditioner
• eye cream
• moisturizer
• favorite soap
• eye shadow
• eye liner
• mascara
• toothbrush
• toothpaste
• powder
• hairspray or other
• deodorant
• make up remover
• contacts for after hours
• back up glasses
• hairbrush
• comb
• power cords - laptop, phone

Packing list no fun when you have to buy some generic crap because you forgot your favorites!

 

[Voboy]

Wow, that's really interesting. To me that would read much more silly and impractical than go-getter. Do people actually go places unprepared to stand outside for fifteen minutes? I could imagine her maybe not bothering to bundle up if she knows it's only N metres, but not even packing adequate clothing seems a step too far.

I‘ve lived in several places where it gets cold in the winter. Nobody bundles up to cross a parking lot, and most of the people I know would mock someone who did!

Ain‘t nobody’s got time to bundle up, walk fifty meters, and then offload everything in some sort of foyer. Besides, your girl has a car and driver: he’d drop her off at the door, surely.

 

[joy_of_cooking]

Just to check what we're arguing about: are you saying she wouldn't bother to put her coat on to get across the parking lot, or are you saying she'd fly into the city without a coat, trusting that she'd never need it?

I live in the kind of climate we're talking about. I do dash indoors without bothering, but I always have my coat over my arm in case I need it. What if the train breaks down?

 

[Duleigh]

Bean boots are way too much for a walk from a parking lot to the main entrance. Pumps will be fine. Believe me, I've lived in -40 (C & F) and unless there was a lot of snow, pumps and loafers worked all winter long for my wife.

 

[Voboy]

Just to check what we're arguing about: are you saying she wouldn't bother to put her coat on to get across the parking lot, or are you saying she'd fly into the city without a coat, trusting that she'd never need it?

I live in the kind of climate we're talking about. I do dash indoors without bothering, but I always have my coat over my arm in case I need it. What if the train breaks down?

It’s not an argument. It’s just input, which you asked for. It’s your story; I’m not interested in changing your mind.

If you were aiming to convince me your character was a go-getter, then had her overpack winter clothes, I would find it less believable than you seem to think I should. That’s my input.

 

[SexyVita]

• shampoo
• conditioner
• eye cream
• moisturizer
• favorite soap
• eye shadow
• eye liner
• mascara
• toothbrush
• toothpaste
• powder
• hairspray or other
• deodorant
• make up remover
• contacts for after hours
• back up glasses
• hairbrush
• comb
• power cords - laptop, phone

Packing list no fun when you have to buy some generic crap because you forgot your favorites!

I used to pack most of that stuff in my laptop bag. Especially the liquids, it's easier to get them out when you go through security. Fuck, I hated having to fill all those stupid 3oz bottles. Makes me glad I don't travel for work anymore.

 

[SexyVita]

I‘ve lived in several places where it gets cold in the winter. Nobody bundles up to cross a parking lot, and most of the people I know would mock someone who did!

Ain‘t nobody’s got time to bundle up, walk fifty meters, and then offload everything in some sort of foyer. Besides, your girl has a car and driver: he’d drop her off at the door, surely.

For the temps he's talking I pretty much agree. But where I live, a coat is standard wear in the winter. Unless you drive from an attached garage to an underground garage at the other end and don't plan to go anywhere else, you bring the coat. Even if you don't wear it, you have it. You don't mess around with temps well below 0 F.

 

[joy_of_cooking]

All right, sounds like this is a real thing. I hadn't realized the practice varied so much. Thanks!

 

[AWhoopsieDaisy]

Anyone want to review a packing list for a female character on a five-day business trip? This will be unpublished background material to help me figure out what clothes I can have her wear over a few days. It doesn't have to be totally realistic, but I don't want half my readers rolling their eyes.

She works in a fairly conservative environment (hose required from Labor Day to Memorial Day) and she's going some place snowy but not that cold (say, above 25F / -4C including wind chill).

During the day she needs to be at the top of business casual verging on business formal. At night she'll have dinner with colleagues, check out the night life, or meet up with a fuck buddy. In the mornings she does a quick workout in the hotel gym. She'll have a car from the hotel to the office, but she still wants to bundle up for the walk from the parking lot.

She's on the road two to three weeks a month and has become a seasoned one-bagger. All of this needs to fit into a carry-on. Everything that can't be re-worn needs to be available in a material that can be hand-washed in the sink and hang-dried overnight. Cost is mostly not an issue.

Cold weather gear
- wool scarf
- wool hat
- fleece leggings
- down jacket
- leather gloves
- knee-high wool socks
- bean boots

I was imagining that all this would be layered over indoors clothing. E.g., come in wearing all of the above over her skirt and blouse and cardigan and hose, then take it all off and put on a pair of heels for the day.

She'd be wearing the bulkiest stuff onto the plane to save room in her carry-on.

Workout gear
- sports bra
- wool ankle socks
- canvas sneakers (think Keds or Plimsolls)
- wicking tank top
- running shorts

Depending on what's available, she'll do free weights, stationary bike, or Pilates. The tank top and shorts double as pajamas.

(It's a minor plot point that she doesn't have anything not-revealing that she can wear to bed when she finds herself unexpectedly sharing a room with her boss.)

Underwear
- panties 3x
- beige stockings 2x
- garter belt
- bra 2x

Two pairs of stockings and a garter belt?! She wears hose for work, and she was prepared to bring someone back to the hotel room. And maybe she gets a bit of a thrill wearing stockings under her conservative work clothes.

Apparently women re-wear their bras a few times? Could she get by with a single bra for the week?

Shoes
- round-toe pumps, low block heel, black
- pointy-toe pumps, high spike heel, black patent

Outerwear
- shell top, high neck
- wool cardigan, black
- blouse, long sleeve, buttons all the way up (or not)
- little black dress, below the knee
- A-line skirt, below the knee
- wool pants, hemmed for low heels

The character is East Asian, so light skin and black hair. The internet says jewel tones work for that? So let's say the shell and blouse are those. The bottoms are all black. Not sure about the cardigan. Something neutral so it can go over either top. More black? Grey? Cream?

Ideally this should be a capsule wardrobe sufficient for a week's worth of day-to-night outfits. (Imagine she has accessories. I'm not even going to try to figure those out.)

Does this seem plausible? I am so far out of my depth...

Go for sweat pants or yoga pants if you want to see the figure better. not shorts. And add some kind of shirt to the workout outfit. It's COLD.

Currently it's fashionable to have contrast in form fitting VS baggy. So if she's got tight pants, baggy top. Tight top, baggy pants. It draws more attention to the figure when half of it is a mystery. Get me?

Colors wise: black or brown. Not both at the same time. Warm colors look better with brown, cold colors look good with black.

Shoes wise anyone flying by plane would be dumb to pack more than the shoes on their feet and maybe one additional pair in a luggage. So one pair of sneakers and one work appropriate shoe pair.

 

[Rob_Royale]

That's WAY more work than I put into any story. Wow. But hey, whatever works for you.

 

[oneagainst]

I uh... need to come up with a packing list for a story too. A fortnight in a cold place with a work conference and maybe going out on the night for a MALE main character.

I've got a far as beer and a change of underpants and I just can't see what else I'm missing.

 

[Seadog777]

Well.....my 3 sisters pack their whole god damn house for a weekend trip.

So 5 days, might require packing the whole county.

 

[MillieDynamite]

This brings to mind a movie scene. Renée Zellweger in New in Town, steps out of the airport in Minnesota in a skirt, and the wind hits her. She isn't wearing a real coat, she hasn't got anything war, she screams, "Holy ..." Well, just watch it.

In case you didn't catch it, "Mother," is said but the rest is blown away.