Jessica,

We arrive a little after after you... Which airport?

Fantastic Cathy. I'm happy to see that I'm not the only one that will be on the higher end of the age range. Are you and your husband extending your stay in Paris or travelling on to one of the other cities? Or will you be doing more travelling on your own?

Unfortunately we'll be heading home after the tour.

I can understand that. It is hard to try to find the time and the money to be away for an extended period of time. I know I have been rationing out my vacation time to do everything I want this year and keep myself from burning out. I also have to keep reminding people at work that I will be away for over a week when the keep trying to assign me additional mini projects, as the major project that I am involved in keeps moving forward, regardless of if I am in the office or not.

HEY CATHY...I HOPE IM NOT SPELLING IT WRONG BUT I THINK ITS HEATHROW.

BROWREN YOU ALWAYS HAVE GOOD ADVICE LOL THANKS

So the trip is soo close and I'm really stuck on what to pack! I know everyone says to pack really light...but I just don't know what to take climate wise...do you ladies have any idea?!

LOL IM SORTA STUCK MYSELF...I'VE BEEN READING AND THE WEATHER IN LONDON SEEMS TO BE IN THE MID 50'S IN MAY...BUT YOU NEVER KNOW. I'M NOT A LIGHT PACKER SO IM HAVING TROUBLE MINIMIZING

Ahh same I'm definitely not a light packer either but I guess I could always buy stuff there if I needed to...!

I'm a big fan of lists, so I'll list everything that I want to take with me, try to pack it all the weekend before I leave, and then start trimming from there. My plan is to be able to dress in light layers. I travelled to europe around the same time as this trip last year and I typically wore jeans and a t-shirt or a light shirt with sneakers in the day. At night I would just add a light sweater or a jacket. As there is a tendency for rain I also used to carry a compact umbrella in my day bag, just in case. I had to use it a few times, but it was better than wearing a rain coat. Looking back at my photos it seems that most of the people on my trip dressed the same way. If they chose to wear a skirt or dress for the day, they would also wear tights.

No matter how well I packed for my trip last year, I wasn't completely prepared for the weather, as one day the temperature took a sharp drop in the middle of the day, which I wasn't prepared for. So, I ended up buying a sweater from H&M just to keep me warm. 10 euros later I was warm and I still wear the sweater today.

In effort to reduce the amount of clothes and shoes you want to take, I would just try to plan your outfits before you leave. Select items that look good with jeans or dress pants, that could be casual and comfortable during the day but dressed up with accessories to go out at night. My plan is to bring only one dress, three pairs of jeans (including the pair that I will wear/carry on on the plane), and one pair of black dress pants. I also only plan to bring three pairs of shoes - sneakers, black boots, and a pair of heels to go with my dress. The major changes with my wardrobe will be in changing my tops, layering different tops, and using jewlry/scarfs to change the effect. Now, how that works out weight wise, I don't know.

That's great advice should help me a lot, thanks Browren!

this is true...Browren has awesome advice all the time. now if i do get to meet u i will need help pronouncing your name lol. omg!!! we got a lil over 2 weeks to go...

I can't wait!!

I'm also having trouble packing. It seem that the temparatures in London are kind of similar to our winter temperatures. Plus the rain. My sister went in December, then it was really freezing, being used to sunny South Africa, her clothes were'nt nearly warm enough. She came back sick as a dog. She also says that London rain is awfull, it gets in everywhere..

Yeah the weather here is still pretty cold with the odd nice day, the climate hasn't really been over 10 or 50, I'm hoping England will be a bit warmer. What's the weather right now like in South Africa? Probably pretty nice.

A friend of mine was in England around the end of March on a school trip and she said they were lucky it didn't rain once while they were there and she was able to wear a light sweater everyday!

So I'm hoping we'll get that same luck with no rain and nice weather!