PACKING FOR A HAND LUGGAGE HOLIDAY

It's fair to say that low cost air travel isn't always as low cost as it may seem. Whilst the cost for your seat might be reasonable, some of the additional charges and taxes aren't.

I love to travel abroad and I'm always lured in by the adverts of return flights to exciting European cities for under £20. Yet by the time I get to the payment screen the price has doubled, if not tripled. And the one charge I always begrudgingly pay is for check-in baggage. Not that I don't want the extra kilos (believe me I do), its just that the cost attached for the privilege is extortionate.

A friend of mine tweeted at me a couple of weeks ago with the only solution to to avoiding check-in baggage costs, hand luggage.

Never one to shy away from a challenge, I started thinking about what I would pack for a seven night stay in Spain using hand luggage. I excluded toiletries and sun lotion as I'd buy them at the destination to allow maximum room for clothes!

My top tips for packing for a hand luggage holiday are:
1. Plan your outfits. I always lay out my tops and match my trousers or shorts to ensure I have outfit options. There's no point packing your favourite shirt, if you have nothing to wear with it. Also, try and wear the bulkiest items on the journey.
2. Pack versatile pieces. It's important to have a good mix of basics and patterns to ensure you can mix and match the things that you pack.
3. Contingencies. Although your space is tight, try and make sure you have packed more tops than you have the number of days you are staying. This is to cover any unplanned activities or accidents.

Whenever I go on a summer holiday I always pack too many footwear options! I always kid myself that I will be able to comfortably wear gladiator sandals around the city but the truth is, I usually wear them on the first day, burn my feet and can't wear them again because the straps rub against the sunburn. So what I have now learnt is that I spend the majority of my summer holidays wearing flip flops. Comfortable, great for the beach and the city and you can wear them with anything. I also always take a pair of shoes for the flight and for going out at night. There's nothing worse than getting off the plane on your journey home to wet weather when you're wearing flip flops. Trust me, those aircraft steps are a hazard in the rain.

For a seven night, hand luggage holiday I would take three pairs of shorts. I love mixing prints through tops and shorts so I would pack one plain pair that I could wear with print tops and one patterned pair I could wear with plain tops. When I'm on holiday I prefer to explore the place I'm visiting rather than stay by the beach everyday so one pair of swim shorts would be enough for me. I love these bright orange ones inspired by the S/S collection from DSquared2.

If you're going somewhere like Spain then you are almost guaranteed sunshine and warm weather so unless you are incredibly unlucky, you should be spending most of your time in shorts. Personally, I never like to fly in shorts as I always get cold. So these chinos are a great travel and evening wear option.

I can not go on holiday to a hot climate country without a selection of vests. I think that slub vests are the most comfortable thing to wear during the day and look cool on the beach or when you're off exploring. The loose fit means that they keep you cool and if you haven't had time to hit the gym, they won't show you up. I always try and pack a selection of different prints from a selection of trends to try and create a different look each day.

With t-shirts I always try to include a few basics to wear with the patterned shorts and also as layering pieces for your shirts.

I never usually pack many shirts as I find them too restrictive to wear when the weather is hot. It's good to have a little selection though for daytime and evening wear.

This hoodie is perfect for travelling. It's lightweight and it will keep you warm during the flight. Plus it's always good to have jacket incase the weather takes a turn for the worse or the nights get cold.

Sunglasses and a straw trilby are a must have for a summer holiday, they're both essential for sun protection. I always carry or wear my hat on board as packing it usually ruins it and I hang my sunglasses from my t-shirt.

Here's a few snapshots from my travels.

TOPMAN DESIGN

Yesterday I featured a shirt from Topman Design's S/S collection and here are some other pieces from the bohemian range.

The Morrocan inspired collection is vividly eclectic and displays a globetrotting vibe which is a key look on the high st right now. Whilst some of the psychedelic prints will appear to be a pastiche of the 1970's for some men, the earthy colours and styled up basics like chinos and vests should provide something for the everyman.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH BURTON

I love Burton. There I said it. Although, those of you who regularly follow Mansnaps will already know this and will also know how great I think their S/S collection is.

Now that my declaration of love is out, you can appreciate just how pleased I was that the Head of Design for Burton, Jonathan Lovett agreed to answer all of my questions about their upcoming collection.

Where does Burton get its inspiration from? Is it all catwalk based?

Many things inspire my design team and myself, we look far and wide from the streets of Leeds and Birmingham, the hot spots of London such as Spitalfields and Broadway Market and get to travel out to research trendy cities such as New York and Tokyo. The men's catwalk collections are a good measure of coming trends, they also help inspire but they are not our main focus. The important thing is to use all this trend information and turn it into clothes our Burton guy wants to buy and wear.

After attending your Press Day for High Summer I was impressed by Burton's take on the Olympics. What's your favourite looks from the summer collection?

Definitely the Festival collection, I really like the sun bleached colours and textures that make up the look.

I think it's fair to say that Topman is Arcadia's young men's fashion brand, although recently Burton seems to be stepping up a gear in terms of fashionability... Is this a sign of the modern, mature mans interest in fashion increasing or just pressure to compete on the high St?

A bit of both to be honest, my opinion is that when I think of someone in their thirties or forties they have been through the modern style revolution, they were probably more in tune with style as a young adult so they simply continue to maintain an interest in their appearance later on. Menswear is really exciting right now, there is a lot of choice in terms of style so we expect our customer to demand that from the Burton brand.

How much input/ do you have over the prints, particularly with things like your Ibiza inspired vests and t-shirts?

Alongside the jersey designer and buyer we all work together to choose what prints are going into the ranges so we all loved the Ibiza print collection.

The response to the James Corden for Trekstock t-shirt has been really positive from Mansnaps readers, have you got any other collaborations lined up?

We will continue to work on new design collaborations under the Trekstock umbrella. We are looking at new ideas constantly, watch this space!

Mansnaps has been featuring Burton since the beginning of the blog, how important do you feel blogs are to the success of the brand?

Very, they are a new kind of exposure and I see them only becoming ever more relevant.


Are there exciting new labels, launches or changes we can expect from Burton this year?

I have been working on a project under our Heritage range, Montegue Burton for this coming AW 2012. I can't say too much yet but I worked with one of the worlds leading fashion schools to come up with the concept, so far the garments are looking really cool.

Finally, what's your favourite piece from your summer collection?

I really want to wear more colour this season, I am already wearing colour chino's and want to extend that into shirts and tee's for the summer. So if I had to choose one piece it would be a bright blue chino or chino short.

Here are some of Mansnaps favourite pieces from the S/S collection.

COLOURED CHINOS

 

This S/S is going to be all about colour. Same as every year then, I hear you say. Well yes, except 2012 we should see it taken up a notch with the introduction of Coloured chinos.
They were a big feature in the S/S12 collections for many designers and now we're seeing the trend coming through on the high st.

Although we've already seen coloured jeans on the high st, I think that coloured chinos are a little less scary for a lot of men. The lighter fabrics mean that they can be worn on holiday which is the perfect trial run for the clothing you're not entirely confident in wearing around your home town. Plus there is a certain ruggedness to the feel of denim which lends itself better to a formal look to give it balance, especially when the denim is dyed a bright colour.

Like coloured jeans I would avoid wearing another bright colour on your top half unless you are really confident with how to work colours. That said, don't be afraid to mix with a printed t-shirt for a cool, casual look (Pull&Bear and H&M always do great prints). Although let the print add the colour and stick to a white/black/grey/navy t-shirt for balance.