My wife and I just returned from our three-week trip to the UK. We really enjoyed our time and fell in love with both Scotland and England. We were blessed with great weather for nearly the entire trip, with rain only coming overnight most of the time, freeing our daytime sightseeing opportunities. Our itinerary was hectic for the first 10 days, then eased up for the last 11 days. Before we left I took a photo of everything I was taking (save for a couple last-second additions I made after I snapped the photo) with a promise that I’d update how it went and whether I’d make any changes.
[at Eilean Donan Castle]
In order for you to understand why I packed what I packed, a brief explanation: The primary purpose of our trip was to observe and participate in an 8-day holy festival. We keep it every year and during those 8 days, we participate in daily worship services, where we adhere to a semiformal dress code. The other parts of the trip where we did sightseeing in Scotland and London were additions to our itinerary we did for fun, but the trip centered around this.
[my packing list]
Other considerations for our trip were:
- We drove everywhere in Scotland instead of taking trains
- The averages, lows and highs in Scotland this time of year range from 40-65°F (5-19C)
- The 8 days of the festival were in Torquay, called the English Riviera, which sees sunnier, warmer weather than other parts of the isle
Given all that, it meant I needed to pack enough button-up shirts, ties and tailoring to rotate for at least 8 days. No train travel meant I could pack a larger suitcase without the dread of having to lug it long distances on foot. And a significant portion of our trip in warmer climes meant I needed to have some options for comfortable, casual wear in the afternoons and evenings.
[at Tintagel, Cornwall; this is mostly what I wore in southern England]
So what I packed was:
- 5 button-up shirts—a chambray popover, OCBD popover, blue stripe cutaway linen-cotton, a white spread collar dress shirt, and a university stripe OCBD
- 2 Fall-Winter-weight Sportcoats—one navy faux-tweed, one brown donegal tweed
- 1 light gray cotton crewneck sweater
- 1 pair light gray flannel trousers
- 2 pairs of chinos
- 2 pairs of denim—one light, one dark
- 3 ties (no stripes! haha avoided that potential fiasco)
- 2 pairs of dress shoes with Dainite soles—snuff suede chukkas and brown pebble grain wingtips
- 1 pair of canoe moccasins
- 1 navy cashmere scarf
- *1 Barbour Ashby jacket
So how did it go, and would I change anything?
[in Glen Etive]
It went really well actually. The times where I felt like I wished I had brought something that I didn’t were few. One extremely important last-second addition for me were my canoe mocs. If I hadn’t taken those, I’d have sorely missed them and probably gone looking to buy a pair while I was there. In Scotland, I wore my Barbour, tailored jackets and dress shoes every single day. Once we got to England, I was in the canoe mocs the whole time (save for the daily services). The weather in England was warm enough that I do wish I had taken a lighter-weight sportcoat. As it was, the donegal tweed felt most out of place in the “English Riviera.” My flannel trousers are lightweight enough they were fine, and the navy jacket isn’t so heavy that I was sweating.
[the Quairaing trail on the Isle of Skye]
If there had been significantly more rain, or we had planned to do a lot more trail hiking, I can easily see myself wanting a pair of hiking boots. But it turned out fine—the Quairaing trail on the Isle of Skye was the most rugged terrain we hiked, and my chukkas were just fine for that. And as I mentioned before, it didn’t rain much, so sloppy, muddy terrain wasn’t a problem.
I did come away with lessons learned pertaining to our trip, the time we spent in each place, and the itinerary we had. I’ll post those in a separate article coming soon.
But in all, I found myself well equipped to enjoy beautiful and amazing Great Britain.
[at Doune Castle]
