I’ve always envied those women at the Airport who look so put together before a flight. Makeup, coiffed hair, nice accessories and all of the details that say “I take travel seriously”. For our trip to Lisbon I vowed that even though I was waking up at 5 am after three hours of sleep that THIS TIME I would be one of those put together women.
No flip flops, no oversized backpack, no bed head top-knot, no bags under my eyes…. I wanted to be the woman that the attendant at the check in counter would take seriously, I wanted to be an “Italian Flyer”.
The Reason I Dressed
So last week we headed to Lisbon in Portugal to meet my sister and her family. If you happen to read this post you know that my sister has a baby girl (now 6 months!!) whom I’ve never met. To avoid going back to Canada, we decided to meet her for a week in Lisbon and join their family vacation in Portugal. Lisbon is not the most stroller friendly destination (but I’ll get to that later this week), but certainly a beautiful city that I would love to see again.
My deep desire to be one of those put together mom travelers was paired with my desire to also be comfortable. So, I aimed for a look that combined pijama wear with chic accessories!
What I Wore
I paired this long sleeved, cotton t-shirt, bought for under 10 euro here with a pair of grey tights. I was trying to go for that “on the couch at home watching tv” look, but WITHOUT heading into the yoga pants + t-shirt + crocs no man’s land of travel wear.
I’ve been known to curl up into a ball on an airplane and fall fast asleep, being under 5 feet, those tiny airline chairs are just the right size for me to get comfortable. There are some perks to being small! I may never know what is on the top shelf, but I can get comfortable anywhere.
Since I have the tendency to freeze while flying, I wore this beige and blue scarf to ensure that I didn’t catch a draft (I wrote here about the Italian fear of drafts), and a wrinkled Zara blazer. The blazer (I thought) gave me a more put-together look and also kept me pretty warm on the flight.
Since stylish sports sneakers are all the rage in Italy (you may remember stylish dad), I went with my red Nike trainers. To be honest, I wore my trainers because I knew that I would need running shoes in Lisbon and my luggage was already TOO FULL to pack another pair of shoes. I only had these trainers with me and a simple pair of flat, thong sandals with leather soles (which, incidentally I DO NOT recommend for Lisbon because on the cobblestone sidewalks they become too slippery!!) So basically these Nike’s saved my vacation!
Bare Necessities
I’ve learned to pack the BARE NECESSITIES for myself because I seem to severely over-pack for my son. His stuff occupies all of my luggage and that of my man’s.
Now that he’s on a strict gluten free diet (I wrote about that here) my luggage contained (and I’m absolutely not kidding):
- Gluten free pasta, gluten free bread, 4 boxes of different gluten free snacks (muffins, cookies, cereal bars and twinkies)
- Canned, fresh tomatoes, shallots, a big piece of parmigiano reggiano cheese, olive oil (just incase I needed to make tomatoe sauce while in Lisbon….which I DID END UP MAKING!)
- A pop-up tent-bed with mattress (similar here)
- a FlexiBATH Foldable Bathtub
- This back Carrier, which is good for a toddler up to 20 kg (45 lbs)
- Rain gear for the stroller, umbrellas and rain hats
- Diapers, wipes and his extensive toilettries!
Plus, our two luggages contained all of his various toys and books, gifts for my niece and nephew and a wide selection of my son’s wardrobe, after all I can’t be a fashionable mom traveler if my SON isn’t a fashionable traveler!
Somehow, my husband and I managed to fit in a few articles of clothing each and some shampoo and conditioner!
I decided to rely on accessories to update the simple clothes I had packed, since they occupy very little space in my luggage. For my debut “travel like an Italian” ensemble I wore this plastic chain link necklace (that you’ve seen here), an Ann Klein hammered, gold-plated cuff watch, and I used this leather travel document case for our boarding passes and passports (made by my father in law and given to me as a gift!)
To actually feel “put together” I woke up early to shower and then managed to straighten my hair, put on the necessary make-up and give myself a full manicure and pedicure. Needless to say this was the MOST put together I have ever been for travel (especially an early flight), and I will admit I felt great! Tired, but great none the less.
BLQ – The Bologna Airport
In Europe we have the discount airline RyanAir. RyanAir offers cheap flights to many destinations because they often fly to and from the smaller regional Airports, in this way they pay fewer Airport fees and pass that savings onto their clients. This is great (sometimes), but if you don’t pay attention you may end up buying a ticket for a city and then paying for a cab or taking an hour long bus ride to your actual destination. Paris, Barcelona and London are all cities to be aware of!
The Bologna Airport has benefited from all of the increased flight traffic and recently the airport underwent a huge transformation, updating their terminals and adding shops and services. One of the things I love about the transformation is that instead of just adding in the usual big box stores they made an effort to include things that really represent the territory.
La Terra Dei Motori
This part of Italy is known as “La Terra Dei Motori” Land of Motors, because it is home to the Ferrari, Ducati, Maserati and Lamborghini! So I was so happy to see this great display of Lamborghini Cars!
Bologna La Grassa
Bologna is also known as “La Grassa” meaning “The Fat One”, and there is a good reason why. Considering that Mortadella comes from here, and it is the land of lasagna, tortellini, famous salami and sausages, ragù, chocolate salame not to mention all of the delicacies from the surrounding area like Prosciutto, Parmigiano Reggiano, Balsamic Vinegar and La Torta Barozzi! There is more culinary tradition in this small region of Italy than in many small countries!
No wonder the Bologna Airport also included not one but THREE grocery stores! A regular grocery store and two specialty boutiques run by the “Famiglia Chiarli” selling all sorts of exceptionally high quality items.
I can assure you that this is not just “Airport Quality” food, which is often no where near the real deal, this small boutique sells some of the most important names in artisan deli meats, cheeses and fresh pastas and here you have it right at the airport!! So of course we made room in our carry-on for a mortadella AND a pecorino cheese!
Tomorrow I’ll be sharing some real mom street style – the Airport Edition! Just to prove that this isn’t just in my head, dressing for travel is totally “a thing” in Italy!
And, have you have ever wondered what fashion bloggers do with all of their free clothes and gifts? Me too! I’ve also been fortunate enough to get a few things so I’m sharing the love! Head over to this post (Il Mercato) for a chance to win some luxury earrings I was given for free!
Happy Monday!
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Link-ups!
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Visit their sites for some inspiration & to discover new bloggers!
Momma in Flip Flop’s Real Mom Style, Mama and More and Mother.Wife.Me’s #AllAboutYou, Style Elixir’s Style Sessions, and her Fab Favorites, The Pleated Poppy’s What I Wore Wednesday, My Girlish Whims’ Your Whims Wednesday, Because Shana Said So’s Random Wednesday, Get Your Pretty On’s I Feel Pretty, Perfectly Coutured’s Three-fer Thursday, Her & Nicole’s Lovely Thursdays, The Life of The Party’s Fashion Informant, The Penniless Socialite’s Look What I Got, Rachel The Hat’s Passion 4 Fashion, Mummy’s Got Style’s Fashion Friday, Musings of a Housewife’s Fashion Friday, Vodka Infused Lemonade’s Tres Chic Thursday, Fry Sauce and Grits’ Be You Tiful.
