Our recent vacation (just the two of us!) was a while in the planning. It’s not easy to get away from the farm, the kids, the jobs. But we got a good flight deal by booking in advance and just putting it on the calendar.
Even though this trip was longer than our Scotland adventure, we were still committed to packing light for Norway in Spring with carry-on only. It just saves so much time and headaches not to worry about baggage–once you manage to get the list parred down and packed up, of course. {smile} And our Osprey packs are still going strong! They’re the only luggage we’ve used for years now, no matter where we’re going.
Once again we were renting a car and road-tripping through the country, just winging it with Google and a map. (Yes, we had a paper map. And yes, I was glad we did!)
But this time we skipped the tiny car and hotels.
Norway is generally more rugged and rural than most of our experiences in Scotland. It’s significantly sparser, more rural, and less populated. Plus they have hours and hours of extra daylight in the Spring. So we embraced the general outdoor-adventure atmosphere in our plans–even with it being early Spring and knowing that quite a few areas may still be snowy–and decided to rent a camper van and make the most of every minute we had.
Even if some of them were snowy.
And they were. {smile}
So how did we pack light for Norway in Spring with ALL the weather possibilities? Did it really fit as a carry-on only?
Plan to Do Laundry
I would have saved myself a lot of headaches if I had just embraced having to do a little bit of laundry from the start. We did one shared load of laundry at a campground one night. (Grab yourself some Sink Suds for your toiletries bag. They work for rinsing out your socks and delicates if needed, or doing a whole load of laundry too.)
There are campgrounds all over Norway. We planned to use them for showers all along. Based on being gone for 9 days, I should have just planned to do a small, shared load at least twice. I could have confidently cut a few things. Instead, I imagined stretching my clothes as LONG as possible. So I was stuffing in as many socks and tees last minute as I could.
Layers for Every Single Day
There were days we were in the snow for the morning and then comfortable in tee shirts and bare feet after dinner.
Plan your list of how to pack light for Norway with the idea that you’ll go back and forth through your layers DAILY. On and off, on and off, throughout the day as you do different activities. Pack things that are comfortable to pull on and off–either over your head or with zippers–and easy to stuff away until you need them again. This also means that you’ll probably be able to re-wear your top layers over and over again, as long as they are dry.
Layering also makes it easier to pull stuff apart for drying out between adventures without having to do a full change of clothes.
Dry and Refresh Clothes as You Go
If your jacket or hoodie gets wet at one stop, take it off and hang it to try on the back of your seat while driving to your next stop. Always pack extra shoes, and use them the same. If your hikers have gotten wet, take them off and set them aside to dry in the car, and slip your “city shoes” on for a while. Especially if you can turn on a vent to help them (or your socks!) dry out!
When you stop for the night, spread your stuff out to dry and air out before using it or packing it away the next day.
And get some Dry Wash Fabric Spray to pack with you! You can use it to refresh your clothes and gear every evening. I use it before I re-wear some pieces, or before I pack up dirty clothes so they don’t ruin the rest of my bag.
Also, keep some extra Ziploc bags around to stash dirty stuff in so it doesn’t “contaminate” your good clothes before they’re washed. I learned this tip from packing the kids for church camp, but it applies equally well to any adventure trip!
Pack Light Strategically
Hiking boots are heavy, but skipping them for sneakers if you plan to hike every day on vacation would be a mistake.
Be strategic in how you pack light for Norway.
We expected some cold, but it was Spring, so we did not expect it to be FRIDGID cold. And we expected to be active and outside most of the time, even in the snow. So parka-level coats would not be necessary, but comfortable movement would be.
We focused on lighter, active, quick-drying pants for everyday use, and one pair of thermals that could go under any pants if we needed them for extra warmth–rather than heavy, bulky lined pants. Same with a rain jacket. It’s a waterproof layer we size to go OVER our layers on chilly days or over a tee-shirt on warm, wet days. It doesn’t have to be thick and warm itself.
And we each had a beanie in our pocket all the time. Ok, mine was thicker and I wore it A LOT more. It was a cozy Smartwool one that I cut the pom-pom off of to make it pack better. I was taking it on and off all the time, every day. His was small and stuffed easily in his pocket, and he only used it a few times while hiking.
Wear Your Heaviest Layers on the Plane?
This is typical advice in carry-on-only packing columns. As I learned on our Scotland trip, use this advice carefully. I would only do this if what you wear on the plane will still technically fit in your bag coming home later. Your gear (and you!) might be in a very state of mind when you come home. But yes, this is at least a solution for your coat. And on most Osprey packs, you can easily strap your coat to the front of the bag when you don’t need it.
The biggest complaint with this is usually the shoes. If you need to take your shoes on and off through Security, wearing your hiking boots is a pain. All. the. laces. And if you have a long flight (or any foot or back issues) wearing your hiking boots the whole time can be miserable. Literally. Mr. Fix-It was NOT comfy on the flight in his boots (or that seat) for hours and hours.
(Psss…my Merrell Moab hikers really aren’t that bulky or heavy. I have the Moab 3 mid-height waterproof AND the Moab 3 low-tops. I took the waterproof high tops in the picture, and they did great!)
Oh and my blue and white coat you see in every. single. picture…I LOVE it. {smile} My new favorite winter coat for anything short of absolute parka weather or doing farm chores. Warm, light, sleeves long enough to keep my wrists covered, totally bag-stuffable…Columbia Womens Powder Lite Hybrid Hooded Jacket.
What SHE Packed
Yes, I had a list.
Mr. Fix-It did not. He just took my list and said “How many shirts did you take? How many pants did you take?” and put that many in his bag. And if it didn’t fit, took a few out with a shrug and zipped it up.
Did my list work?
Yeah, for the most part. I wore everything I packed at least once.
Besides my airport clothes, I packed…
3 pairs of active/outdoor pants (the Flexpedition from Duluth, or the Anytime Bootcut from Columbia are my go-to travel pants)
3 active tanks (these from Duluth, or these from UA)
3 active tees (these from LL Bean have a less “workout” look, or these UA tees take up almost zero space–since I might have shoved 2 extras in at the last minute, ahem.)
3 long-sleeve top layers (2 active tops, 1 mid-weight sweater, or this one)
2 extra mid-layer tops (I swapped one of the 3/4 sleeve henleys at the last minute for a white button-down just in case.)
Base layer (top + leggings for sleeping)
Raincoat (this one from Duluth is amazing. all! the! pockets!)
2 extra shoes (Sperrys and ballet flats. These foldable ballet flats from Lands End are magical!)
2 toiletry bags–one for liquids, one for the rest of my junk.
8 pairs of socks, 3 bras, 8 pairs of underwear
That’s it. For almost 2 weeks. I used an Osprey Daylite Plus as my personal item/camera bag, with my travel wallet, extra contacts, glasses, and pocket pharmacy case. But yeah, that’s all. And it was enough.
Honestly, it barely fit in my pack. I would have been better off if I could have cut one pants-tank-tee-shirt combo. (See my laundry notes above.)
What HE Packed
Mr. Fix-It’s main outer layers were his standard Rain Defender heavy-weight Carhartt hoodie and a waterproof jacket.
These hoodies are basically a coat replacement and what he wears all winter at home. They’re certainly up to anything short of an arctic blast. He went back and forth on the raincoat options between a very lightweight choice and his mid-weight Rain Defender soft shell. Since we had a lot of outdoor activities planned, he went with the mid-weight option this trip. It was a good call and it saw a lot of use.
As usual, the rest of his bag was a mix of long and mostly short-sleeve tee shirts. Mostly quick-dry and performance blends. Carhartt’s Force work line, FastHouse “Tech” tees, and Howitzer Blue Collar collection are where I grab a lot of them.
He traveled with 3 pairs of Carhartt’s new Ripstop Utility pants and Rugged Flex canvas pants. The canvas is much lighter than traditional duck fabric. And the ripstop is superlight–and NOT noisy.
His hiking boots are these Chukka-style boots from Bass Pro and even though they weren’t comfortable for hours on the plane, he loved them for hiking and they were 100% waterproof the whole trip. He did bring a second pair of shoes in his bag though. He wore his Vans on and off through the trip too.
Final Take Aways
This trip neither of us brought jeans (Crazy, right?!) And everyone around us was wearing outdoor clothes too. Briar pants (like these) seemed wildly popular and we saw them EVERYWHERE and in all kinds of colors.
Even our 2 days exploring in Oslo were low-key and we’re not night-life or nightclub entertainment travelers. So we each had dark pants and a shirt that we could dress up for a nice dinner if we needed to. But we did not pack any “dress up” clothes this trip.
But it doesn’t take up much space to throw 1-2 chiffon blouses in a corner just in case. Black Anywhere pants and black ballet flats can easily be dressed up with a blouse for most travel occasions. That worked out fine for me in Edinburgh.
Is Norway on your bucket list?
Be sure to check out a few of my other posts with more travel details…
Spring Road Trip through Norway by Camper Van
Seeing Puffins on Runde Island in Norway
