Normally when you think about cruising, you think about some tropical destination, hot sun, blue water and lots of activities. But cruises are more than just visiting tropical locations! There are cruises to almost any destination around the world.
Since we discovered that we love cruising as a way of travel when we went to the Mediterranean in 2016, we were on the look out for a cruise to the British Isles which was the next foreign destination on our travel list.
But packing for the British Isles is very different than packing for a tropical destination. Even though we traveled in June, our suitcases didn’t look like we were going on a summer vacation.
The Basics:
When you’re traveling, there are some basics that you’re always going to take with you. Items like clothing, proper shoes, toiletries, swimming suit, medication, electronics, etc.
When you’re on any cruise it is also nice to bring extra swimming suits, laundry supplies (if you’re going on a long cruise which is what we like to do), fancy clothes for formal nights at dinner, and seasick medication like dramamine or Sea Bands (these worked great for me since I was pregnant on this cruise and couldn’t take dramamine).
British Isles Specific:
There are a few things that we are glad we packed specifically for this trip. The weather in the British Isles in the summer time is actually nice: not too hot, not too cold, but it can get quite chilly and quite toasty. We were in London on the 3 hottest days of the year and were in Scotland on some of the rainiest and coldest days of the spring/summer. So we had lots of variables to pack for.
LAYERS!
You will want to make sure you bring clothes that you can layer, layer, layer! The weather can change so quickly that it is nice to have multiple layers in order to get to the right temperature for your body. I made sure to pack a variety of t-shirts, mostly short sleeved, but I did bring one long sleeved t-shirt as well. I also brought a button up chambray shirt and 2 cardigans that were nice to layer with my t-shirts. I also brought a packable vest that could fold up small but was nice to add as an extra layer.
Jackets
Make sure to take a somewhat heavy jacket, not necessarily a coat (although we did see people wearing coats while we were out), but something that is heavy enough to keep you warm but small enough that it doesn’t take up a lot of room in your suit case. This is similar to the one that I own and took on our trip (although I got mine at an Oakley Outlet on sale). I love it because it is warm material without being bulky. It has a great hood and it is water repellant (it can get soaked in a downpour, but it good at repelling mist). It also has really good pockets.
Rain Jackets
Ben and I both purchased rain jackets for this trip because we knew that it could be raining a lot. (Ben’s is here and mine is here.) We just got cheap ones from Amazon. They weren’t the highest quality, but they kept us fairly dry when we needed to be. Mine wasn’t super warm which I actually liked because sometimes the rain made it so humid and hot that I didn’t want to be warm and it actually didn’t do that great in downpours. But it folded up super small and could easily fit in my small backpack.
Beanie and Gloves
We didn’t take beanies and gloves but we wished we had! Especially on our days in Scotland, it rained a lot and we got very cold. Beanies and gloves don’t take up a lot of room and we wished we had brought them.
Shoes
We always try to travel lighter with our shoes (as in, we don’t take many pairs and those that we do take try to serve multiple purposes.) For this trip we packed our Chacos which we were able to wear some days when it was warmer. We also each packed tennis shoes (for exercise, rainy days, and to give our feet a break from Chacos) and formal shoes for the formal dinners (Ben packed regular dress shoes and I packed a pair of flat, semi casual sandals). I also brought my pair of TOMS because I like how they feel on my feet (very light weight) and how they cover my toes while still being breathable.
**This post contains affiliate links**
