My husband and I recently took a trip to Florida! I was excited to escape the freezing Pennsylvania winter, but definitely stressed about how and what to pack.

My goal is to be comfortable, low maintenance (easy) and look and feel as good as possible for my almost 60 year-old self. I already have typical insecurities related to body image (see my post) especially at my age, and as someone who gave birth to three children! But I can try to look and feel my best if I plan a little more ahead of time.  We just got home from the vacation, and I’m happy to report I did a pretty good job!

I’ll share a few of my ideas for those of you in the same boat.

On the road bag. I love to use a stylish and small backpack as my travel bag. You can wear it on the back or front (see below), but either way, keeping things easily accessible and hands-free is so important for traveling.

See my post about the best mom bags for info on these backpacks and other practical and incredibly useful bags to have on hand year-round.

Some items I carry in this backpack are: Evian facial spray, headphones, gum, mints and candies, liquid IV, water bottle, hat, chapstick, small facial sunscreen, sunglasses, a book, phone/wallet, and an iPad. I also take a pill case with some stand-by medication. Pain relievers, anti-diarrhea, allergy pills…whatever issues your body sometimes shows. It tends to be more aggravated when traveling in my experience. Taking a probiotic several days before the trip can also be helpful (see my post on tips for mature travelers). If you’re on the nervous side about flying like me, I might suggest a couple small bottles of liquor. They’re small enough to go it the bag, and you can add one to the soda you get on the flight.

Dressing for traveling. It is essential I am comfortable for a plane trip. Between the long walks from security to the gates and sitting for hours…ugh. I find a skirt with an elastic band to be much more comfortable than pants or even leggings. I have a skirt with a very simple black and white pattern that goes with any top, honestly, so I pair it with a plain black cotton long sleeved shirt. No tight stockings with this, just bare legs and some short white socks.

Always remember socks since you need to take shoes off at security! Sneakers or walking shoes, and a light sweater that I either keep in the backpack or wrap around my waist. This is perfect, since when we’re leaving Pennsylvania it’s generally cold and I need the sweater. When I get to the warm weather, I pack it up and put on my hat and sunglasses! I literally wear the same exact outfit coming home, that’s how much I swear by the comfort and convenience of it.

Carry On.

I just love this bright orange bag. It’s a bit smaller than your traditional carry on, which can be limiting in terms of how much it holds, but its so much more manageable to get around and into the overheads, and also so easy to find it at luggage terminal if you check it. To save space in a smaller bag, I use these packing cubes.

I used them for our trip to Italy, and have ever since. I use a different sized one for each kind of clothes (see below), and it makes everything so organized. Put all bottoms (shorts, skirts, pants) in one cube, and all tops and dresses in another. All extras (scarves, hats, jewelry) in one, and toiletries in another. You can see how beautifully this works.

Toiletries. The obvious: travel-sized toothpaste, shampoo, deodorant, face and body moisturizers, and make-up remover pads. For the beach: definitely travel-sized sun screens. Take the fuss out of making a big deal about your hair when you’re away! As an older women with drying and thinner hair, I don’t tend to blow dry mine all the time anyway. For vacations, I definitely wouldn’t worry about it. Bring a travel-sized leave-in conditioner and smoothing gel, and use clips (cute flower ones?) or scrunches to keep your hair in place.

Clothes. Like I said above, I separate my clothes into shirts, shorts, skirts and pants, and dresses. Roll them up like so, and you can fit them easily into your bag!

Think about your itinerary for your trip. For us, we were planning to go to a concert, some bars and restaurants, the pool, the beach, and an air boat ride. So my outfit selection needed to have a wide variety of options. But for only four days, I had to be mindful and use my space smartly.

Here’s what worked well for our itinerary:

• A plain colored skirt, skort and pair of athletic shorts
• Sleeveless and a short-sleeved patterned dresses
• Two bathing suits-high waisted
• A swim suit cover up
• One athletic sleeveless shirt, and one short-sleeved t-shirt
• One colorful long-sleeved shirt
• One light sweater
• Underwear, an extra bra and pajamas
• One pair of sleeping socks, one pair athletic socks
• Skechers black sandals

Makeup. I feel the same way about this as I do hair. It’s tempting to want to put on more as we age. I don’t think that works as well as we hope- so try to keep it super simple. For days I’m going anywhere decent (to include travel days), I use Neutrogena Healthy Skin anti-aging perfector, because it has everything in one: sunscreen, retinol, and is tinted to give you natural-looking coverage. I used a little blush stick (Boom by Cindy…) and that’s it for my skin.

For eye makeup, I am really into Thrive Causemetics, since the company does a lot of good community work for women’s issues, plus the brand is wonderful. I use their Brilliant Eye Brightener eyeshadow sticks that come in beautiful neutral shades. And I LOVE Laura Geller products! Her Baked-Balance-N-Brighten foundation is so light yet gives excellent coverage. Combine that with the Baked Full Face Basics (below). It’s a must to have in your makeup toolbox, and I take it on every vacation. A full face complete with highlighters, bronzers and neutral eyeshadows- all in one spot!

Extras. Add a little something more to your look when you’re in beach mode. A cute beach hat (see photo at the top), is a necessity for me, as well as my prized prescription sunglasses. I suggest some beachy jewelry like bangled earrings and bracelets, and some colorful hairbands. A light scarf or shawl for the evening is stylish too- and just enough cover for summer breezes.

I hope you enjoy your beach vacation as much as we did. Pack with care and you’ll have a lot less stress and more fun! Let me know if you have ideas for planning and packing for vacations, too!