The many ups and downs of staycation packing

I hardly know myself this year having not set foot outside the country but I’m happy to stay around Ireland and see what the country has to offer.

I’ve also been so impressed with seeing all the gorgeous spots that people have been on Instagram discovering on our own doorstep, and sure when the sun is shining, there’s nowhere more beautiful than this part of the country. West Cork on a good day can seem like the French Riviera…almost.

Having not gone anywhere all year, I had forgotten how much I hate packing and am currently sitting in my wardrobe trying to decide what to pack. It’s quite a bit easier packing for, say, a mini break to Barcelona in July when you can be guaranteed the sun will be shining.

But packing for a staycation requires vigilantly keeping an eye on the weather forecast only to see that the whole week is a mixture of sunshine, rain and varying temperatures. Add to this, the other issue that we are spending the first half of the week in a cottage by the sea only to be off to the city for a night in a hotel later in the week. So it’s a mix of leisure wear and glam looks with a healthy dose of layers on the side.

A positive of the staycation is that you don’t have to try and squeeze everything into carry-on luggage and so I, no doubt, will be loading the car with outfits for every possible situation I might find myself in.

I’m hoping to spend much of my time going on long walks with Blanche or sitting outside catching up on my never ending reading list on my Kindle so I’ll be packing plenty of leggings, sweatshirts and trainers.

If the weather gets really warm I’ll be lounging around in some floral oversized dresses which will hopefully accommodate my endless grazing and sipping on chilled white wine.

For the second part of the week, I’ll be making much more of an effort as I haven’t been to the city in such a long time and I can’t remember the last time I stayed in a hotel, so it will be full on glamour. It really is any excuse these days to get dressed up and I have a couple of dresses that have been hanging in my wardrobe since early March and are just begging to be brought on a night on the town and I’m happy to oblige.

Even though a night out is a reasonably quick dinner and drinks, I’m kind of loving the whole sitting down and having table service, as it means I get to wear heels and don’t have the possibility of having to stand all night with foot pain.

This essentially is my dream night out scenario and in honour of this, I will be pulling out my highest heels for the occasion which are still probably quite low by true heel lovers standards but which never the less will make a dramatic improvement from the slippers I’ve been wearing non-stop for the last three months!