Come Fly With Me - My Journey Essentials

Shirt - Vintage

Jumper - Mango

Jeans - Miss Selfridge

Boots - Bianco

After a dull week of essays and end of term poverty, I've finally set down on English soil which means one thing: it's Christmas!  I think that one of my favourite things about going away from home for such long stretches as I tend to is that coming home again becomes genuinely exciting, rather than being a chore.  I also enjoy the actual journey home quite a lot too.  I like curling up in a seat - be it on a plane, train, car, bus, boat - with some snacks and letting the hours fly past in a whirl of naps and books and day dreams.  

However, I know from extensive field research that an underprepared journey is a miserable one.  And by that I am, of course, referring to the outfit.  It must be comfortable but - and I know this from experience - not so socially unacceptable that disembarking the vehicle becomes a moment of dread.  This is important because I at least like to pretend to have an air of the accomplished traveller about myself and pyjama trousers just can't achieve this.  It needs to have the potential for warmth because trains and coaches never seem to turn the heating on at appropriate times.  Equally though, these layers must be able to be shed when, inevitably, the drivers opt of air con on the hottest day of summer.  There should be no clunky jewellery and a minimum amount of bobby pins.  Hooded items are an added bonus, as is a small pillow.

My pièce de résistance of the formulaic journey outfit is a scarf though, which can often compensate for deviating from every single of the above guidelines.  In spring, summer and autumn a large pashmina is perfect, ticking the boxes of duvet, pillow and seat spooning partner all at once.  However, for winter journeys (especially those starting in Sweden's double figure minus temperatures) something a little more heavy duty is called for.  In came my Monki scarf, essentially a giant fleecy blanket.  It was the most comfortable journey I've ever had and you can buy one of you own for a mere £18 here (it assure you it is a lot larger/generally more spectacular in the flesh).

Now, you may be thinking, why is she waffling on about this when there quite clearly isn't a scarf in sight?  And, yes, you'd be right.  This is what I wore under the scarf though: my stretchiest jeans, loosest shirt and softest jumper, with a cami underneath for extra layers and stripping options.  I would usually automatically tuck the shirt in but I liked the way it looked loose yesterday; I think it added some interesting texture to that outfit, making it a little more off duty.  I picked this lemon beauty up for £3 on a vintage adventure a few months ago, despite feeling a little like Dolly Parton in it at the time.  It has really grown on me though and I love the stitching detail on the collar which continues vertically down the opening.  Together, these items were versatile, comfortable and - hopefully - acceptable for public wear too.  Wham bam thank you mam.

There we have it - my journey essentials.  Just don't forget your socks.