Dress to Impress (Who, Exactly? The Fine People of Portugal Obviously.)

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We just got back from Portugal and it was fantastic. Lisbon, Porto, the hills, the pastéis de nata, the Super Bock — loved all of it. I dress for the weather. I dress for the walking. I dress to stay dry and not have to check a bag. Apparently Portugal noticed. So did Jennifer. They were both correct. Perhaps I should pay attention to what I’m wearing.

Here is my travel philosophy: pack light, stay practical, keep moving. Eight days means eight shirts, eight pairs of socks and underwear, three pairs of pants total — two packed and one I’m actually wearing on the plane, to the relief of my fellow passengers — and shorts for sleeping or anything athletic. Shoes are my waterproof Adidas Terrex hiking sneakers, because 14,000 steps a day on wet Lisbon cobblestone is not the moment to experiment. I have built this system over years and I stand by the bones of it.

Where it falls apart, apparently, is the outerwear.

Portugal in the spring runs about 45 to 60 degrees — overcast and chilly, then suddenly sunny the moment you’ve committed to a layer. We walk fast. We lived in New York, we only have one speed, and within four blocks we’d go from slightly cold to actively sweating through whatever we had on. My layering solution was an old zip-up fleece, a lightweight rain jacket, and multiple hooded long-sleeve t-shirts. And I kept the hoods up. All of them. Simultaneously. Even when it wasn’t raining. Even when the sun was fully out. I don’t have a satisfying explanation for this. I just really like hoods.

The fleece is old. It looks old. Jennifer has been telling me this for a while and I kept packing it anyway because it is lightweight and functional and it never occurred to me to consider the full picture. The citizens of Lisbon deserved better and I let them down.

The sweating issue is its own subplot. Flight days stress me out — lots of moving parts, lots of ways things can go sideways — and that stress produces what I will charitably describe as an earthy quality. I change shirts the moment we reach the hotel, but if the fleece was involved during the flight it tends to absorb the entire experience and carry it forward into the rest of the trip. Not ideal. I used to use Certain Dri, which genuinely works, but it has aluminum in it and I’ve already got a fairly robust list of things that are probably going to get me eventually, so I’m reluctant to add to it. That said, I’m starting to think travel days specifically might be worth the risk. I’ll report back on that one.

So where does this leave me? The fleece is getting retired. The hood situation needs to be consolidated. The rain jacket is under review. I need outerwear that is lightweight, packable, breathable, and capable of not embarrassing me in front of an entire country. I haven’t figured it all out yet but when I do I’ll put together a follow-up post on what I actually land on. Until then, Portugal — I’m sorry. You deserved a better dressed tourist and I’m going to do something about it.

These items are what I am going to try out to up my travel game.

Packable Rain Jacket

Packable Lightweight Jacket

Lightweight Fleece

Pima Cotton Collard Shirt 1

Pima Cotton Collard Shirt 2

Pima Cotton Collard Shirt 3 (95% cotton)

These are some other items I considered. There were a few more puffer coats from Patagonia.

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