Packing for Costa Rica

Here's everything I'm bringing on my 10-day trip to Costa Rica and how I packed it.

My Carry-On:

This bag from Target was a recent birthday gift from a friend. Although patriotism is not normally my thing, I'm excited to try one of these cute rucksacks. 

These are all the toiletries I put in my Eagle Creek Toiletries Bag. Everything is less than 3.4 oz and will be checked in security, so in case my luggage gets lost, I'll have the essentials. 

This pouch is something I got in Atlanta and is very appropriate for international travel. Inside it, I have Kleenex, face wipes, hand wipes, a protein bar, and Chapstick. These are sort of non-liquid toiletries. 

I put all my hair things, nail clippers, and and tweezers in this little bag, which actually ended up in my checked luggage. I will probably carry this around with me, though, so I can put up my hair if I want to. 

I put my passport, my driver's license, and all my cash in this money belt, which is also from Eagle Creek. I am not sure still what's the safest way to carry around money, but I figured this would be nice if I didn't want to carry a bag and/or if I didn't have pockets. 

 This is everything else I put in my carry-on: a light sweatshirt, sunglasses, a book, a journal, pens, a water bottle, an extra outfit, underwear, and socks (in case my luggage gets lost), a scarf, an inflatable neck pillos, my camera, my iPod touch, the chargers for both of those things, and headphones. 

My Checked Bag:

Although I've used this bag as a carry-on before, I'm using this as a checked bag because I didn't need to bring that much stuff nor did I want to have to drag around a bigger bag and be tempted to bring more things than I need. I fit everything into this bag and it weighs 26 lbs. 

These are all my other toiletries for the trip including medicines for diarrhea, sunscreen, bug spray, insect bite relief, aloe vera gel, toothpaste, ibuprofen, vitamins, extra face wipes, floss, razors, a brush, a washcloth, and a face towel. 

It was tough (not really!), however I managed to choose 3 pairs of shoes. I will wear the tennis shoes on the plane and to all the work sites, because they are already at least 4 years old and I don't care if they get dirty. The Teva sandals, which are kind of like these, will be great for walking around town or inside after work. The last pair of shoes are cheap flip flops from Old Navy, which are my shower shoes. 

This is just a sample of the clothing I brought. I'm bringing two dresses. The pictured one is a floral dress from Forever 21 and the other is a denim dress from Target. I need to wear a dress to church, but I have two so I will have options. I'm bringing 6 complete outfits comprising of t-shirts and athletic shorts from Walmart for the work days. Last I have two outfits for the tourist-y things we're going to do. I also brought a couple extra shirts and pajamas.  

Inside the suitcase, there are two sides you can fill up. The top (left) has a mesh zipper part so you can fill it to the brim on both sides and everything you think you might need. 

On the bottom part of the suitcase, I rolled up all the outfits I had and covered the bottom. 

Then I put my pajamas, extra shirts, work gloves, rain jacket, umbrella and hat in and strapped everything in. I put my shoes on top of all that stuff.

While packing, I separated these things into a little pouch that I can take with me when we're out in case something happens. I will be prepared!

This is just a close-up on my sunscreen and bug repellent. I like the Neutrogena face sunscreen because it's not greasy and it won't make me break out. The bug spray is this hippie organic stuff, but I like it because it actually smells pretty good and it works really well. The Coppertone is just something I picked up at Costco and I like that it's SPF 50, because I'm a redhead and I will take all the SPFs I can get.

This is what it looked like when I put everything in. Somehow I got everything in without having to expand the suitcase.

**Last minute add-ins: I forgot to put a belt in and I forgot to put dryer sheets in, which help keep my clothes smelling nice. Also, a flashlight, a trash bag, 3 gallon-sized plastic bags, a belt, and a bandanna**

So that's everything I'm taking to Costa Rica tomorrow. I hope this was helpful or at least interesting to read!