I packed a really basic travel capsule wardrobe for Tirana, and I wasn’t enjoying wearing it at all, unfortunately.
I knew we would be travelling about when we got to Albania, so I wanted to pack light. We are travelling with a single 10kg checked bag, a small carry-on wheelie case and my daughter’s child size wheelie full of toys.
This is what I packed:
Dark denim jeans
Cropped grey wool trousers
Navy short sleeve t-shirt
Grey 3/4 sleeve t-shirt
Black long sleeve t-shirt
Navy long sleeve t-shirt
Black blazer
3/4 sleeve navy cardigan
Loose navy cardigan
What’s wrong with my travel capsule
I have some really nice pieces, but the whole thing feels uninspired.
The t-shirts are too basic, there are no patterns except on the scarves, the only silhouette is crop trousers, t-shirt and scarf, even the two cardigans are really similar to each other…
Added to that, I lost weight in the run-up to the move, so the trousers don’t even fit very well now.
It was also very warm at the beginning of the trip and I was uncomfortably hot in most of the clothes, but it got cooler later on.
For a while the boring capsule affected my enjoyment of the trip. I was constantly thinking: I need to fix my boring travel capsule wardrobe for Tirana!
The thrift store mountain
I came across an awesome collection of thrift stores quite by chance. One day we headed up to the Dajti Ekspres cable car — a 4670 metre-long cable car that goes right up to Dajti mountain. Buses go from the city bus station near Skenderbeg Square to the nearest station, Porcelan, about every 10-20 minutes during the day.
When we got off at the final stop ready to walk to the bottom of the cable car (it’s well signposted) I noticed loads of thrift stores, some of them with clothes on racks outside. Most of the clothes are from Italy or other West European countries and cost just a few pounds.
Well, I couldn’t resist and ended up buying a few items that completely turned around my boring capsule wardrobe.
All I bought was one skirt, one scarf and two cute tops that worked with all the boring grey and navy pieces I’d brought with me.
More posts about style, beauty and travel packing
How to guides:
How I went from terrible packer to travel capsule wardrobe expert
I cut my closet in half after an international move: here’s how I did it
Some examples of tiny travel capsule wardrobes:
My 12 item capsule wardrobe for Corfu and Saranda
My 14-item travel capsule wardrobe for Slovenia
Spring travel capsule for 10 days on the Adriatic riviera
Shopping:
My massive Bucharest thrift haul
Hanging out at the malls in Astana
Beauty tips:
4 painful and humiliating things that happened to me in Central Asian beauty salons
Steppe in Style 
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