WHAT TO WEAR: The perfect travel dress

OUTFIT DETAILS:

Activity: Visit to The Flower Fields, Carlsbad, California

Jacket: Gap, thrifted (similar)
Dress: Old Navy, last year (exact in current colors)
Shoes: Forever 21, pom poms added by me (exact sandals, similar with pom poms)
Hat: gift (similar)
Sunglasses: LOFT (similar)
Earrings: ebay (similar)
Blue bracelet: street market in SF (similar)
Gray bracelet: Visitor Information Center shop in Coronado, CA (similar)
Watch: gift with band from eBay (exact watch, similar band)
Lipstick: NYX soft cream lip cream "Milan" (exact)

These flowers!  We were in San Diego last week during Gavin's spring break, and we made this last little stop on our way home.  It was definitely worth getting home a little later.  I highly recommend this spot if you're in the San Diego area between March and mid-May.

This dress!  I wore it three times during a 6 day vacation: 1) driving to San Diego from San Francisco (an admittedly long and decidedly not completely enjoyable experience), worn pretty much like this but with slip on sneakers and without a hat; 2) an all-day visit to the zoo in San Diego (where I wore it with a lighter weight denim shirt instead of the denim jacket and slightly more comfortable walking sandals) and traveling home to San Francisco, where we stopped at this beautiful spot to enjoy these gorgeous flowers.  While I was on the way home, I decided I needed to order more of these dresses immediately.  They were on sale then, and still are!  You can find some buying options below.  I bought versions in black, olive, gray and a ribbed navy and white stripe.  You'll be seeing them in some future posts - I already wore the olive one once!

My only complaint about this dress is that it is a couple of inches shorter than I normally wear (not super short, just like 2 inches or so above the top of the knee), which makes it unwearable for my volunteer work and meetings for worship.  But that does make it cute with flats, and perfect for casual comfortable travel days.  I'm going to try to buy or DIY an underslip with a pretty border that I could wear underneath to give it more length when I need it.  Then it would be a completely versatile travel item for my lifestyle.  For most people, it is just fine as it is.

Unfortunately in the time it took me to get this post ready, some options of this dress sold out, but I've included other alternatives - and some of the dresses below come in more than the color pictured.  I'll keep checking in case they are restocked!