What's in My Bag: 4 Days in Lisbon

I'm off adventuring again today, destination: Lisbon. Somehow, I have never been to Portugal and the capital city with its colourful buildings, winding streets and pastéis de nata (custard tarts like you've never had before) was extremely appealing. The comparisons to San Francisco — one of my favourite cities in the world — also caught my eye.

As I am flying out with Easyjet, who only allow one piece of cabin baggage, I decided to bring my Kipling suitcase, which is smaller than my Samsonite cabin case, but which has a slip pocket on the outside where I can keep my laptop and a few other flight essentials, meaning that I don't have to take forever rooting through my case on the plane. I'm flying home with BA, so I can check my suitcase and carry on my large Lonchamp tote if I do end up doing a lot of shopping.

The weather isn't looking too great, unfortunately, but hopefully the sun will come out to play at least for a little while. As ever, I have packed light. Clothing-wise, this means a pair of jeans, four tops, two dresses, a couple of cardis, a black blazer, my black ballet flats and Nike trainers, as well as running kit and a bikini (just in case the weather is nice enough for the beach). Then I have my usual collection of gadgetry (MacBook Air, iPad Mini, DSLR with this Sigma lens, Bose headphones, selfie stick and the necessary chargers) and other necessities (sleep mask, sunglasses, brolly, Moleskine notebook, purse and passport).

October has been very hectic and I have had only limited time to research my trip, although I have identified a couple of promising coffee bars, and various friends have provided some great food and drink recommendations. Nonetheless, I am happy to trust my Lonely Planet Pocket Lisbon guide. I always try to buy Lonely Planet guides when I'm travelling — the recommendations are great and there is the right balance of information and images. The Pocket series is particularly good for long weekends: there is a handy Day Planner section that offers suggestions for how to spend four days in the city, and then each area in the city is covered in detail, with sight-seeing, food, drink, shopping and entertainment suggestions. The new edition of the Lisbon guide is out now and Lonely Planet kindly sent me a review copy. I've already been using it to start to plan my trip and it will accompany me all weekend.

Disclaimer: Lonely Planet sent me a review copy of their new Pocket Lisbon guide. All opinions are my own.