While we spent a lot of time on our tour hiking, we also had free time each evening. In addition, there were two full days of traveling just to get to Chamonix from the United States. I choose to keep my travel/casual clothing separate from my hiking clothing, mostly because I wanted fresh clothing for travel and casual times. As you might imagine, my hiking clothing wasn't always as fresh, if you know what I mean.

In this section, my focus is on the clothing I selected for travel/casual use.

REI Sahara Tech Shirt

This is my current favorite traveling shirt, and to be honest with you, I only wear it for traveling, although it can be worn for many different types of adventures. The reason for this is that I don't wear "shirts" for outdoor adventures, preferring to wear base layers instead.

The main reason I wear this shirt while traveling is because of all the pockets it has. It's pockets can hold my tickets, passport, itinerary, billfold, and a lot else. This way, I keep all my important travel papers very close at hand. This, of course, is a personal preference, and you may have a better way to carry your important travel documents.

On the downside, this shirt tends to be hot, wrinkles easy, and isn't the most odor free shirt I have worn. If I could find a better travel shirt, I would wear it.

Ex Officio Amphi Pants

I wore the Amphi pants for both my travel days, and also for casual wear. These good-looking slacks that are very versatile and can also be worn while hiking, although I generally don't.

I like these pants because they are wrinkle-resistant, odor-resistant, cool to wear (as in not hot), have lots of pockets, and are easy to wash in the sink, and they dry overnight. They are also very lightweight and take up very little space in your travel bags. These are the ideal travel pants.

Patagonia R.5 Top

The R.5 top is very versatile top, and it can be worn for almost any occasion, whether it is for casual use, traveling, or even hiking. It has the characteristics of both a base layer and a light insulation layer. While its look is casual, it is a functioning base layer and can be worn when hiking. In fact, another member of our group wore one while on the trail.

During this trip, I wore the R.5 top for casual use, during the evenings when the weather was cool to cold, often along with a light jacket, as needed. I didn't wear anything else under it.

I choose the R.5 because it is attractive, is wrinkle-resistant, odor-resistant, comfortable, warm on cool nights and in cool rooms, and is easily washed in a sink, and it dries out overnight (if wrung dry). I washed the top about every third day on the trip, and it always looked fresh and clean.

Mountain Hardwear Pack Pants

Like the R.5 top, the Pack pants are very versatile and can be worn for traveling, hiking, or for casual use. I choose these as my casual pants for the trip, and wore them during evenings. They do have a somewhat "technical" look, and may not fit into a "casual look" as such, but I used them as my casual pants anyway.

I choose them because they are wrinkle-resistant, order-resistant, comfortable, have lots of pockets, more than warm enough given the temps, and were easy to wash and dry. I didn't use the optional scree cuff, as it wasn't necessary for casual use.

Like the R.5 top, I washed the Pack pants about every third day, and they generally looked good. I say good, and not great, because while the pants are wrinkle-resistant, they still had some wrinkles after drying, but not enough to bother me.

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