This Offbeat Life
New Economy Cooking
Backpacking by Bus

Rick's got a brand new bag.

Rick Steves is a tidy packer, so he would have you think. The layout's about right, though.

Cube Packing

by Leslie Strom

• Selecting a packing cube
• Folding your clothes to maximize space
• Actual pictures of How I Pack Packing Cubes

As much as I travel I still have difficulty gaging the stuff I want to take versus the volume of the bag, causing last minute panic. Not any more. Now I pack in packing cubes, and I know how many cubes fit in a bag. Carry-on luggage 21x14x9 will hold two half-cubes (10x 7x3 each) and a (14x10x4) full cube, even massively stuffed, leaving room for shoes and toiletry kit. Packing the cubes so they remain square is the key to filling the suitcase evenly. When the cubes are full, your packing is done. Just put them in the suitcase and zip it closed. It's a relief to set boundaries in an organized way.

Selecting a packing cube

For carry-on travel, two half-cubes and a full cube from Eagle Creek will fill the bag with room for toilet kit and shoes. Rick Steves makes a set of similarly sized all-mesh packing cubes with springy wire edges to hold a shape. Their advantage is that they're deeper (5" ) and fill carry-on lugsgage better. The wire edges are also very nice, as shapeless cubes provide a bit of a wrestling match when it comes time to pack and zip them. They're all mesh with two zippers, and the 5" depth may be an advantage if you want to really maximize your space. The set of three is a great value.

Underway, however, I prefer the two-sided cubes from Eagle Creek, to isolate my dirty clothes and maintain the same order I had. One side has an open mesh lid and the other side is waterproof plastic. Each side has two zipper pulls, which make a huge difference when trying to close in on a full cube and keep it approximately cubic. If you pack dirty clothes in the same cube but on the "damp" side, you maintain your order and there's a lot to be said for knowing that everything is in the same place all the time, even when it's time to do laundry.

Lately I've abandoned the compressor bag packing method I enjoyed, and replaced it with cubes.

folding your clothes to maximize space

There are a few popular ways to pack clothes in a carry-on sized suitcase. Back in 1998 I took a trip to Europe in the winter and I used the hints in Ann McAlpin's book Pack It Up.

My favorite of her tips is to create a layer of larger items then cover it with a divider (I used a dry cleaning bag folded in thirds), then clothes laid out in a specific way that she describes. In my situation, I took slacks and put the waistbands at the edge of the suitcase with the rest of it hanging past the other edge, then a second pair of slacks with the waistband at the other edge. On top of these items, rolled knitwear, p.j.s, underwear and so on lined up neatly. Then the slacks were folded over the top of the whole assembly. It worked well, even though smaller garments got lost sometimes. I now contain the little things and do this folding trick within each packing cube. Behold:

Actual pictures of How I Pack Packing Cubes

Lay the largest piece down, waistband at edge, remainder hanging out.	Lay the next piece down, waistband at other edge.	Roll smaller pieces, line them up on top of the flat items. Try to fill out to the corners.
Fold the second flat item over the stack, accordian if it's very long.	Fold the first flat item over the stack.	Zip the bag. This is where a two-zipper cube comes in handy.
Pack underwear, sleepwear, and socks in a half cube using the same method as with the full cube	Packed cubes ready to put in suitcase. I usually put swimwear in its own cube ready to go.	The cubes pack nicely on end (shown in duffel) or flat (in carry-on suitcase).

There's plenty of room left for shoes and toiletry kit. A 10x4x2 tube cube (honestly, I think Eagle Creek has lost all sense of geometry with their newest products) can fill in a long pocket or along an edge.