Not Necessarily Interesting News

I was asked by a friend how to pack for a long trip using only a carryon bag. As I travel somewhere about 35-40 weeks a year I guess I might know a thing or two about packing light/efficiently.

Before I show the best way to pack first I’ll abuse my power on this site and make you listen to some other rules for travel. If you’d like to get straight to the packing and miss my rant click here:

Some basic rules for travel:

• Never check bags if at all possible. For me, the biggest reason is that I spend enough time in airports as it is without having to show up early to check a bag or wait around 20+ minutes waiting on the bag lottery with 150 other people. I have places to be. I sure don’t want to spend more time in an airport. Another reason is that the airlines can’t lose what they don’t have.
• You know you’re going to go through a metal detector. While you’re waiting in line get all that metal into your bag ahead of time(Keys, change, watch, phone, belt buckle, etc). Unzip your laptop bag. Untie your laces if you have to. In other words “BE READY WHEN YOU GET TO THE XRAY MACHINE.” Stop acting like it’s some sort of surprise that they’re gonna make you take off your shoes or that your belt buckle will set off the detector. If it’s taking you a while, let others past you. Again, I have places to be, grandpa. You’re slowing me down.
• Yes, the TSA agents are surly. Get over it. They get paid no more than a burger flipper and now they are in a position of power. Of course they’re going to abuse it. You _will_ lose any argument with them no matter how right you are.
• When it comes time to board the plane stand back until your group is called. Crowding the agent isn’t going to make her call your group any sooner. And while you’re at it standing back, stop muttering under your breath how unfair it is that Exec Platinum and Platinum members get to board first. I racked up 150,000 Fequent Flyer miles last year. You’re damn straight I feel I should be treated special. The airline knows I paid $700 for my last minute ticket and you paid $125 3 months ago. It’s us business travelers that keep the airlines alive so they can sell you cheap seats. Get over it.
• Once you’re on the plane find your row and get in it. Don’t stand there with your fat ass blocking the aisle while you dig around for a book. There’s 100 other people out on the jet way that would love to get in from the heat/cold too.
• Yes, I know that most airlines don’t serve food anymore. You know why? Because you’re too cheap to buy a ticket that would cover a meal. It’s called competition. When consumers only look at one thing, price, they don’t realize what else they are losing. I’m paying a lot more for my ticket than you and I don’t get a meal either if I’m back in coach. Bring snacks from home. It’s a lot cheaper than $3 for a cookie from the stewardesses.
• Yes, babies happen. You’re gonna end up next to one. One of the best traveling gadgets I’ve bought is a nice set of expensive Shure noise-isolation earbuds. No more baby sounds.

Ok, enough griping. Here’s how to fit 2 weeks of clothes into a single carryon bag.

Start with a decent carryon. There’s two schools of thought when it comes to carryon bags. Buy cheap so it’s cheap to replace it when it falls apart under the strain of a lot of travel or buy expensive with a really good manufacturer’s warranty against damage. My choice is a really nice Briggs and Riley. They have the best warranty around. They replace it if it’s ever damaged, even by the airlines. No questions asked. The only time you need to buy another is if you get bored with the old one.

I’m going to show how to pack all this into this bag with plenty of room to spare.

I’ll pack the following:

• 4 pairs of pants
• 4 polo shirts
• 2 long sleeve dress shirts
• 3 t-shirts
• Workout clothes
• Jammies
• 6 pairs of socks
• 6 pairs of boxers
• 1 pair of shoes
• toiletries
• Room to spare

Start with layering the pants along the bottom of the bag. Let them hang over the edges like in the pictures. Alternate the overhanging layers.

Now is where the art comes into packing this tightly. Forget everything your mother ever taught you about how to fold clothes. Her method is totally wrong when it comes to packing bags. Instead of folding our clothes we’re going to roll them. If we do this step right we will also minimize wrinkles and ironing time when we get to our destination. A good thing in those countries that don’t stock ironing boards as standard in all rooms.

First, lay the shirt out flat on its front.

Then fold it on half.

Fold the sleeves over the shirt.

Start rolling from the bottom. This is where you need to slow down and do it right. If you take the time to smooth wrinkles as you roll that means you’ll have less wrinkles when you unpack. Remember, wrinkles are the enemy. Both for packing and in a business meeting. Wrinkles eat packing space.

When you’re done you’ll have a nice little shirt sausage.

In this pic you can see a single folded tshirt takes about the same space as 4 rolled tshirts. That’s a dramatic difference.

Do the same for your dress shirts. Spend the time now to keep wrinkles out of the shirts. Mine are a bit wrinkly as I pulled them out of the laundry for this demo. For a real trip I’d probably iron mine first. Yours should have less wrinkles at this point.

Once you’re done rolling you’ll have a nice pile like this.

That’s 4 polo shirts, 2 dress shirts, 4 t-shirts, and 5 pairs of boxers in the space that just a few folded shirts would occupy.

Now it’s time to get them in the bag. This is the easy part. I put my shoes along the top. On a real trip I’d put them into plastic bags to keep them from dirtying the clothes. Before you pack the shoes in put your toiletries into the shoes to avoid dead space. It’s a good spot for bulky things like deodorant or electric razors if you like. Then start putting your sausages in. Make sure not to crush them in too tightly or you’ll add wrinkles.

Add another layer on top of those. For this packing that is only two more shirts. I could easily fit in another few shirts, a sport jacket, or maybe some books or business documents. For me, I pack a GPS between layers and put a small bedside fan in one corner of the bag.

After all the rolls are in start folding the pants in over the top and alternate sides.

From the side you can see I’m nowhere near capacity of this bag.

I place all my socks unfolded in the upper compartment.

Ready to zip closed.

Lid is closed. Notice that no stuffing will be necessary to zip it shut. Also see that I didn’t use the bellows that could give me an extra 2 inches of depth. If you use that the bag will not fit in an overhead.

Closing thoughts.
Wrinkles are the enemy. Wrinkles trap air. Trapped air is wasted space. Take the time and roll those shirts tightly/neatly.
Make sure to pack all the rolls with the loose end down or they’ll all unravel on you.
Bring along an e-reader and MP3 player to fight boredom on the flight. Or watch movies on your laptop. Rip the movies to your hard drive so you don’t need to carry DVDs.
Enjoy your trip.

If you found this useful please leave me a comment telling me so.