On a recent ten-day European trip, I tried out packing cubes for the
first time, and my impression is highly favourable.
The principle is simple: a series of small bags that fit inside one's
main luggage. They aren't robust enough to survive independent travel;
the idea is to keep things organised within an existing bag or
suitcase. Each bag has a double-runner zip on three edges, and a
handle on the fourth; one large face has a mesh panel to allow viewing
of the contents, and the other is opaque.
As organisational aids they do well: it's much easier to go through
the sub-bags of about the right size than to hunt for a pair of socks
at the bottom of the main bag. It would be rather easier if they
looked different; but they seem to come in sets all of the same
colour, whichever manufacturer one uses, and I certainly don't need a
second set.
One can squeeze down the individual sub-bags to fit more things into a
case, but this isn't especially effective, and I prefer to travel with
plenty of space left in my bag anyway. These particular bags are
pretty strong (I picked the ones on Amazon that were highest rated
with a reasonable number of reviews).
The bags come in different sizes, and many sets include a shoe bag,
something that's rarely useful to me. This trip, I used the large ones
for clothes and dirty laundry, and the small ones for foreign-travel
kipple (spare wallets for foreign currency) and electronics. By the
end I had the smallest one in my day-bag substituting for an internal
pocket.
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