Planning for Europe – Packing

Packing’s easy, right? Toss stuff in a bag or suitcase and off you go. Sigh…not this time around. We have suitcase size and weight limits to consider. We already talked about our suitcases and backpacks in THIS POST. Now it’s about what we use with them.

I’ve used regular packing cubes for several years now and have semi-converted Stu to use them as well. Newer are a couple of compression packing cubes. They have a double zipper so once it’s closed, the second zipper will compress the contents more. Similar to how the blow-out on a suitcase works. Here are some of the things we’ve purchased and will try to use for our two month vacation.

Packing cubes:
 – Medium
 – Small
 – Slim
 – Compression 

In addition to packing cubes, one of the set we purchased over the years had this nifty shirt folder/pack it. Stu uses it to fold his shirts rather than roll them. Since he is taking several merino shirts, both crew neck and polo, this may or may not get used. This is a similar product at Amazon.

Click the images for more product info.

A hack I learned in a Facebook travel group is using a travel neck pillow COVER and stuff it with things that won’t wrinkle. Our puffy jackets, gloves, and scarves fit in ours just fine. Clip to your suitcase handle and the airlines ignore it. Saves on luggage space! I kept checking on Amazon and even ebay until I found two. Mine is pink, Stu’s is blue. Needless to say, we didn’t want the camo, but someone might.

I have an assortment of mesh bags, stiff but flexible, helps to separate things for organization and stop small items from getting buried.

I also have a wet-dry bag that takes up next to no room but helps out if you need to pack and something is still damp (like a travel washcloth). This one is generously sized and comes in several patterns and colors.

We had an old, clunky luggage scale that we used back when we moved to Ecuador. We decided to upgrade to a slim, lighter weight, digital scale.

The last thing we decided to try was a strap to attach our backpacks to our suitcases (or duffle bags on other trips). We’ve tried several solutions but the bags still seemed to tip off to one side. We are hoping this strap will help that issue since it has a sleeve to fit over the suitcase handle.

Still more to come – keep watching!

1. Planning for Europe…
2. Planning for Europe – Electronics
3. Planning for Europe – Comfort & Safety
4. Planning for Europe – Packing
5. Planning for Europe – Electronics Take 2
6. Planning for Europe – Laundry
7. Planning for Europe – Personal

Ciao for now!

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