How To Use Packing Cubes To Travel With Just Carry On Luggage

Traveling with only carry-on luggage is a great habit for frequent business flyers, allowing them to pack light and cut down on unnecessary travel time.  However, it’s hard to look professional without carting half your wardrobe with you on a business trip, not to mention your laptop and other essential gadgets. This article will explain how packing cubes work and how they can help you travel with just a carry-on bag.

The first problem…  Over packing!

A common problem when traveling is overpacking.  We often find ourselves hauling around suitcases full of clothes that never get worn.  But on the flip side, it’s not easy to pack for a trip away with just your carry-on space.

Packing everything you need for a short trip into a carry-on bag can seem an impossible feat, but travel cubes make it easy to organize mini suitcases. Use these tips to learn how packing cubes work with carry-on luggage to cut down on travel stress and wasted airport time.

The Benefits Of Traveling With Just Carry On

The benefits of traveling light are worth it if you learn how to pack right. Any frequent flyer knows that modern-day travel is exhausting. The time spent getting to and from airports, checking in, and then clearing security can take longer than the actual flight itself. Traveling without any checked-in baggage is a great way to cut down on airport time, here’s why:

You Can Skip The Checked Baggage Queue And Head Straight To Departure

Online check-in and mobile boarding passes are a great way for business travelers to cut down on travel time, but those time savings are wasted if you need to line up anyway to check your bags. Traveling with just a carry-on can save you precious time – especially on busy flights or in peak travel seasons.

You Get To Bypass The Dreaded Baggage Carousel

The baggage carousel is another airport time drain. Even if you get a prime seat on your plane and make a speedy exit, you can still find yourself waiting at an empty baggage carousel, waiting for bags to be offloaded. When traveling light with carry-on bags there is no sinking feeling that your bag may never come onto the carousel – and no risk of lost luggage.

You Can Transit With Ease

When traveling to cities with really bad traffic, or just great public transport (yes, it does exist) it’s often more convenient to jump on a train or underground metro than to wait for cabs or rental cars at the airport. But the convenience of public transport is negated when you’re burdened with heavy luggage. Even just navigating a busy airport with a large suitcase can be a waste of precious time.

Carry-on baggage, especially rolling suitcase styles, is great for moving quickly from your plane, through security, and straight into transit. Carry-on suitcases are also small and discrete enough to take straight to the office if you’re heading directly to a meeting.

How Packing Cubes Work and Help You Pack Just a Carry-On

Packing a suitcase may seem like a simple task, but if you do it wrong it can be disastrous. You could end up losing valuables, wasting time digging around to find things or cleaning up messy spills. Travel packing cubes are the secret to packing a carry-on suitcase the smart way.

The best travel cubes are lightweight fabric cubes that come in varying sizes and can be used to compartmentalize different items of luggage. Packing cubes are a simple but life-changing packing solution. Packing cubes are great for compressing and organizing your clothing and other belongings and are available in multiple sizes. The lightness and sturdiness of proper traveling cubes are important, as the last thing you want is overweight baggage or broken compartments.

Are Packing Cubes Necessary? How To Use Your Travel Cubes Effectively

Keep your liquids in one small cube

When traveling with just your carry-on luggage it’s essential to keep liquids organized and stored together in one packing cube. Frequent flyers will know that most airports now prevent large liquids to be carried onto a plane for security reasons. Small plastic bags are provided at most airports for liquid storage, but these are often flimsy, and might not last the duration of your trip without splitting and spilling liquids. Keep your liquids in the official plastic bag, inside of the cube. You will be asked to take your liquids out of your suitcase when going through security, so keep your liquids cube at the top of your carry suitcase.

Segment Clothes & Accessories Separately

It’s essential to keep soft clothing and hard accessories away from each other in your suitcase to avoid unnecessary creasing. Keep belts and jewelry in one cube compartment, and soft items in another. You can easily slide in an extra luggage cube so you can separate dirty laundry from clean items during your trip. Most business class seats come with a hook to hang bigger jackets, hats and scarves, or you can ask a host to hang these bigger items.

Limit Your Shoe Options

Shoes are often the biggest sacrifice when it comes to traveling light. Most carry bags will fit a maximum of two pairs of shoes, so savvy business travelers tend to follow the ‘wear one, pack one rule. Packing shoes into their own cube stops them from getting dirt on your other items. Keep your shoe cube at the bottom of your suitcase, as it’s easier to roll a bag with heavy items at the bottom.

Pack A Laptop

If you don’t want to bring a bulky laptop case then packing cubes can be used as laptop protectors, preventing scratches from battery chargers or other items in your bag. This is another item that needs to come out at security, so keep it near the top of your bag, and easily pull it out for the scanners, or to work on the plane.

Pack For Different Airline Restrictions

Keep in mind airline size and weight limits when choosing a suitcase. European airlines tend to have much smaller carry-on baggage allowances than North American airlines or airlines that fly longer routes. Short-haul airlines like EasyJet & Ryanair are particularly strict, and getting caught with an oversized carry-on can incur added costs and delays.

Many of these budget or commuter airlines limit you to one hand luggage item, and that means ONE. So, you can’t bring a separate handbag, laptop bag, or even umbrella – if you take these to the gate you may be asked to pack them into your main carry bag. It’s always worth checking the allowance of individual airlines if you aren’t familiar with the regulations.

Consider that airlines will include the wheels and handle of your suitcase when measuring, not just the inside packing space. Some bags that are advertised as carry-ons are actually too large for some airlines’ bag sizes. Your travel carry-on bag may technically be within the size limits when empty, but could quickly become oversized if you overstuffed it. Packing cubes will help you keep items neatly within the limits of your bag space.

You now know how packing cubes work, so get packing!

Trying to squeeze all your items into a carry-on suitcase can easily lead to disaster without proper organization. Using packing cubes is one the easiest ways to successfully hack minimalist packing so you can travel efficiently with carry-on baggage alone. Now that you know how packing cubes work, try them on your next business trip.