sean_green44•1mo agoMost Upvoted

For years I swore by packing cubes until a guy in a Bangkok hostel changed my mind

I was at this little place on Khao San Road and this older traveler saw me stuffing cubes into my bag. He said just roll everything and use those cheap mesh laundry bags for dirty stuff instead of specialized cubes. I tried it on my last trip to Vietnam for 3 weeks and my bag actually held more and I didn't have to unzip a million pockets. Anyone else found a packing system that works better than the big brands?

3 comments

3 Comments

nathan1001mo ago

Roll everything" is basically how I've packed since college except now it's less "rolling clothes" and more "rolling the dice on whether I'll look presentable." lmao

jamesf291mo ago

The mesh bag trick is fine for separating stuff but I found it doesn't really keep things as organized as cubes do. Last time I tried rolling everything it looked neat at first but after a couple days digging for socks everything turned into a wrinkled mess. I'd rather spend 30 seconds unzipping cube pockets than ironing a shirt in a hostel bathroom. Plus packing cubes help me compress my jeans and hoodies way tighter than rolling ever did.

the_fiona1mo ago

Honestly the "rolling the dice" thing is SO real. I did the mesh laundry bag method once and ended up pulling out a wrinkled disaster for a date in Chiang Mai. Looked like I'd been sleeping in the bag myself. But then again I've also spent 10 minutes in a hostel hallway trying to shove a hoodie back into a packing cube that's clearly two sizes too small. Maybe the real answer is we're all just doomed to look like crumpled messes no matter what system we use.