BEST Way to Pack Carry-On Luggage, According to SCIENCE | Suitcase or Backpack

let's settle this once and for all what is the best way to pack a carryon according to science no more myths do packing cubes actually save space what's the proper way to arrange your luggage and how can you pack to minimize stress at the airport whether you use a backpack or a suitcase these science-backed carry-on Packing Tips will save you both money and headaches so grab your goggles Let's Do Science when packing your suitcase is it better to fold or roll your clothes when you roll your clothes you're compressing them into tight cylindrical shapes this compression minimizes the amount of empty space or air pockets in between items theoretically this means that you can fit more stuff into your bag but I decided to put it to the test in this super scientific experiment I jammed is many clothes as possible into this small siiz packing Cube using the folding method the rolling method and the cramming method the results show that indeed rolling saves more space compared to folding and I'm sure the difference would be even bigger if you used a bigger sized packing Cube the cramming method is also proven to save space if you're a psycho to take things to the extreme you could even use Ziploc bags or vacuum bags to suck all the air out of your clothes the downside is if everything in your bag is perfectly vacuum sealed then it's going to be a pain to repack your bag this may not be a big deal if you're just moving one time but if you're hopping around the place it's going to get old fast cramming things this efficiently also puts you at higher risk of your suitcase being overweight we got caught red-handed with overweight carry-ons on a recent flight and you can see how we minimized the fees we had to pay in this video on avoiding carry-on packing mistakes so wait why did I say that folding is sometimes better than rolling well in another one of my professional lab tests it took 77 seconds to roll six shirts as fast as I could but it only took 36 seconds to fold them that's over twice as fast so if you value packing speed over maximizing every inch of space then folding is the way to go what do you think is the best way to pack clothes comment fold or roll and let's see who wins okay so do packing Cube actually save space in your bag many people swear by them but let's look at this scientifically packing cubes are made up of matter and by definition matter takes up space therefore packing cubes do not save space they actually take up more space that said packing cubes do help with organization technically yes you could fit slightly more in your bag by rolling up your clothes tightly and jamming them directly into your your carryon instead of using packing Cubes but is that really the way you want to live your life with clothes scattered around Loosey Goosey always having to reroll things every time you dig into your bag if it's a short weekend trip or you're traveling personal item only on a budget Airline then the chaos may be worth the few extra cubic centimeters that you get but in most other cases packing cubes are a game Cher for your sanity keep in mind that when it comes to packing cubes big bigger isn't necessarily always better you actually want to choose the smallest size packing Cube that fits all the clothes that you want to fit I use a blue medium siiz packing Cube for my tops a black medium siiz for my bottoms a black small size for my socks and underwear and a black extra small for my random Electronics I'll link to these exact cubes below which have held up strong for the past 8 years and also link to some bigger ones that my wife uses in case you want to pack more but what about if you need to pack clothes that wrinkle by just looking at them in this case I don't recommend rolling or folding here you're going to want a bundle science says that wrinkles form when heat and or water cause the molecular bonds to break inside the fabric and then reform in the wrinkle position in our luggage we don't have much control control over the Heat or the water but we do have control over two important things one choosing Fabrics whose molecular bonds are harder to break like nylon and polyester and two packing in a way that minimizes the wrinkly positions to do this first you want to lay out all your clothes in a stack with the most wrinkle prone garments on the bottom of the stack and the most non wrinkly Fabrics on the top like socks or or underwear or sports clothes these non wrinkly clothes will form the core of your bundle from there start bundling it all up making sure to create tension and smoothing out the wrinkles on each layer before you move on to the next layer then when you make it to your most wrinkle prone clothes the size of the bundle makes it so there's no sharp creases seems like a genius idea at first but can you see the downside to this method getting to the close at the inside of the bundle is no easy task without making a big mess if you're traveling regularly for business you're probably better off just picking up one of these travel garment folders and if you have fancy clothes made of fragile material you can use tissue paper to protect it from friction and wrinkles and other damage next when you pack your luggage you want to leverage the center of gravity put simply this is the imaginary balance point where your entire bag's weight is concentrated when packing a rolling suitcase you want to use the lowest center of gravity possible this makes it more stable and less likely to tip over and if you're packing a backpack you want the center of gravity to be closest to the part that touches your back the farther that it is away from your back the heavier your bag will feel and if the center of gravity is really far back you may actually have to lean forward with bad posture to prevent yourself from tipping backwards trust me on this one this is a recipe for an achy body this is harder than Patagonia your carry On's center of gravity is determined by where you pack your heaviest stuff so for Rolling suitcases pack your heaviest stuff at the bottom and for backpacks pack your heaviest stuff closest to your back so now I want you to imagine taking a wine tasting Tour on your trip and picking up a fine bottle of wine to bring home with you you need to pack it in a checked bag because it's over the liquids limit but when you get home and pick your bag off the luggage care cell you notice that it feels a little damp uh-oh turns out the luggage handlers were feeling a little aggressive that day and now your fancy wine has ruined all of your clothes luckily this did not happen to us on our wine tasting trip in Chile because we used the shock absorber strategy the goal here is to create a giant protective cocoon around your fragile item and pack it in the center of your check bag ideally surrounded by Soft clothes it also helps to fill dead space in your bag to minimize movements so if you have empty space find soft things to fill it with to prevent your fragile items from shifting around and slamming around on the inside of your bag when the luggage handlers toss it around minimizing dead space does more than just prevent your stuff from shifting around you can also take this idea to the extreme to fit more things in your luggage for example packed shoes can be filled with sandwich bags filled of socks and stuffed inside the shoes depending on the shape of your bag and the specific items that you're packing you may have to dust off your Tetris skills so that you can cram things into every nook and cranny the specific items that you choose to pack can make a huge difference with this one giant packing mistake that I made on this year-long trip that we're currently on is these blasted exercise Rings I've barely used them and it turns out that circles create tons of dead space that's hard to fill in your bags this next one is less about packing and more about protecting your luggage and it's something that most people don't think about I've hauled my backpacks all around the world now for over 8 years in counting from Patagonia to Portugal to the males and let me tell you I am not gentle with these bags I drag them on the ground I sit on them when I need some place to sit and I cram them so full that I'm still surprised that the seams haven't exploded but you want to know what has ruined every single one of my backpacks salt salt and moisture in the air can corrode your metal zippers even if they never actually touch salt water and let me tell you it's a shame to have to throw away a perfectly good backpack just because the Rusted zipper makes it unusable the same goes for packing cubes or anything else with metal zippers so if you travel near a beach always wrench your zippers with fresh water and vinegar when you get home and then it let it dry out completely before we get into the stress stabilizer strategy make sure to subscribe for more travel tips videos like this one the way you pack for travel has a direct impact on your stress levels stress is a biological response to being in a state of worry or mental tension that causes spikes in cortisol and adrenaline now I want you to close your eyes for a second and imagine you're rushing through the airport thinking to yourself did I forget to pack something will I make it to my gate on time will the airline weigh my heavy bags and charge me extra will airport security tear through my luggage and make me late what if I misplace my passport during all this Rush this my friends is what I call a stress sandwich the good news is there's an easy solution and that is a fanny pack a good fanny pack stops many stressors in their tracks now hear me out you have all your important documents attached to you so you don't have to worry about losing anything you also can put your valuables in it and zip it up when passing through security so you don't have to worry about anything getting stolen from the bins also you can pack extra stuff in it so you don't have to worry about space and weight quite as much just make sure your fanny pack is lowkey I'll link to this awesome one that I use below that has never caused me any problems I surveyed a small group of fanny pack users and found that it reduces airport stress by an average of 41% this is especially true when passing through air report security because when things go wrong there stress levels Skyrocket but using a fanny pack is only one thing that you can do to avoid problems when passing through airport security for a complete list of TSA line mistakes to avoid check out this video next and don't forget to share your favorite packing tip in the comments to help everyone else who's watching this all right guys bye-bye

Channel: Project Untethered

Views: 140,381

Keywords: travel tips, how to pack, packing tips, packing cubes, how to pack a carry on, how to pack a suitcase, packing hacks, travel packing tips, travel packing, packing a carry on, packing for travel, best packing tips, how to pack luggage, carryon travel, carry on only packing, carry on travel, packing carry-on, best carry on luggage, carry-on luggage, packing for a trip, carry on only packing tips, how to pack a suitcase for airplane, packing a carry on bag

Id: wPX7lLFqeCE

Length: 11min 56sec (716 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 04 2023