The promise of a hack is so enticing. Secret insider knowledge that will fast track you on your way to success. So why not apply that to travel packing. So here they are. The best travel packing hacks.

In some cases, they’ll save you space, sometimes make you life easier and others will keep you out of trouble.

Keep The Weight At The Bottom

Not your bottom. The bottom of your bags. This especially true for roller luggage and backpacks. With roller luggage as soon as you let go of it, the bag falls over. You’re always on guard when trying to get food or travelling on public transport.

With backpacks, you want the weight down low for stability. Having the weight up high can easily cause you to be overbalanced.

The secret here is to get your heaviest items down into the bottom of your bag, down near the wheels. Or, in the case of a backpack, in that lower section which was made to take a sleeping bag.

We tend to use compression luggage a lot, so a ball of clothes that weighs 7-8 kg is ideal. During the holiday I also tend to collect guidebooks. It doesn’t take too many of these to get some weight up, so these go down the bottom as well.

Mix And Match Your Clothing

For a 6-7 week holiday in Europe we each take 4 shirts and 4 pants. That’s it. And 1 set of those will be worn on the plane, which leaves 3 sets in our bag. Each top needs to go with each pair of pants. Nothing clashes.

Remember that unless you’re attending the Cannes film festival, or are otherwise likely to be photographed by the paparazzi, no-one cares what you look like while on holiday.

The overwhelming majority of people who will see you, you will never see again. So, as long as you don’t wear a Bananas in Pyjamas onesie, you’ll be fine.

Hard Soaps

Consider changing from liquid shampoo and conditioners to hard soap style. My wife uses these and finds them much more convenient. They store well and there’s no risk of spillage. I’m not sure how many brands make them in this form, but you should be able to find some to suit your hair type.

Personally, I don’t have enough hair to justify them. One bar of regular soap is enough for me to wash hair, body, undies and bathers. Still, if you do need them check them out.

Jewellery

There’s a couple of options here that could work well for you.

For necklaces, most people recommend threading one end through a plastic straw, then fasten the clasp. In this way they don’t tend to get tangled.

For earrings you could consider using pill boxes. This keeps the pairs together, and the rigid sides of the box stop them getting beaten out of shape by an enthusiastic baggage handler. You could rings in these as well.

Shoes

It’s always a good idea to protect the contents of your bag, from whatever you may have stepped in. Shoe bags were popular for a while, and I’m sure that some people still use them.

Personally, I use a shopping bag. One of those lightweight ones that you can get from the supermarket near checkout, and scrunch down to the size of a golf ball. I turn the bag inside out and then put my shoes in those. Then if I do need to pick up a few groceries I empty out the shoes and turn the bag around the other way.

I should point out though, that I rarely go skipping through paddocks full of cows while on holiday. Most of my time is either spent on cobblestones or sandy beaches.

One hack that I’ve seen recently is to use disposable shower caps to put your shoes in. You can make up your own mind if you will still use them as shower caps in between travel days.

Pack Or Buy

Try to decide whether it’s worth carrying an item with you or just purchase it there. If your whole holiday is going to be spent in hotels, then you probably won’t need a towel. If you have a fair bit of beach time planned, then consider buying a towel at your destination.

It will serve a purpose while your there, make a great souvenir, and you can use it for years to come.

The last couple of times we’ve been to Europe, we tend to spend a couple of weeks in the Greek Islands, winding down. Because we were going to be snorkelling each day, we purchased a couple of cheap mask and snorkel sets when we got there. At the end of the holiday, we gave them away to some kids who were staying near us.

On our last holiday, we knew that we would be doing some scuba diving while there, so in that case it made sense to bring our better-quality masks and snorkels with us.

Packing Cubes, Compression Bags or Both

We’re big fans of compression bags, they can help you save a lot of space and consolidated your load. There are 2 styles. The ones we use look like the bag a sleeping bag comes in, but it has straps on the outside. You put your clothes in, tighten down the straps, and you’re good to go.

The other style is the vacuum bag. They are designed to be used with a vacuum cleaner, but in all honesty, you can just seal them up, then roll them tightly to get the air out and they work really well.

The issue with these is that all your clothes are in one bag. That’s where packing cubes come in.

You can take 2 or 3 packing cubes of varying sizes and say, right, my shirts are in this one, pants in another, and underwear and socks in the last one. This stops the feeling of blind fishing, when you’re hunting for the shirt at the bottom.

There are now compression cubes with and extra zip fitted. Once you’ve closed the cube then this extra zip serves to tighten the cube down and compress it. It’s not quite as compressed as a good compression bag, but’s it’s a very good compromise.

Belts

There’s a couple of options with belts. Traditionally, most people just roll them and place them in your bag. They tend to take up a chunk of space this way. If you like the rolling method, then just place them inside one of your shoes.

The other option is to leave them unrolled, and just lay them around the outside of your bag. This way they take up next to no room.

Take a Spare Bag

I always take a spare bag with me. This can serve as a day bag when you’re out and about. Or as an overflow should I find that I’ve got a few too many souvenirs at the end of the trip. This is generally a very lightweight bag that takes up little room in my main luggage.

Use a Packing List

This might seem obvious, but you’d be amazed at how many people just make it up as they go. This is an excellent way to ensure you go shopping while abroad, trying to replace the things you thought you’d packed.

A list just streamlines the packing process and makes sure all the essentials are covered. I have a packing list here on my site, or you can check out onebag.com, as he has some excellent lists. I used his for years while refining my own list.

Use a Backpack As a Carry-On

I understand the logic of a small roller case. There’s no weight on your shoulders, and they look really smart being wheeled through the terminal.

But a backpack leaves your hands free, no one’s wheeling it away when you turn around for a minute, and on a packed flight they’re a lot easier to get into the overhead bin.

Segment Your Carry-On

The two main ways I do this are for chargers and cables and documents. I have a small zip up document pouch which has my passport, tickets, boarding pass etc. I can just reach in and all of my important documents are in one place.

For my chargers and cables, I use a cord organiser. For me this is a 2-sided zip up pouch which has separate areas for each item. I fly every week for work and got sick and tired of having my cords scattered throughout my bag. They were hard to find and tangled together which was an absolute pain.

Some people also recommend putting a small bag together that has all the things you’ll need during the flight. As they approach their seat, the take this bag out, place the carry on up top, and they never need to touch it again.

Either way you choose to do it, having your belongings segmented in this way, keeps your carry-on much more manageable.

Segregate Declared Items

This hack is in the same vein as the last one and makes things more convenient. If you know that you have items that need to be declared, then place then at the top of your bag, right where the zip opens.

You can have them in a separate bag withing your luggage or loose, depending on what it is. This means that the customs officers won’t have to rifle right through your bag to find these pieces.

Double Bag Your Toiletries

If you’ve decided that hard toiletries aren’t for you, then you need to take steps to protect your luggage from accidents. Changes in air pressure, excitable baggage handler can conspire to see your liquids explode.

If you carry your toiletries in your carry-on luggage, then there are strict airline industry requirement for how your toiletries must be packed. Follow these to the letter. You can however, open the bottles, place some cling film over the top and put the lid back on.

We always carry our toiletries in our checked luggage. So, we tend to use a zip lock bag for each bottle. They are cheap enough and will last much longer than the cling wrap.

Spare Clothes In Your Carry-On

Here I sit in mid 2022 and collecting your luggage from the carousel seems to be more of a lucky dip or a lottery, than any well organised process.

For that reason, a lot of people are advocating to carry a spare change of clothing in your carry-on for when your luggage can’t be found. I see the logic in this, but I like to travel reasonably light and don’t like to carry too much in my carry-on.

I will, however, carry a spare set of underwear and socks in my carry-on. This is a nice compromise for me. Sure, I still have to go and buy new clothes, but at least I won’t feel too crusty while I’m doing it.

Separate Dirty Laundry

We always carry a small laundry bag in each of our bags. There can’t be much worse than one set of damp or dirty clothes spreading their smell through the rest of your gear.

On the topic of laundry. Because we pack reasonably light, we plan to do laundry every 3-4 days while on holiday. For that reason, I always book accommodation which either has laundry facilities, or has facilities nearby.

Decorate Your Bag

Okay, maybe leave the wallpaper out of this. But you do need your bag to stand out when it gets to the luggage carousel. You will soon find that the unique piece of luggage you picked out has more than a few close cousins to travel with. And at the end of a 20–24-hour travel marathon, they can all look a bit samey.

I use builders tape knotted around the handle. Some folks use brightly colored ribbons. If you’ve got hard luggage, then consider a couple of stickers. Just consider whether the stickers you choose will be appropriate in the countries you pass through.

“Legalize it” type stickers will ensure that you get your taxpayer dollar’s worth of personal service upon arrival.

Final Thoughts

These are the main travel hacks these days. Some others have become commonplace though, like using the inside of your shoes to store small items. Roll your clothes for packing, and wear your heaviest clothes on travel days. A couple of spare Ziplock bags can solve a whole range of problems, and don’t take clothes that need ironing.

If you’d like some more hacks and hints to make your travels easier, then check out some of these posts.

What should I put in my carry-on bag

24 tips to survive a long-haul flight

16 Tips to stay healthy while traveling

Cheers and happy travels.