Review: Eagle Creek Pack-It™ Cubes

Do you find that even with packing advice, you still have problems with getting everything to fit in your carry-on bag? I love packing and getting everything I need into my bag, but I know that everyone is not as pack-happy as I am. I also know that not everyone wants to spend their weeks up to their vacation practicing their packing skills. Fortunately, Eagle Creek has developed the Pack-It™ Cube System, mesh cubes that hold your clothes and organize your carry-on. If you want all of your similar items to go together in your bag and then be able to quickly and easily unpack at your destination, these are definitely for you.

The concept is easy: roll your clothes as I normally tell you to do and then fit them snugly into your cube and then stack them into your bag. They are great, because they come in many different sizes and are meant to help you pack more efficiently and they can go right from your bag to dresser drawer when you get to your hotel. You’ll know exactly what is in which cube and can pack them back in your carry-on just as simply when your trip is over.

Eagle Creek sent me a set of cubes to test out at home, which I promptly and excitedly did as I was unpacking from my trip last week. I received both the double cube and the original size cube. The double fit perfectly in my large carry-on as a foundation layer. I was able to fit 75% of my items into both the double and the original (which is more than I would pack for just myself) and then strapped them down, added my shoes and toiletry bag and still had more room, both in the cubes and in the bag itself. I easily could have packed everything I took with me on vacation into both cubes, though I chose to show you how a bag could be packed for one person who routinely packs more than they need. My bag was nicely organized and everything was readily accessible. Another pair of shoes could even fit in there!

Look at this nice foundation

Enough clothes for 2 weeks, pair of walking shoes and toiletry bag

The cubes have convenient handles, come in fun colors and also have two-way zippers that run ¾ of the way around the top of the cubes. The tops are made of mesh, making them breathable instead of trapping odors, and they are soft-sided, so if you don’t totally fill them, they won’t take up more space than necessary. (Unless you need extra protection for items, in which case, there are Protect-It™ Cubes available.) Eagle Creek also makes a point to use the best materials possible, so you know your cubes will be the highest quality and highly durable. They are made to last a lifetime.

Remember the great Eagle Creek Emerson bag I reviewed last week? Well, if you purchase that or a similar bag, the original Pack-It™ Cube fits perfectly into it. You can fill it with 3 days’ worth of clothing and undergarments and be set for anything a weekend getaway throws at you. Not only will you be organized, your travel clothes will have less (if any) wrinkles, which is another great thing about rolling your items.

Tube Cube                                        Quarter Cube

Use the different sizes of cubes to make the best packing system for you and your travel needs. Maybe you will opt for two Double Cubes or four Originals or one Double and three Half-Tube Cubes. However you want to pack, Eagle Creek has a Pack-It™ Cube solution for you. Cubes range anywhere from $8 to $42 for more advanced pieces and you can buy sets for between $25 and $40.

Other stuff you need to know:

What are these bags made of? Recycled EcoLite™ Weave, Mesh Poly, Hydro-Tech™ (Protect-It™ Cubes)  

Available Colors: Bali (light blue with dark blue design), Black, Cypress Green, Elevation (grey background with black wavy pattern), Morocco (red background with subtle Moroccan pattern), Pacific Blue, Rio Red
Where can you buy them? Look on the Eagle Creek website, where you can also find retailers, both online and off worldwide.

                Expandable Cube                        2-Sided Cube                    Complete Organizer

Disclosure: I received the Emerson bag from Eagle Creek in order to write this review, but the opinions are all 100% my own. Thank you again to Eagle Creek for allowing me to tell all my wonderful readers about this amazing bag. Want a review of your product? Find more information here.

Travel Laundry Duties 10.8.11

To many of us, laundry is a four-letter word. We hate doing it at home and wouldn’t dream of doing it when we didn’t have to. Even though I can’t stand to do laundry every week (mostly, I just hate to hang it up and put it away), I always tell people to do it while on vacation. Am I just being a jerk and trying to ruin your trip? Not at all. I actually don’t mind washing clothes when I travel – probably because there is so little of it – and it helps me save money, too. And no, I’m not just telling you that to trick you. I take time out of my fun to wind down and clean some clothes every time I go on vacation. Don’t believe me? All these photos are my own.

So, how does it save money? Well, by taking less and doing laundry, I am able to pack all our clothing in a carry-on and not have to pay checked baggage fees. This can keep up to $35 in your pocket ($70 if you figure in having to check it on the way back, too) or more if you are a chronic overpacker and have to pay oversize and/or overweight fees any time you travel. Those fees can be up to $100 each way, on top of regular baggage fees, making it cost more than your airline ticket.

Do they have the kitchen sink in there, too?

We were just at the airport coming home last week and I noticed that 90% of the people checking in had several bags and most were HUGE. Either all these travelers thought they needed parkas and snowsuits to leave Hawaii, bought way too much stuff or have no idea how to pack for a trip that doesn’t require moving to another country. I mean, there are people every day that travel the globe with just a small bag full of belongings and do just fine. Why do these other people need to pack bags that wouldn’t fit in my car? I’m sure there are plenty of reasons why, but one thing is for sure, almost all of these travelers could have taken much less and been just fine.

Maybe they don’t know they can save so much money by packing fewer clothes and doing a load of wash once or twice while they are gone. There is a reason I tell you every time I post about packing light that you should mix and match your clothing. When everything coordinates, you can make more outfit combinations and take only a few key pieces.

 

See my sheet right on top of my laundry!

You don’t have to take up space in your 3-1-1 bag with laundry detergent either. One of my favorite products that I always have in my travel bag is Purex 3-in-1 sheets. They pack flat and are solid, so you can put them in any pocket in your bag. They are a detergent, fabric softener and dryer sheet in one, also, so you can use them in the washer, then transfer it with all your clothes directly to the dryer (if you are using it). It makes doing laundry way easy and it comes in scented and unscented varieties, in case, like me, you have sensitive skin.

Yup, we are having a GOOD TIME! (London)

You can always buy detergent anywhere you go, too, though you may pay more if you are in a touristy destination or have to try a new brand if you are going to a foreign country. Woolite has some great one-use packets that can be used in the sink or the washing machine. The same goes for Tide and other brand-name detergents. You can usually find them in the trial-size section of your discount or grocery store. I like to buy these types of things at Target.

Sometimes you will find yourself in a destination where there are no laundry facilities nearby or on-site (or it just isn’t cost-effective), and these are the times you will be washing your clothes in the bathroom sink or shower. If you only have powdered detergent with you, don’t worry. You CAN use it, but you can also use bar soap or shampoo to do it. If you know ahead of time that you will need to hand wash and can prepare for it, any of the packets above will work, but you can also purchase detergent leaves, like the ones from Travelon that you can purchase many places online. You will have to spend extra time rinsing the suds out and then wringing the clothing out, like a washer would do, or your clothes will take forever to dry. One of the best tips for getting as much water out of the clothes as possible is to squish them out real well and then roll up in a dry towel and stomp on it, so the water seeps into the towel.

A newly discovered (by me) product on the market that makes hand-washing a breeze is Soak Wash. It’s awesome because it requires no rinsing. I don’t know quite how it works, but it does. You can wash everything, wring it out, let dry and wear. It was developed for delicate items, like lingerie, that don’t hold up well when you scrunch it up or put it in the washing machine. Now, it’s a wonderful companion for travelers, because it makes the (sometimes tedious) task of hand-washing really easy, because the worst part of sink washing is rinsing the clothes before you can squish out the water and hang up. It can make it feel like it takes forever. Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures of me hand-washing clothes on the occasions I’ve had to, but trust me when I say that I have done this more than a few times and so has Eric. We did discover that you can multitask by bringing items with you into the shower and doing some scrubbing in between shampooing and conditioning. Otherwise, we just take a little time to do it in the evening while we’re winding down from a full travel day.

For those of you who DO have to hand-wash, you may want to purchase a laundry line. Not all rooms have hangers, a line in the shower or anywhere useful to hang your clothing, so my  travel bag also includes a durable braided rubber line. It doesn't require accessories, because you can easily hang the clothes by using the braids to hold them on. It stretches to 7 feet long and has velcro loops on each end, which makes it easy to hang on pretty much anything. Avoid the laundry lines with the suction cups, because 9 times out of 10, you will wake up to all your clean clothes in a pile on the floor, because one or both sides have un-sucked. Plus, you can only use them in the bathroom (when they work). The looped ends give you much more freedom and can hang out of the way of frequently used areas in your room.

There are my Purex sheets in one of the pockets

One of my other favorite travel accessories is a pop-up mesh laundry basket, like the EZ FoldR from Baijer. It folds up when not in use and then it pops open to hold a large amount of clothing. We use it everywhere as a hamper and then when it’s full (or we are running out of clean items), we grab it and do a load. The one we have is awesome, because it has wide, reinforced handles and 4 pockets, where you can stash your quarters, detergent and anything else you need (like a game or book to keep you busy). It is easy to carry whether your clothes are wet or dry. I like to keep spare quarters in mine at all times, so I don't have to worry about going to get change, too. If I don't need them for the washers, I can always use them to get a snack or soda from the vending machines!

During laundry time, Eric took advantage of the pool and I caught up on some reading!

I hope this helps you think of laundry as more of a travel adventure than a chore and it encourages you to bring less. While you may have to take an hour out of your whole trip to deal with dirty clothes, it really is worth it. We also discovered that if you travel with clothing specific for travel – lightweight, quick-drying clothing – you won't spend much time waiting for the dryer (our load was done in about 20 minutes) or will wake up to completely dry clothing you can wear! Just think of what you could spend that baggage fee money on while you're ON your trip.

Review: Emerson Carry-On from Eagle Creek

In case you haven’t figured it out by now, I’m a bagaholic. Yes, I love bags of every size and style that can be used for anything from toting lunches to golf clubs. Maybe it’s because I find bags so versatile and I also like to carry things, but it’s rare that I come across a bag that is so great I want to tell everyone else about it. But that’s just what happened when a little something called the Emerson from Eagle Creek arrived on my door step.  

Having already admitted that I have an unhealthy bag problem, you can imagine how many carry-on bags, purses, overnight bags, wristlets and cross-body bags I own. I mean, I still have a suitcase and a rolling garment bag that must be checked that I don’t use anymore, but refuse to give up. So, why add one more to the collection? Well, the simple answer is: once you have the Emerson, you will see no reason to keep many of those other bags!

If you think I’m exaggerating, I am not. The Emerson is the perfect companion bag for the airplane (or the gym or sleepovers or an on-the-go office or even someone with a baby). Not only is the bag roomy, it will hold your 17″ laptop and all the essentials you need in the air. Having just come home from a trip, I immediately unpacked the bag I brought with me and stuffed everything into the Emerson to see how well it would fit and if I could get to it all. Now, I don’t bring my huge laptop with me, but as you can see, it fits in the padded compartment with room to spare! I do travel with my netbook and iPad, which both fit nicely in the same compartment side by side, and then my Kindle, iPod Touch, snacks, a small purse, travel games for the plane, a pad of paper, a bottle of water, a magazine or two (or ones I’ve taken from the plane for later), some pens and my husband’s Nintendo DS. Look at all the stuff in the bag and there is still room for more!

I love all the pockets and the wide bottom, too. It has fantastic metal zippers and accents, and the bottom is lined and has feet to keep it from getting dirty. Not only that, the shape of the bag makes it easy to see everything and remove items. The bag is stylish, comes in great colors (thank you to Eagle Creek for somehow knowing that red would go with every travel thing I own) and has wonderfully wide straps that are comfortable for carrying on your shoulder. There is even a removable longer, adjustable strap to carry it cross-body.

Keep all your travel docs and your passport in the front or back zippered pocket and then slip the bag onto your larger carry-on handle. To me, that is one of the best features that aren’t included in many boarding bags anymore. Being able to stack your bags is great for navigating through the airport and also frees up your arm for your baby, phone or latte!

Okay, so I tried some other combinations for this bag as well:

• I found you could easily use it for a work bag. Hello! A 17″ laptop fits in there! You have pockets in there for your cell phone, pens, paperwork and anything else you need for doing work on-the-go.
• Carry your scrapbooking project with you!
• Put a change of clothes, some shoes and toiletries in it and use it for an overnight or weekend bag. (You can even use it with Eagle Creek’s Pack-It™ system to pack more in there.)
• Keep your gym clothes, towel and blow dryer in it for workouts.
• Got a new baby? Cram this thing full of diapers, wipes, bottles, changing pad, toys and spare clothing! Mom and Dad look great carrying this bag and once you don’t need a baby bag anymore, it has so many more uses!

Now that you know about the awesomeness of this bag, let’s talk about specifics. With dimensions of 17.5″ x 12″ x 5.5″ this bag easily holds all your necessities and slides under the airplane seat with room to spare. You’ll look better carrying it, too (in MY opinion). It’s backed by Eagle Creek’s lifetime warranty. If your zippers break or the seams come undone, simply send it back to Eagle Creek to get it repaired or replaced by a similar product. See their website for repair information.

Eagle Creek uses the highest grade materials in their products, making them long-lasting and durable. So, not only will you love your bag (or other product), but you can be assured that it will travel with you as long as you are able to travel. It’s great for the environment (less rubbish in landfills) and also for your wallet, because this is the last bag you may ever need to buy. With that kind of guarantee, the $145 price tag doesn’t look so bad. Reduce your cost per use each time you use it over your lifetime!

What more can you say about this bag? Not much, but here are some things you might want to know as well:

What is this bag made of? 420D Helix™-e Tela, 420D Helix Stratus, 600D Helix™-e Astra, Satin (interior).
Available Colors: Black, Dove Stratus (silver) and Rio Red Stratus
Where can you buy it? Look on the Eagle Creek website, where you can also find retailers, both online and off here.

Disclosure: I received the Emerson bag from Eagle Creek in order to write this review, but the opinions are all 100% my own. Thank you again to Eagle Creek for allowing me to tell all my wonderful readers about this amazing bag. Want a review of your product? Find more information here.