Mary2e

Somone posted this link on FT a few years ago and I thought it would come in handy one day..

http://www.minimus.biz/default.aspx

It appears they carry just about everything in individual size packets.

Fornebufox

I've become a fan of the packing cubes, though for me the packing folders take up too much room. As a petite-ish woman who travels mostly with knits most of my clothing can fit folded or rolled in the various-sized packing cubes. It's easier to stay organized when traveling around, and when I do check a bag that the TSA opens and inspects, the organized contents don't get messed up as much (so far!).

Wish I could get the collection down to two shoe boxes!

mssgjones

Great thread, you have my vote for a sticky!

Pitbeagle, I am an Edge gel man too, and have found travel sizes of this, but I found a Gillette series gel in a 2.5 oz that is smaller in diameter than typical travel size shaving creams. The smaller diameter, and slightly taller height fit into the 1 qt bags better. Try drugstores like Walgreens, Rite Aid, CVS, etc.

Pat89339

I put it in a washcloth and into my bag. It is never wet enough to soak through and it adds a bit of fresh scent to the zipped up bag.

vesicle

I put the soap bar in a small zip lock bag.

Kiwi Flyer

Easy, albeit a bit wasteful. I have several mini-bars in my bag. Each time I leave behind whatever is wet but unused. If the bar is a bit big then I'll break it in half.

No mess, no fuss.

I have dozens of wipes that do NOT go into my kippie bag and has not been a problem in hundreds of flights since the liquids rules were introduced. Save space for the real liquids.

AdaQuonsett

yeah, minimus looks great

obscure2k

Listen to Kiwi Flyer He is definitely the voice of experience.

yamakake

Test tubes (to which I have easy access at work) are a great option: sturdy, marked as to volume, efficiently manufactured (so no bulky caps, etc. to take up space in your ziploc), cheap, and disposable. When I'm finished with them I can throw them away, but only do so if I need the space, as they hold up to repeated use quite well.

dcutcher

[QUOTE=I
Kip Hawley's silly TSA 3-1-1 rule is a real pain in the neck when it comes to carrying on your normal liquid toiletries. [QUOTE]

So THAT's who Kip Hawley is...

pitbeagle

I did a trial run with an Eagle Creek 18" folder and my el cheapo $99 department store polywool blazer. Its a size 44 regular blazer. Put the sleeves inside out (read that somewherez), folded it so it would fit more or less and stored it in my Air Boss for several days. Sleeves were wrinkled badly, back was wrinkled, front which was on the inside of the folds was OK.

I intend to try again, one of these days, and would appreciate any tips (other than buying a better blazer!).

I also packed two pair of Dockers and one pair of jeans into one 18" folder, that worked pretty well in terms of wrinkle prevention but bulked up pretty thick. I think an expert packer could do substantially better.

Back on the toiletries thing, I found a nice little plastic q-tip container at Target. IIRC it was the store brand. Good size for me, as I go thru 1-2 of them every day and can't stand not having them.

tangoll

For those who need to pack a lot of clothing and other fluffy stuff and don't mind a bit of wrinkling, those sealable bags (mostly from Japan) where you can suck the air out with a vacuum cleaner, will reduce the packed volume by about 50%. This works if you are bringing a lot of stuff from your home location to say a vacation home and then leaving the stuff there. Of course, weight then becomes a factor, especially if you are only doing a carry on, and the sealed package has lumps in many places and does not come out in a nice square or rectangular shape.

I don't know if these sealable bags are available in the US, but they are readily available in Asia and with even a small canister vacuum cleaner, they work quite well.

aktchi

For luggage, I prefer the Red Oxx Air Boss as well as B&R 235X. (Red Oxx have brought out a new convertible called Sky Train which looks interesting but I don't have experience with it.) I also have a "day pack".

To organize clothes, I use zip lock bags I get at Target and a few "space bags" I got at clearance somewhere.

Haven't found a good solution to organizing gadgets: cell phones, cameras, chargers, adapter plugs and like. Still looking for ideas.

For toiletries, I have stopped struggling with air-travel restrictions. The whole thing is so stupid.

Anyway, I don't need shampoo or my own soap on the plane or in the airports. Therefore, other than the most basic stuff like comb, a disposable razor, tooth-brush/paste and deodorant, stuff I might actually use in a plane or an airport, I tend to buy everything at my destination. Yes it is extra trouble and expense, but overall works for my circumstances.

bcrdukes

Do any of you folks have experience in packing hair gel? I go on very short trips at one or two days most but when it comes to carry-on travel, we're limited to 100ml of liquids. This is difficult to confine to since hair gel obvioiusly doesn't come in < 100ml.

Mary2e

I purchased a small container and I just squeeze hair gel into it.