Vacuum bag packing , what do I need to know ?
 

In my search to get lighter checked luggage , I see l may have to get ones that are a little less than the 62 inch limit ,

And then I thought about vacuum bagging some of the stuff to get more space ..

So what do I have to think about ? What should not be vacuum bagged ?

And how do you vacuum it on the way home ? Half of what I take with me is gifts , stuffed toys for the kids , tools or stuff from Amazon , so that stuff stays and I buy junk that I like to bring back :)

Thanks for your ideas.


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Vacuum bagging usually helps fit more into the suitcase which can increase the total weight. Have you tried the old trick of expanding a suitcase expansion gusset, packing with squishy items on top, then zipping up the gusset?

I usually find something vacuum sealed to be a lot more rigid and stacking them can result in a bit of lost space due to weird shapes. A sandwich of vacuum bag, packing cubes with clothing, and vacuum bag on top might be a little more space efficient?

chx1975 also posted about this electronic vacuum pump which seems to really deflate the bag a lot https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trav...-mini-bar.html Ziplock or some similar brand use to make a manual hand pump vacuum similar to a wine pump which could be used with "vacuum seal" bags. There's still knockoffs of that being sold. You can also use the water displacement method if you have access to a bath tub and not a vacuum (or sit on it/suck with the roll type ones) https://anovaculinary.com/sous-vide-...cement-method/ 100 yen stores like Daiso often carry manual vacuum seal bags (without the plastic connector for the vacuum hose) but most don't have a pressure valve at the bottom of the bag to let the air out. Eagle Creek models do have the valve which makes it less fiddly.

Not that this answers your question very well, but, I used to use a variety of vacuum bags (I've tried several from cheap to way too expensive for what amounts to a giant ziploc) and in the end I just let them all go. The bags, even the pricier ones, never really seemed to last more than a few international flights before developing small holes or leaks that defeat the purpose. In the end, I've found I do much better using light weight packing cubes (Eagle Creek) than I ever did with vacuum bags for travel. Now, we do use them still around the home for storing pillows and bedding and such, but no longer for travel.

In reality, the best thing I ever did was get over the "I must have all this stuff" mentality and cut my packing list down to what I actually used on trips, invested in lighter and layerable clothing, etc. I started learning about minimalist packing and while I admire those people who actually can go for a month with 2 pairs of pants and 2 pairs of underwear, that's not me. But I can go for two weeks out of a 25" spinner and still have plenty of room left over for gifts and such bought on my travels.

I used the Aroo for a ski trip and it worked flawlessly. It's so simple, but we compressed 2+ bags of ski gear into less than one. To echo the previous posts, remember that it obviously does not reduce the weight of the bag (and, to the PP point, often increases the weight because of more stuff). That said, the Aroo is ridiculously simple but totally effective.

I've used them before when I was hauling some pillows. They are only useful if you have a lot of fluffy stuff to transport and now with bags limited to 50# our largest suitcases are almost unusable because they'll hit the weight limit before filling up.

Also, what happens if customs wants a look??? (When we did it the only place we would hit customs was our final destination and the pillows weren't coming home. This was before TSA.)

Thanks for your replies ,

I am trying to put the same 50 pounds of stuff in a maybe 10-20 percent smaller suitcase ,
One thing I do not understand is once you open the vacuum bag , does the teddy bear , big fluffy winter coat , pillow etc get back to it's normal size and texture in a few minutes or does it "damage" the the internal "spring" of the item ?

I've never had trouble with things returning to normal. Make sure there's nothing in it that could be damaged, though. Zippers are fine, a zipper that's folded over is quite another matter.

Vacuum bags just take out the air. Replace the air and it goes back to normal. Though perhaps I wouldn't put a teddy bear in one as the filling can be different.

For travel I use roll-ups. For home, I use ones that require a vacuum.