Crowdsourced Travel Hacks

The beautiful thing about carry is that it’s completely individualistic based on your own style and taste. We came across this fantastic article on Quora that totals approximately 76 pages of travel hacks. Fear not, we’ve highlighted some of our favorites as they pertain to carry plus a few we couldn’t help but share!

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Pack Systems:

Rollin’, rollin’ rollin’: We were directed to this YouTube video courtesy of Sarah Chang. We’ve all seen the standard sausage roll attempt on shirts but watching one man stuff an entire carry-on with a few weeks’ worth of clothes…kudos, sir, kudos. I’ve always wanted to try the “criss-cross” approach; now it looks like I’ll have to!

Tried, true and wrinkle-free: It was clear that the Eagle Creek folders have become many a traveler’s friend. I have a pair and can attest to their ability to keep shirts and pants nearly wrinkle-free. Not to mention the space they save.

Make a list, check it twice: Thomas Snerdley had a fantastic suggestion for the consummate overpacker. As you pack, make a list on your phone. When you’re bored (i.e. on a bus or plane), go through and put a + next to the items you actually used. Now you have the list of items you actually use. This is definitely going to become standard operating procedure for me for any trip, be it camping, travel or a weekend away!

Ziploc’d and organized: Shannon Holman swears by using gallon Ziploc bags to keep her backpack organized between t-shirts, underwear, electronics, documents and of course a spare one or two for dirty clothes.

Half and half part one: Speaking of Ziploc bags, Sue Ward uses a couple of ingenious hacks when traveling with her children (especially when they were really young): pack an entire outfit from pants, top, underwear and socks into a Ziploc bag. That way you can see what’s been worn, what’s still clean and easily hunt for a particular piece of clothing.

Half and half part two: It should be clear by now that one of the worst enemies of travel is overpacking. A simple trick to overcome this is to take everything that you want out and put away half of what you think you need. The result: just the bare necessities.

Good tips and tricks

Assigned seats: Should you travel with a friend, Stefanie Wauk suggested you book the aisle and window, thereby leaving the middle seat empty. Usually it’ll stay that way (score!) or worse case, you can easily switch to sit next to your friend. Traveling with the girlfriend will never be the same.

Lead by following: When traveling to a new place, observe the flight crew to see which monorail car will get you out of the airport the fastest. Bonus tip from Andy Cheung: you can siphon free Wi-Fi by seating yourself near first class lounges as the networks are often unprotected.

The beer index: While you were taught never to judge a book by its cover, Joe Guilmette learned the hard way that you can judge the cost of a restaurant by the price of the beer on the menu. Proof that beer does your wallet AND your body good.

Plug it in: James Rickert has my vote for my clever hack: a socketplug that can plug into any standard Edison socket to charge your electronics. You’re welcome.

“Fragile” luggage: Should you have to check your bag, marking it as fragile will mean that your bag gets put on top. Bags put in last are the first to reach the baggage claim. Sneaky hat tip to Dave Cheng.

Online goes offline: Just in case you have your phone but opt not to do the roaming or local plans, take screenshots of where you want to go while you’re on Wi-Fi. Conversely, you can use Google Maps’ secret offline capability to download the maps to your phone so you can use it. Simply zoom into the area you want and type “okay maps”. Something I always forget to do but now that I have my packing list, it can be added to that! Kartik Ayyar also suggests “starring” places of interest since you can’t search when offline and taking screenshots of searches when you are online (for example via hotel Wi-Fi) and using them as route guides.

Passport lines: Andy Katzman has a tip for passport lines, try to choose a line that is near a closed line because if the closed line opens you can speed right up. It helps to look and see if some customs officials are milling about near the closed lines.

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What are we missing? We know our savvy Carryology readers have a few cards up their sleeve. Let’s hear them!