Packing Cubes Pros & Cons

One of the the elements of travel that I have focused on the most, is reducing the items I carry. After a year or two of changes back in 2016, I was able to get down to only taking a single, 21L backpack on trips. Since I have an additional carry on bag for this year abroad, I wanted to test out new organizational methods for managing gear, and decided to try packing cubes.

At first, I was a big fan, and was looking forward to being able to grab all my charges out of my pack in a single fell swoop, rather than rummaging through it for a few minutes trying to find the needed cable. However, I soon discovered that while packing cubes provide more organization, that convenience comes at the cost of added spaces. Think about it like this–if you dump a bunch of differently sized objects into a bag, and shake it around, the items will naturally find a nested position which minimizes the amount of free space between each object. Add in packing cubes, and because the objects are now fewer and larger, there are less possible configurations they can take. This results in more space between the items due to the cubes limiting each objects freedom of movement.

While this seems obvious once you think about it, it is something that, I at least, did not realize until trying it out. I had actually initially thought that the extra organization and prohibited movement of items would free up more space. Perhaps with more experience, you could create some configuration where this is the case, but I certainly wasn't able to (despite packing and repacking every week for the month and a half of work in Japan this past summer). Despite being generally for lots of order and structure, this has made me realize that even on a personal level, such systems can sometimes be prohibiting.

What areas of your life could benefit from a bit more order, or perhaps a bit less?

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Photo is a matcha set at Tsuen Tea House in Uji, Japan. Located near Kyoto, the Uji area is renowned throughout Japan for its high-quality matcha tea. Tsuen happens to be the oldest tea house in the whole country, and very likely the whole world. It was founded in 1160, and the current building was erected in 1672. Visited while in the region doing independent research on the history of tea in Japan.