The airport security line in Denver last month made me rethink my whole packing strategy

I was flying out of Denver last month and got stuck behind a family with like 8 carry-ons each. They were pulling out liquids and electronics for 20 minutes. That chaos got me thinking. Some people swear by packing cubes to keep everything organized for quick access. But I've always just stuffed everything in loose and rolled with it. The downside of cubes is you lose space and flexibility. The upside is you can grab your toiletries bag in 2 seconds flat. So which side are you on? Is the extra organization worth the space trade or am I missing something?

2 comments

2 Comments

sagelane1h ago

Honestly that family sounded like my worst nightmare but now I get why cubes beat loose packing.

christophermorgan58m ago

...and the thing is, I was totally on her side at first because cubes just look so much neater and you can actually find stuff. But then I spent an hour the other day trying to get a single cube to fit back into a perfectly packed bag (you know, the one where you swear it doesn't open anymore) and it made me question everything. I think my brain just prefers the organized chaos of loose packing because it feels less like a jigsaw puzzle and more like a Tetris game where I'm terrible at Tetris. Plus, cubes are great until you have to dig through three of them to find your phone charger, which is somehow always in the bottom one.