Being on the go constantly is a staple of the infantry. We move sometimes days at a time with little to no breaks. Those breaks we do have are brief and more for weapon care, communications checks and hygiene rather than actual breaks.
A ‘break’ shown here to prevent heat stroke
Every soldier carries several days’ worth of equipment. This includes food, water, ammunition, and spare clothes. It becomes imperative to store your equipment in an efficient manner so that you can still maneuver and get to your things while on these ‘breaks.’
This efficient packing train of thought has carried over to civilian life greatly as commercial air flight has become a common thing. Seeing people with dollies loaded down with suitcases of clothes for a three day trip makes me cringe. I have all my necessities neatly tucked away and easy to access in a single midsize suitcase that could last a week if it needed to.
They said I’d be gone for almost 2 days so I panicked and brought everything
The first trick is to roll your clothes. There is the benefit of keeping your clothes tight and compact and in doing so it reduces wrinkles so your clothes are ready to be worn right out of the suitcase.
Step One: Lay your shirt out flat pressing out wrinkles
Step Two: Fold the sleeves inward
Step Three: Fold the shirt into quarters by folding the outsides to the middle and then folding in half
Step Four: Flip the shirt around so that the top of it is now towards you
Step Five: Begin rolling the shirt up tightly, pulling out any wrinkles along the way
Step Six: Once you reach the end you should see all the sleeves together, grab the outermost and pull it back around the rest of the shirt
Step Seven: The shirt can now be packed away. In order to open it, grab the loose fabric openings and pull. The shirt will pop open and be ready for wear.
This alone will cut down on the size of your suitcase. The same can be done for long-sleeve shirts pants are generally the same as well (uses the ankle openings instead).
Shirts can even be rolled into pants and a pair of socks tucked in to make each little bundle a days’ worth of clothes.
The next best thing to do is to write out a list of everything you will be doing and each item you will absolutely need in one column and things that would be nice in another column. Then pack all of the necessities and with the room left over prioritize the other items. This will cut down on the frivolous things that you pack and lessen chances of loosing things that you didn’t need to bring anyways.
Do you now? Care to extrapolate?
For information on being a smarter traveler check out Nomadic Matt