These packing cubes are like a clown car or Tardis - I swear they are bigger on the inside than the outside. I was worried that they would just add bulk, but they not only pack more stuff in, they make packing easier and fun. I never leave home without them.

I remember the first business trip I went on with my boss. It was a 4-day trip, and I had a giant check-only wheelie and a briefcase. My boss had a lightly packed wardrobe which wouldn’t have gotten a second look as a carry on, plus a briefcase.

He knew I was wet under the ears, so he set me straight on the importance of never checking luggage. I mean never checking luggage. A savvy air traveler just never does it. Its unnecessary, and its time consuming. It’s also risky - not only losing your luggage, but even having it delayed can be a massive hassle.

It is such religion, there are even circumstances where checking luggage would actually make life a little bit easier, but we won’t. We can’t. It’s wrong. Because never checking luggage is all about control.

I was totally confused about how he could achieve this, especially when we needed to pack suits and shoes. Ever since that day, I have honed my packing skills significantly to the point where I live out of a ‘guaranteed’ carry-on roller no matter what the itinerary. This is no small feat, as I am a big guy with big clothes, and I have very little tolerance for wearing clothes twice without washing.

The goal is that my carry-on pretty much always contains, at most, the following:

1. Bathroom kit: razor, advil , shaving cream, toothbrush, toothpaste, antiperspirant , and a hairbrush
2. 6 T-shirts, 6 Boxers, 6 Pair Socks, 2 Collared shirts, 4 Pair pants.

And thats it. On the plane, I wear a t-shirt, collared shirt, and usually a sweater or sweatshirt.

Recently I purchased some packing cubes, which are just magical. They are a set of 3 nylon square shaped bags, which are designed to all fit perfectly together in a standard carry-on roller. It is *amazing* how much stuff you can pack into these cubes, and how easily. They are also pretty cheap. I have only traveled with them once so far, but will never travel without them again.

Another big advantage of the packing cubes are that if you need to pull something out of the cubes, you only have to open that one cube, leaving the rest of the cubes intact. It is also much easier to repack a single cube than to repack a portion of a full carry-on.

In addition to the carry-on, I carry a black backpack with a sleeve that slips over the roller-handle. I always carry a backpack for a briefcase, as it is far more versatile and I can carry it with both hands completely free without a briefcase flapping on my hip and bumping into other people. Also, when you are on a trip you can use the backpack for weekend sightseeing. Upon your return trip, you usually have overflow - you can stuff the hell out of a good backpack.

In the backpack, I usually pack the following:

1. Dell XPS 1330 Notebook and charger.
2. Blackberry USB cable (for tethered EVDO broadband to the laptop and charging)
3. Canon SD870 IS digital camera (with spare battery and charger)
4. An Apple Airport Expresswireless access point (for when I visit hotels and homes with wired but no wireless internet access).
5. A short ethernet cable(some hotels charge you for one)

The backpack easily slides over the extended carry-on handle. Since the carry-on is ‘guaranteed’ spec, I never have to worry about it getting checked. I can roll the whole kit with one hand, and it stands alone easily.