Not many packing cubes can last two decades with minimal wear, but that’s exactly why tourism marketing consultant Audrey Scott hasn’t upgraded her go-to organizational packing essential after 20 years traveling the world. Her favorite cubes hit her packing pain points: they’re practical, easy to use, and most importantly, built to last.
Scott and Daniel Noll, her fellow co-founder and husband, started using Eagle Creek packing cubes at the very beginning of their travels. 20 years later, her original cubes are still going strong, while the Pack-It Reveal Cube Set linked here is the brand’s current offering. “My husband and I both started using them from the first day that we were traveling on our round-the-world journey,” she says.
“I think we went to REI and someone had recommended packing cubes and Eagle Creek was what we found there, and that's kind of how we got started with them.”
Scott’s main reason for relying on the cubes after all these years is to make things easier to grab. “The reason why I love them is it just helps [me] organize—it sounds very boring—but organization of clothes and kind of everything that you're carrying in these cubes.”
“That way anytime you're either unpacking or packing, you know where things are.”
Unpacking, minus the mess
Instead of frantically pulling all her items out of her bag to find the one specific thing she needs, the cubes keep her on track and everything in place. “I have a small cube that I always use for, like, underwear and stuff,” Scott says. “I have a large or medium cube that I always use for hiking gear.”
And once she opens up her backpack or suitcase, the organization is satisfying. “When you open it up it's like, okay, there are my toiletries, there's my underwear, there's my professional clothes, there's my casual or hiking clothes,” she says.
“I find it easier to pack, unpack. I know where everything is, I know where everything goes, so I don't have to think. It kind of becomes automatic.”
20 years of durability
After two decades of use, the wear is surprisingly minimal and it makes perfect sense why Scott still relies on them to this day.
With anything that has a zipper, there’s always that chance that they won’t glide as seamlessly as the years go by, but not with these packing cubes. “We just used them a couple weeks ago on a cycling trip we took in northern Germany and it was like, yeah, they're still working,” she says. “They're still pretty smooth.”
“The outside's still intact,” she says, however, “there's one out of four that at the bottom it looks like it's beginning to not necessarily fray, but it's almost like it had a coating on it that's beginning to come off.”
“That's the only thing so far. But, you know, I can't complain after almost 20 years.”
Making the most of the space
To get as much as she can into her cubes, Scott uses a combination of rolling and folding flexible essentials like her clothes. “I usually roll shirts and tops and light things,” she says. “For pants or sport coats, I usually fold them on top.”
“It's like the bottom layer is all rolled and then the pants or sport coat or, let's say, maybe a more fancy top or something like that, that's folded on top. So it's kind of those two levels.”
When packing a suitcase, she typically sticks to “two medium cubes and one small cube,” while her hiking backpack gets three cubes.
“I've also used them for hiking trips,” Scott says. “I'll have one cube that'll have more winter gear, like hats and gloves or whatever. I'll have another cube with the everyday shirts and the basic stuff. [Then] I'll have another cube with a combination of toiletries and underwear.”
For both setups, if she’s not able to do laundry in between, she says, “if we're not doing wash, I would say about a week[‘s]” worth of clothes.
Compact, but not a compression cube
A lot of packing cubes nowadays focus on the idea of compression so you can pack even more than usual, but Scott says these aren’t those kinds of cubes.
“They do have options that are more compression,” she says. “The ones that I have are not officially compression. But that said, when you shove them into the suitcase, it does feel like they compress. Like, you kind of—it goes down.”
Scott jokes that you do need to be mindful of what all that squishing can do though. “Which is sometimes dangerous because then you just kind of keep piling stuff on top,” she says. “And then all of a sudden your bag is heavier than you expected.”
Sticking with what works
Scott says, “I feel like over the years I've become like an evangelical for Eagle Creek.”
“I haven't tested any other brands,” she says. “I just have only used Eagle Creek.” And after 20 years of reliability, it’s clear why she stays loyal.
“There's similar products out there, but I can't vouch for them,” she says. At this point, these cubes aren’t simply a smart packing tip, they’re ingrained in her travel routine.
