Hi, I’m Ana and I am a notorious over-packer. Whether I am going away for an overnight trip, long weekend, or an eight-day getaway, I always pack way more than I need. Even though I make a detailed list of what to pack for while I am away, I always find myself adding extra stfuff to my suitcase at the last minute.
My friends have made fun of me for years after they found my checklist for a 10-day trip and saw I had planned to pack “20 pairs of underwear.” I don’t go through that much in 10 days, but you never know. It should go without saying that I’ve paid many an overweight baggage fee. But this time, I was determined not to pay extra for my suitcase for my trip to Disney, and TRTL’s new Packing Pods saved the day.
TRTL recently released their Packing Pods, which come in a set of three for $80. The pods aren’t like typical packing cubes; I’d describe them more like bags, which makes sense since you can attach a strap to each pod to turn it into a standalone day bag. The set includes three sizes: large (15"x8"), medium (12"x6), and small (9"x4"). When I first saw that a large was only 15", I assumed that these pods would be way too tiny to hold all the crap I pack for vacation. I was blessedly wrong.
I like to sort my clothes each night of a trip, to prepare for the next day. I decided to put my pants and tank tops in the large pod, shirts in the medium pod, and underwear and socks in the small pod. I felt like it would be easiest to grab one thing from each pod every day, instead of three to four items from one. Everything fit just right in the small pod, with room to also add a pair of sleep shorts in there as well. The medium pod also proved to be the right size for my themed shirts for my Disney trip. But I was skeptical that the large pod would be big enough for my bulky jeans. But lo and behold, it fit three pairs of jeans, three pairs of workout leggings, and four tank tops with ease.
Because I was trying to fit my clothing inside of the pods, it helped me cut down on the items I was actually packing inside. Did I really need three spare shirts, in case I was picky? When I looked at how everything was folded and stored neatly inside the medium pod, I decided that I did not need the spare clothing. I really only needed clothing for each day I was away and that was that.
With my daily essentials compressed inside each pod, I found I had more room in my suitcase for everything that wasn’t going in a pod, like my sneakers, makeup bag, and over-the-door travel organizer. By the time I finished packing, my suitcase zipped up with me even having to sit on top of it. Magic!
While I didn’t end up using the Packing Pods’ most unique feature, I find it incredibly cool that they can hang from a hook or clothes rack via the adjustable straps. I didn’t end up using this feature on my Disney trip because I was sharing a room, but it’s basically the perfect middle ground between painstakingly hanging every piece of clothing, and rifling through a suitcase for a new, wrinkled outfit every morning.