Careful wardrobe planning is the foundation of an efficiently packed bag. You'll get the most mileage from your selections if you stick to solid, neutral colors that you can mix and match. Keep prints and wacky colors to a minimum.
You may want to leave linen garments at home--unless you plan to spend a good part of your trip ironing. Obviously, it's best to stick to fabrics that won't wrinkle.
If your luggage barely holds the clothes you think you'll need, consider wearing your bulkiest shoes and clothes, so you won't have to squeeze them into your luggage. Carry your umbrella, coat, camera, and reading material outside your luggage. The airlines don't count these items as carry-ons, so you can tote them without forfeiting luggage space. Some carry-on bags, such as the Travelpro Rollaboard, feature a metal hook for items like these.
A Peck of Packing Tips
Pack your bag so it can be easily repacked. If you're pulled aside for a hand search of your luggage, you don't want your underwear flying into the air as if from a jack-in-the-box.
Leave gifts unwrapped or security officers will likely unwrap them.
If you can, use a top-loading bag with a frame. The shape of a top-loader lets stacked clothes stay stacked, keeping them neat. Unfortunately, top-loaders are expensive.
Pack your bags on a hard surface. This will help you to fill corners and distribute the weight of your belongings evenly throughout the bag.
Fold shirts below the waist. If they crease in transit, you can tuck the wrinkles away
Turn jackets or blazers inside out before you pack them.
To avoid wrinkles, wrap your clothes in plastic. Lie down a big plastic bag from the dry-cleaners, then lay down a folded garment on top of it. Fold or roll the plastic bag so it's encasing the garment. Do this with all of your clothes and put them in your suitcase so two garments are never touching; there's always a layer of plastic between them. Or, fold your garments around a large piece of tissue paper and put the folded garments into plastic bags.
If you don't have plastic or tissue paper, fold your clothes in overlapping layers, so they cushion each other. For instance, lay pants on the bottom of the suitcase. Place the top half of a sweater over the top of the pants. Fold the bottom half of the pants over the sweater, and the bottom half of the sweater over the pants.
If you can live with a few minor wrinkles, roll your clothes. You'll be able to pack them much tighter, and they will not crease.
Bring wrinkle-free clothing. Tilley (tel. 800/363-8737; www.tilley.com) and TravelSmith (tel. 800/950-1600; www.travelsmith.com) are two companies who cater to this market. Image advisor Eve Roth of Savvy Style, who travels frequently between Hong Kong and the U.S. on business, says women should check out TravelSmith's "Indispensable Black Travel Dress"--it's comfortable and resists wrinkles.
Seal toiletries in resealable plastic bags. Don't fill liquid bottles to capacity, or they'll be more likely to leak. Fill them partially and squeeze out the excess air before you close them, which will create a vacuum seal.
Pack accessories on the sides. Put your socks in your shoes, and your shoes in a plastic bag. Pack underwear and scarves in plastic bags as well. Put shoes on the bottom or edges of your suitcase--never put the weight of shoes on top of your clothes. Place toiletries on the top edge of your suitcase, near the handle.
If your suitcase isn't very full, consider stuffing in a few towels to fill up space and prevent contents from shifting.
If you run out of space, zip your suitcase and drop it on the floor. Repeat this until the contents settle and free up space.
If you absolutely must have neatly pressed clothing for your trip, consider purchasing a travel iron. Travel Smart makes a 1 1/2-pound model with a retractable handle that folds flat and packs easily. It's available from Magellans for $36.85 (tel. 800/962-4943; www.magellans.com).
Keeping Your Bag Secure
If you really want to seal your bags, try shrink-wrapping them. Kiosks in the international terminals at Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose and in Terminal 8 of New York's JFK airport offer a service whereby your bags are sealed in up to eight layers of cling wrap, with holes cut for handles and wheels. Wrapping costs $6 for most suitcases (but $10-$15 in Los Angeles). The plastic sticks to itself like Saran Wrap and protects hard-sided bags from scratches, dirt, and bursting in transit--not to mention from prying fingers.
Travelers who aren't using the above airports can wrap bags themselves. Buy industrial stretch film from a packaging store, a moving company, or an online shop such as PackagingPrice (tel. 888/236-1729; www.packagingprice.com). In theory, you could even use Saran Wrap, but industrial stretch film is much cheaper in large quantities. Beware that all of your luggage-wrapping efforts will be for naught if a security official decides to pull you out of the line to peer into your bag. Also, stretch wrap isn't exactly environmentally friendly.
Plastic film will only protect hard-sided luggage. Duffel or backpack owners can wrap their bags in steel mesh provided by Pac-Safe (tel. 800/873-9415; www.pac-safe.com). The reusable, $50 to $70 bag security kits are knife-proof and let you lock your bag to stationary objects while you sleep or go to the bathroom.