Packing tools for life on the road

I need to admit on the outset that I’m not really a road warrior in the consultant-life-on-the-road sense of the word.  My trip are usually fairly short, or I end up staying where I’ve gone for long periods of time.  But for the last five weeks I have been on the road visiting with churches and staying in people’s homes.  While staying in homes has many advantages one thing that it does not afford is the ability to unpack one’s bag. 

Not only am I no road warrior, I’m also probably the worst folder-of-shirts that can be imagined.  No matter how carefully I fold my things they’re a mess by the time I take them out of the suitcase.  Before this six-week tour I invested in a couple of things from Eagle Creek, the folks that make odds and ends for travel. Eagle Creek makes a number of various sized “folders” which help in folding shirts and packing them in such a way that they don’t get wrinkled, or at least don’t get wrinkled as much.  Their web page has illustrates the various sizes, but doesn’t illustrate how clever the design is.  Each folder has a fairly rigid plastic “folding board” of the type you might use if you worked for GAP or other clothing store.  The folding board has printed instructions on it that even someone like me can understand.  When used each shirt is folded to the same size and then can be placed in the folder, velcroed up and put in your bag.  Besides helping your clothes to say comparatively unwrinkled, they also make it very easy to sort through your things when you can’t unpack your suitcase.

I bought three, one for long-sleeved dress shirts, one for short-sleeved shirts and one for pants.  Packing and re-packing is a breeze.  If you can’t fold a shirt to save your life and you live out of a suitcase for periods of time these may be worth checking into.  I bought mine retail from an Outdoor Provision Company store I stumbled across.