Storing Clothes for Four Season Travel
This is a blog post that I have been excited to write for a long time as it’s one of the least talked about topics for extended travel: How to pick and pack clothes for four season travel. In this blog post I will be sharing some of the unique challenges of packing for four seasons and our long standing organizational strategy. I’ll also include our full packing list of clothes that we’ve been carrying since being on the road.
MAK with her stack of Eagle Creek packing cubes of seven years
Seven year old Eagle Creek cube on the left, new one on the right
This blog post was made in partnership with our friends over at Eagle Creek. We’ve been using Eagle Creek products proudly for nearly 8 years and are proud to have them as a sponsor.
The Unique Challenge
Packing clothes for four season travel was one of the most difficult things to prepare for when we started transitioning into life on the road. I remember sitting in my closet staring at my clothes, completely overwhelmed by the thought of having to fit my entire wardrobe into a space a little over one cubic foot in size. I would get completely overwhelmed, and leave. Resolving to figure it out another day…
"I want to live on the road, but I don't want to look like I live in car"
I started to wonder how I’d ever start the process of packing. Then I realized that practicing for the road was my best bet to thinking through this problem. So we started taking ourselves on short, weekend long, practice trips. On every single practice trip, the same thing happened. In a matter of a day, our clothes would explode out of the duffle bag and be everywhere. At it’s best, the explosion of clothes would leave us unsure of what was clean and what was dirty. At its worst, we’d lose articles of clothing all together.
That’s when I realized I needed to start with a strong organizational strategy, and then work backwards from there.
(Below is a video that we made four years ago that covers this topic in detail, to be honest not much has changed, so it is well worth a watch if this is a topic of interest to you)
Organization
My mother, a professional organizer, is always up on the latest and greatest in packing and all things organization. I posed the question to her:
“How do I know how much to pack? Then how in the world am I going to keep it organized!?”
She immediately said “Packing cubes from Eagle Creek should be perfect for you!”
Eagle Creek packing cubes come in a number of sizes, so I decided to work backwards to see what combination of packing cubes would best work in the space we set aside for storing our clothes. We had a little over two cubic feet, one for me, and one for Owen. After some quick measurements I decided on this arrangement which perfectly fit into our space:
4x Medium Pack-It™ Reveal Cubes (10” x 14.25” x 3.25” each): One for shorts, one for jeans, one for sweaters, one for shirts
2x Small Pack-It™ Reveal Cubes (7.25” x 10” x 3.25” each): One for underwear, one for socks
Once we had our organizational strategy down, the rest was just trial and error to get everything narrowed down into the above cubes. But I will circle back to that in the packing list section below.
Seven Years of Life in packing cubes
In the last seven years, we’ve used and loved the same set of Eagle Creek packing cubes that we’ve had since hitting the road. Not only have the bags stood the test of time, but so has the organizational strategy that we devised all those years ago! We’ve changed vehicles many times, we’ve done extensive away from vehicle travel, and the packing cubes have dutifully been with us every step of the way!
Our old closet in the Vanagon, circa 2016
An example of how our packing cubes were packed back in 2016
Now, as we’re transitioning into a new camper we decided it was time for an update to our Eagle Creek gear as they have understandably gotten some wear over the years. Though all of our packing cubes are very much still functional, a little update is nice every once in a while!
Small runs in the mesh of my 7 year old set of Eagle Creek Packing Cubes
Broken zipper
Folded zipper?! The bed came down on the zipper in our camper causing that
Since we purchased our packing cubes in 2016, Eagle Creek has made some incredible updates to the same cubes that we know and love. We love the new all mesh top making it easier than ever to find what you are looking for before you even open the bag!
MAK’s clothes switched over to her new Eagle Creek packing Cubes
Owen’s clothes switched over to her new Eagle Creek packing Cubes. Wonder who is the minimalist in the fam?!
For our new cubes we decided to use the Pack-It™ Reveal Expansion Cubes which allow you to expand the cube and effectively double the interior storage space. This is important to us because we can easily transition from vehicle travel to any other type without having to take so many packing cubes! A handy feature that makes these cubes even more versatile!
As always, we chose to color code our cubes. I got a color, and Owen got a different one to ensure that at a glance we could tell which belonged to who.
The Packing List
Now that we’ve gone through how we arrived at our old and new Eagle Creek packing cubes, let’s talk about what clothes we carry for four season travel, and why, starting with the full breakdown. I will share both my clothing list as well as Owen’s because I’m sure some of the men folk out there will be curious about what he carries:
Owen
Pants
Medium Pack-It™ Reveal Cube:
1x Jeans | 3x Hiking Pants | 1x Thermal | 1x Sweat Pants
Shorts
Medium Pack-It™ Reveal Cube:
5x Patagonia Baggies | 2x Buffs | 1x Beanie
Outerwear
Medium Pack-It™ Reveal Cube:
1x Sweater | 1x Jacket
Shirts
Medium Pack-It™ Reveal Cube:
3x Collared Shirts | 3x Hiking Long Sleeve Pullovers | 5x T-Shirts
Underwear
Small Pack-It™ Reveal Cube:
8x Underwear
Socks
Small Pack-It™ Reveal Cube:
6x Socks
Pillow Case
1x Hard Shell | 1x Puffy | 1x Windbreaker | 1x Light Jacket
MAK
Pants
Medium Pack-It™ Reveal Cube:
2x Jeans | 4x Hiking Pants | 1x “Nice” Pants | 1x Leggings
Shorts
Medium Pack-It™ Reveal Cube:
5x Athletic Shorts | 4x Casual Shorts | 2x Lounge Pants
Outerwear
Medium Pack-It™ Reveal Cube:
3x Sweaters | 2x Hiking Long Sleeve Pullover
Shirts
Medium Pack-It™ Reveal Cube:
2x Collared Shirts | 3x Long Sleeves | 6 Tank Tops | 7x T-shirts
Underwear
Small Pack-It™ Reveal Cube:
4x Bandanas | 7x Bras | 12x Underwear | 2x Buffs
Socks
Small Pack-It™ Reveal Cube:
6x Socks | 2x Gloves
Pillow Case
1x Hard Shell | 2x Puffy | 1x Windbreaker
Jackets stuffed into the pillow
Pillow in it's home on the couch
There is one exception to the above packing structure, and that is for outerwear. Though we do carry and use a Medium Reveal Cube for those articles of clothing, we often keep things that fall more into the sweater or layer category in that cube. For our rain jacket/hardshell, as well as our heavier jackets we keep them inside of our throw pillow cases. This is one of my favorite road life hacks. Instead of using a pillow form, stuff your pillow with off season clothing!
It helps us have easy access to these layers if need be, but it also frees up more space under our bed for other things!
The major school of thought that we subscribe to when it comes to packing for four seasons is versatility. Everything must serve multiple purposes! Because of that, a great deal of our wardrobe is made up of basics that can be mixed & matched, layered, dressed up or dressed down. The more use you can get out of an article of clothing, the better!
Conclusion
If you are doing any sort of travel it’s important to have a good organizational system. If you don't, your clothes will quickly feel like they’re taking over! Using Eagle Creek packing cubes is a system that has worked for us flawlessly for over seven years, and now it’s easier than ever to transition from one style of travel to another! I hope that you found this to be helpful! Maybe you can give it a try on your next road trip, camping expedition, or trip abroad. If you have any questions at all don't hesitate to reach out and ask, I'm an open book!
Thank you so much to our friends at Eagle Creek for helping us update our beloved packing cubes! It’s amazing how far you all have come over the years!
