Monday, January 23, 2017

Packing Cube: Peace of Mind

Last July I blogged about my favorite travel item of all time, the Lewis N. Clark Pressure Reducing Ear Plugs. They work continually to reduce the pressure in my ears as the plane's altitude changes. I won't fly without them.

After coming across my blog post online, the company reached out to me and asked if I would like to try some of their other products. I selected a few that looked great and I will tell you about my experience using them.

The funny thing is that I have had an incredibly stressful year and I didn't use the products as I expect to, but I loved them just the same. I thought I was on-the-go a lot before, but my old schedule doesn't hold a candle to this last year. 

From April to December 2016, I flew to southeastern Michigan to sell 2 houses (my house and my mom's), pack-donate-store-ship the contents of 2 houses and make decisions on the new house we were building in Seattle. During those same months, my mom needed surgery twice and I found myself with stress fractures in my hips from the constant moving. 

By the last week in September, I was living in a Marriott for 3 days with my husband and my mother as we closed on our houses and waited for the car transport service to pick up our cars. The hotel rooms were brimming with clothes, dry cleaner bags and precious items we wanted to fly with us.  

I had cuttings of my beloved roses wrapped in wet newspaper lined up in mailing boxes on the hotel dresser. I had notes, paperwork, keys and stuff. By the time we were finished, there were 11 suitcases and 3 carry on. (yes, we did just send a truck out West and no, I don't know how this much stuff still remained!).

The night before we left, my mom came to me in the hotel room with a stack of her favorite sweaters. She hadn't packed them back at the house because she didn't want them to get crushed. 

I pulled out the magic Electrolight Expandable Packing Cube and handed it to her. It is a rectangle of whisper light fabric, rimmed with zippers that expand to allow the cube to accommodate even more. This travel cube is part mesh for breath-ability and smooth so there is no risk of snagging. My mom slide her sweaters into my neon yellow packing solution, zipped it shut and said, "that's perfect!" and handed it back to me. I found a place for it in the last bag and we were packed.

Do I love the idea of having a separate clean expandable pouch to pack my clothes in when I fly to Houston or take a road trip to Vancouver? Yes! Am I even happier when my mom can relax and have her concerns taken care of? Absolutely. 

Thank you, Lewis N. Clark, you did it again. 

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