A woman who has spent three years travelling the world says she’s found the best method to maximise suitcase space – and it’s not packing cubes. While many people swear by packing cubes, the adventurer has found another method she prefers.
Posting on TikTok as @annabellekateee, the travel fan shared her tried-and-tested tips. Captioning a post that’s been viewed more than two million times, Annabelle Kate wrote: “After 3 years of travelling around the world, I’ve found the best way to fit everything in your case! The key is to keep everything as flat as possible. Throw away your packing cubes!”
She also shared a demonstration. In her video, Annabelle Kate explained: “By keeping everything flat, you can fit so much more in your case. And of course, your clothes don’t get creased or wrinkled.”
Using this method, she was able to pack a range of outfits into a standard-size suitcase, including formalwear, beachwear, swimwear, and more. The video gained 80,000 likes and hundreds of comments from viewers who debated the pros and cons of their favourite packing methods.
For example, one response read: “Been packing flat for years. It’s the only way! And then I roll the really light things to fill in the borders,” but another social media user said: “I like cubes because I take the cube out of my suitcase and straight into hotel drawers, easy peasy.”
A different comment said: “Girl, I cannot live without my packing cubes.” Annabelle Kate replied: “They rip easily. Anddd you have to open them all just to find where your other sock is.” In response, another viewer said: “Well no! The reason I use the cubes is to organise them so I know which one I need to pull out and don’t need to unpack the whole suitcase to find something.”
Elsewhere, someone who agreed with Annabelle Kate commented: “Been packing this way for years, as it means no creases.” A viewer replied: “I don’t get creases when I use packing cubes.”
The commenter responded: “The cubes are OK for jeans, T-shirts and underwear, but I pack longer dresses. I tried using a cube and had to iron them all once I got there,” but the viewer offered a compromise. They added: “My last trip was two weeks in Japan.
“The clothing I packed was all business, business casual or dress clothing.. we moved locations 5 times and the clothing lived in the cubes, since unpacking at each place was unrealistic and Japanese hotels don’t have the room for that anyway. No ironing needed to be done with the method I use. Pack the clothing in the same lay flat method just inside packing cubes.”