I wish had pictures to illustrate this post, but I was unable to take any in the frenzy that was packing for me. I had to pack up my entire room last Saturday (5/5) in about two hours mostly due to procrastination and terrible check-out times. I managed to fit my entire room into my sedan.

Here’s what I learned on my 1,200 mile drive:


  • Pack the largest, most solid items first into your car. For me, it was the former housing of a oscilloscope, a large trunk. Everything inside the trunk was not collapsible (mostly books).


  • Pack clothes last. You’ll need to do laundry once you get home anyway, don’t worry about making clean clothes dirty by packing them around the solids. Or…


  • Vacuum-pack your clothes. By a rough estimate, vacuum-packing reduces your clothes to 1/3 their original size. They will be more wrinkly than your feet after a long bath, though.


  • Use pillowcases as protectors. My pillow supplements became monitor guardians.


  • Remember to keep your tools accessible. Just in case…


  • Eliminate squeaks with clothes. Any plastic-vinyl or plastic-leather interaction produces annoying squeaks. Recognize this while packing so you don’t have to unload have your car at a rest stop to find that frustrating squeak.


Or, you could try using Amtrak to travel home cheap. Their policies allow a lot of extra baggage for only $10 each.

Happy packing for those who are driving home soon. Don’t forget to use Trippish and please drive safely.