I just ordered the Rick Steves convertible carryone luggage. It has no wheels, converts to a backpack with straps that tuck away, and is 22". We plan to take only carry-ons for our month trip to Europe next May.

The reviews I read were (mostly) all great. Some users recommend using packing cubes to organize.

Anyone have experience with them? I thrive on organization and think they would be useful for me. I also tend to buy the latest, greatest things in that category, so don't want to waste my money if I don't really need them.

I found the packing cubes to be wonderful. I have a pac similiar to the one you purchased, mine in Jansport Euro Sac. I purchased the cubes from www.campmor.com and it was like they where made for it. We also did Eurpoe for 1 month.

In the med. cubes, I rolled shirts into one, pants/shorts into another. ( I bought the med and small size, found the lg, to big for my needs). In the small ones, undies and socks. I used another small one for misc. electronics. It was great, just pull out cube and it is all there. It also keeps things from sliding around in your pac, especially if you are using it as a backpack.

Since you "thrive on organization" you will wonder what you ever did without them. I did.

I also used a smaller backpack for the little things to keep down by our feet. And packed an extra bag for things purchased along the way. That came in very handy also.

Agree with shangrila. My husband and my experience on our almost month-long trip to Australia and Papua New Guinea is almost identical, except we purchased the Rick Steves convertible carryons, like you have. Also bought Rick Steves' mesh cubes and found them half the weight of some I'd purchased last year from Magellans.

Used all three sizes. Even "stuff" for the cameras--batteries, video tapes, chargers, and so on, went into one of the cubes after bagging individually in ziplocks. Same with bathroom gear.

Was wonderful to just reach into the backpacks for what we wanted.

Some rather fragile souvenirs were held firmly and securely in place in one of the cubes for the rest of the trip and on the journey home.

Also like shangrila, we took along a daypack (Rick Steves' Civita). Most useful.

Thanks for your replies! I am definitely going to get the packing cubes.

I'm going round and round about a daily bag. I've come close to ordering the Pacsafe Metrosafe 200, but then I discovered it doesn't have card slots.

evecolorado, what do you like about the Civita? What do you dislike? And how many cubes fit into the Rick Steves convertible?

shangrila, what kind of extra bag did you use for purchases?

I'm not a packing cube packer. My theory is it's just more weight in your suitcase & nothing truly useful. I'd rather take a couple extra shirts.

I do use ziplock baggies in various sizes to organize loose stuff, and make little packets of clean undies or socks.

I think it also depends how many times you'll be packing and unpacking. They might come in handy if you're changing hotels and locations every few days.

For me, most often, I go only one place and unpack just once... so never really saw the need.

We'll be traveling for a month in Europe and changing places every week, sometimes less than a week.

I've used the Ziploc method, too, but I find them so slippery!

I'll probably use a combination of the two methods.

FTC.. I went all out and purchased a Target gym bag for about $25 and used that. It is a typical gym bag. It worked great, and best of all held up great, ready for the next trip.

As for the backpack, just my plain old Jansport that has been everywhere with me. I like the best since there is only 2 compartments and I don't look like I have OCD looking for something. Sometimes less is more.

Suze I don't know which packing cubes you checked out, but the ones I have are mesh all around with nylon on top and bottom, weighing a mere...nothing. Plus like FTC mentioned, the ziplocs get a bit slippery and things slide all over the place when you use your suitcase in the backpack mode. In all honesty, I do use both, maybe there is a little of that OCD in me gt;

I have a couple of packing cubes that I use for socks, underwear and smaller items. They are super lightweight and help me stay organized through longer trips. I definitely recommend them. I believe mine are the Eagle Creek brand. I bought them at a local store.

I use packing cubes all the time. It is more than just the organization; if you use them right, they will give you extra space, as well. Just don't be timid. Get ones that are good quality (Eagle Creek makes nice ones) and then just overstuff them. When you zip you will find you cut the volume up to half.

fieldtripcoordinator: We could've packed two big, two medium and two small cubes in one backpack; however, we wanted to leave room in each for souvenirs, so took individual backpacks with one of each size cube in them. We had plenty of room.

At the start of the trip my pack, fully loaded, weighed 10 lbs and my husband's weighed 12 lbs. They were comfortable to wear on the back, and easy to carry when we used them in their suitcase style for carrying on the plane.

The Civita is light, has a nice feel to it, holds an enormous amount, is comfortable to wear, and takes up very little room when empty.

I've used the packing cubes, but I went back to the 2 1/2 gallon & 1 gallon size Ziplocks.

I like being able to sort clothes by complete outfits for each day with underwear and socks. It'a also much easier for my DH to find his cycling clothes when I have put together a whole kit in one ziplock for him.
Then the dirty clothes are put together for the laundry.

In fact my husband who is the most disorganized packer asked on our last trip if I had done his clothes yet because he had come to really like the system.

We've been doing this for our 3 weeks of following the Tour de France for several years and the ziplocks have always worked very well for us.

We purchased mesh packing cubes from Magellan's and used them to separate socks/undies, tops, make-up, dirty items, etc. It beats digging to the bottom of one's suitcase looking for the mate to that sock, when all you want to do is dress and hit the strasse! They weren't cheap, but I"m really glad we bought them. They saved lots of morning prep time and frustration.

I used the Stves packing cubes for the first time on my last trip -- 2 weeks in Italy. I use the Steves 22' or so carry-on roller bag.

I will definitely take the cubes from now on. They were also the light mesh ones--weighed almost zilch (that had also been my objection previously to taking them--more optional weight). It was wonderful to have my bag so organized! I also put things together but was able to grab a shirt from one, pants from the other, and undies in the third. I use zip locks for the toiletries and also use vacuum bag or two for the larger items.