Our Secret Minimalist Packing Trick: Traveling With Straps and Paracord

What's the secret to minimalist packing? Maximizing the space in your bag by using straps and paracord, the stealthy workhorses of the travel world. 

This post was originally sponsored by Strapworks.com, a proud blog partner and we thank them for their support. Some links within this blog post are affiliate links, which means we are paid a small commission should you make a purchase through said link.

This humble black strap is secretly a travel workhorse.

Five shirts  - never four, never six - some brightly colored packing cubes, a couple of hot chocolate sachets... You probably know my minimalist packing list as well as I do! But there are a few items among my otherwise discerning selection of gear that may just catch you by surprise. One of them is a stick of menthol body glide. It keeps blisters and chaffed skin at bay. Another random addition is the handful of colorful pens I always toss in my purse at the very last minute. After all, you can't have ill-coordinated lists, even when traveling! And the most unexpected item of all? Rope.

Yes, this light packing, anti-adventurist gal carries rope in her backpack. Well, not rope exactly, but, depending on the trip, webbing, straps, and paracord might come along! No, I haven't secretly taken up mountain climbing or hang-gliding or even off the grid camping. Can you imagine? Yet this unusual gear is one of the unsung heroes of my packing success. And with our incredible round-the-world trip looming on the horizon, it is going to be more important than ever before. 

Isn't paracord just for camping?

The weather phenomenon you see here is known as SUN. So rare that I snapped a picture!

You've probably heard me speak in passing about the importance of quality rope, straps, and paracord whenever I'm preparing for a camping trip. Ryan and I have had... what's the word I'm looking for... HORRIBLE luck when it comes to camping weather. We've turned camping in the rain into a bit of an art form and the quality of the paracord which hoists our tarps is paramount.

​But camping is a once-in-a-season excursion, whereas regular travel is a year round love affair for us. No matter the weather or the climate, we always travel with just one bag and have one chance to pack it right. And time and time again, straps and paracord save the day.

You are what you pack: Why Strapworks earns a spot on our minimalist packing list every time. 

You're only as strong as your weakest piece of gear and we're not using any ol' bit of frayed twine we find lying around the garage. We love the selection at Strapworks.com. The Strapworks journey began in 1976 by a couple of rafting enthusiasts (people much heartier than I!) and it remains a family run operation. Today, their products are used by everyone from National Geographic to NASA and they can process massive orders. But they're still working with the average consumer in mind.

Strapworks truly has every imaginable kind of strap, tie, rope, webbing, paracord, and accessory. Best of all, they write detailed descriptions for each item. This really matters for all you wild souls preparing for extreme sports and uncharted adventure. Knowing how a strap was tested with regards to weight limits, reactions to chemicals, and water permeability can make all the difference in the world on an expedition or large project. 

Our Strapworks gear is a little more low key, but every bit as valuable. While concerns about breaking points and stretching rarely factor into my plans, I'm still a picky customer. I want a product whose color never "bleeds" in the rain. I'm also on the look out for unraveling ends and rough edges that can grate against expensive travel shirts. Strapworks products make the grade every time and their travel line even comes with airport-security friendly plastic buckles. That's the kind of thoughtful detail that I appreciate each and every trip.

A flexible bag is a happy bag: Why you need to create space in your travel backpack.

Sometimes even the best international travel carry on backpack can use a helping hand.

Those sturdy buckles come in handy for the biggest test we throw at our straps: cinching our gear. Gear cinching isn't about making sure everything fits. It's about having it all fit with room to spare. This spare room is the difference between an easy trip and borderline insanity when you're committed to traveling with just a carry on bag and using a minimalist backpack. 

When we're on a short city layover, attending a conference, or fretting aboutmaking our connection, we need to know that there is room to spare in our backpack. It's not enough that there's sufficient theoretical space for every item on our packing list. We have to be confident that we have surplus room on hand.

A layover means that hours on the ground are limited and we can't be wasting time with a brimming bag that has no leeway. A conference guarantees a return trip with extra books, shirts, and promotional material - all which need to find a new home in our tiny kit. And flying on points as we often do means weird and wacky flight connections, which inevitably sees us trotting to a new gate just after we picked up a supply of snacks and magazines. We need our bag to deliver extra flexible space and save us from being those frantic travelers with a dozen plastic bags flapping from each arm.  Cinching our gear with a quality strap is what allows us to do all this and more.

Using a strap to cinch and compress gear couldn't be easier. Once our bags are packed, with all our supplies sorted into packing cubes, we simply loop a strap around our cubes and cinch it tightly, compressing the fabric and expelling all the excess air. Picture an easier, more affordable, more environmentally friendly version of those giant plastic vacuum seal bags. We're doing a simplified version of just that.

Should our bags be selected for secondary airport screening, all we have to do is release the buckle and the border agents can easily look through our different packing cubes. When they're done, we just fasten the buckle and pull the strap tight. In seconds, we're repacked with an organized bag that has a little extra breathing room. Trust me, it is about a million times easier, neater, and more dignified than the usual frantic 'stuff and squeeze' that normally goes on in these lines!

Of course, I can easily go on and on about this. You know how much I adore nifty tips for packing hacking! But you'll be impressed once I show you just how well it really works. 

Putting our packing hack to the test: How we reduce the volume of our travel bags by at least 20%

Bad travel plan: An overstuffed bag AND a new tote bag that's nearly as big.

It does't exactly look like there's any room to spare to include the tote bag, is there?

Cramming extra stuff into the lid of the pack may not have been the best plan.

Behold my bulging backpack, complete with an overstuffed lid filled with laundry, plus a large tote bag with odds and ends I collected on a press trip. As you can tell from the first few pictures, this bag was STUFFED. After two weeks oftraveling around Quebec, it was practically round and straining at the seams. And while it was okay to let my gear and newly accumulated souvenirs sprawl in the back of a rental car, a more compact and manageable shape was required for my lengthy trip home with Via Rail (complete with 3 hour layover in Montreal, where I'd be on my own to handle my gear).

My first step was to organize my bag. The stuff sacks were rearranged so they could better accommodate the laundry previously languishing in the lid. The new tote bag was emptied so I could position it flat on the bottom of my pack and its contents all found appropriate homes within.

Along the way I found a box of chocolates I had purchased outside Quebec City but had completely forgotten about. Who says that packing isn't rewarding?! There's more than one way to achieve your minimalist packing goals. Just eat your souvenirs before you go home!

No struggle, only straps: Compressing travel clothing to save space (and aggravation!)

The lid is empty now, the tote bag is in the main bag, but I need to create more room for my laptop and toiletry bag.

Next was the most critical step: condensing the fabric by cinching everything together. In my distracted state having discovered the chocolate, I forgot the most important thing - laying the strap flat across the bottom of the bag with the ends hanging out. So it was back to the drawing board! I removed everything, put the strap into position, and repacked the bag.

​Fortunately, my repetition wasn't a lost effort. The second time round, my gear was even more organized and that's never a bad thing. Finally, the big moment arrived. I snapped the buckle together and pulled on the end of the webbing to condense all my gear. ALL of it fit - the tote bag, its contents, and even the laundry which was repacked in a spare stuff sack. It was all in one bag, with the lid nearly empty and thus able to easily close. With a final tug, my gear was lying flat, leaving me with just enough space for my laptop and to add in my toiletry bag and pajamas in the morning. ​

Even the best travel backpack needs some extra help: Preparing for international airline carry on size restrictions.

It fits! Well, barely...

It's time for one more strap.

One strap + a little muscle power = a flat pack.

My bag was still FULL. But against all odds I had managed to combine one large bag and one medium tote. Not bad! But I was worried about my train ride. Train corridors can be narrow and, with a full travel backpack, I was at a serious risk of taking out innocent bystanders with a sudden turn. Ideally, my trusty backpack had to get even smaller and more streamlined. And working on this challenge was good practice for future trips.

When it comes time for our round the world trip, we'll be navigating multiple airline carry-on restrictions. Being coerced into a last minute bag measurement would be disastrous. We MUST be within carry on limits. There's no wiggle room for a plump bag. Time for one more strap!

This time, I wrapped a spare strap around the outside of the bag. I travel with an Osprey Porter 46 backpack. It's the best carry on backpack for international travel and only costs about $100 (Really! You can buy one here) but even the best travel backpack can use a little help. The Osprey Porter 46 has two external straps for cinching but I'm always worried that I'll apply too much pressure, that the seams might burst. With my Strapworks strap, I had no worries at all about subjecting my bag to too much abuse. And as you can tell from the photos, I was able to take my bag from a rounded shape to an almost flat top. Travel win!!!

Choosing a minimalist backpack versus a fully loaded travel bag.

All these straps need to be put to good use.

While straps are our sneaky backpacking hack to create more space in our pack, they're a real travel workhorse. You can use them to attach travel rain jackets and extra gear to the outside of your backpack and you can secure your bags to a hostel bunk bed or bus bench. This versatility is one of the main reasons we love using detached straps with minimalist backpacks instead of luggage that's full of its own built in straps. We can use them as we best need them, in any configuration imaginable. 

Versatility is also why we love having classic black luggage straps as we can use them in an understated manner in so many different ways. But you shouldn't limit yourself to our style. Strapworks offers personalized luggage straps in a rainbow of colors and prints, from raspberry to hot green. You can even get luggage straps with names or logos. Could a Turnipseed Travel branded strap be next?

The wonderful world of paracord handle wraps (and never mixing up your basic black luggage again).

Wrapping paracord around the handle of your bag really makes it stand out.

We love the versatility of Strapwords paracord just as much as their straps, but here we appreciate a little extra color too. That's because several yards of paracord make for a jaunty identifier on the handle of my luggage. Suddenly, my black and grey Osprey backpack was easy to spot in a crowd. It doesn't take much to make a bag more distinctive! And it's nice to know that if something goes awry, and my bag must be checked, I can easily spot my backpack on the airport luggage carousel. (But, all the same, let's just hope that day never comes, okay?)

My makeshift paracord handle wrap was put together with just a moments' work but there are tutorials online to make even fancier versions with paracord braids and other designs (you can see some helpful paracord tutorials here). 

From braided paracord bracelet to clothesline to curtain keeper: Meet your new travel all star.

There's more than one way to keep a room private.

Paracord makes a perfect clothesline.

While straps often do double duty, paracord is an absolute champion for minimalist packing fans. There is nothing it can't do! Makeshift curtain tie for stubborn drapes that won't close? Absolutely! A quick clothesline when you're short of space or stuck with a dirty railing? You bet. You can use it to create a makeshift handle for an awkward package or to wrap a parcel you're sending home. In a pinch, you can even add some rudimentary extra security to hotel room by securing a door knob to another point in the room so it can't easily be opened from the outside. And - you guessed it - there's nothing like it for securing a tent and rigging up some extra tarps in a rain storm. Not that we'd have ANY experience with that!

Best of all is that paracord doesn't take any extra space in your pack. ​Even if you don't make a paracord handle wrap, you can always experiment with a paracord key chain or lanyard or zipper pull. I once saw someone who made a braided paracord bracelet and they had incorporated a USB drive into it  - the perfect mix of travel security and web security! If you're serious about learning how to create a DIY paracord bracelet, this list is a great resource of different patterns and styles.

Tents, trains, and travel all around the world: Our straps keep us sane and secure. 

My list of unusual gear isn't quite done, but we'll leave the discussion about my expandable back scratcher and stuffed purple bunny for another day. As we prep for our incredible round the world trip, a voyage that includes five continents and every imaginable climate zone, having great gear and plenty of flexible space has never mattered more. Thankfully, we don't have to track down a climbing gear store to get what we need - we can find it all at Strapworks!


I'd love to hear from you! What's the most unique item in your travel backpack? Have you ever used straps or paracord in a crafty way?

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