On its own, packing is quite a tedious task, but it becomes a thousand times more challenging when you have to pack something that is extremely fragile or niche. You might have bought a pair of amazing wine glasses while on vacation, and now you’re dreading the flight home because you are unsure of how to get the wine glasses back without breakage.
Don’t worry — there are plenty of ways to ensure that your fragile items come home safely and in one piece. Let’s take a look at some tips and tricks on the best ways to pack your niche items.
Bubble Wrap Is Invaluable
When it comes to protecting fragile items, bubble wrap is the champion. There’s a reason that everything you order online comes in bubble wrap. The airy substance helps protect items from breaking in transit. If a light bulb can travel half the world in one piece thanks to some bubble wrap, then there’s no reason why your fragile items can’t do the same.
Try to get your hands on a roll of bubble wrap and use it for everything that you think could break. If you have glasses or kitchenware packed into your case, or even if you are flying with a cremation urn or valuable piece of pottery, be sure to wrap your valuables up for maximum protection.
Of course, bubble wrap won’t be able to help you with every single item you take with you. Wine glasses are the perfect example. They are hollow and need to be protected on the inside and outside. Sure, wrapping them in bubble wrap is a good idea, but if you aren’t putting something inside of the glass itself, there is a good chance it will break.
Don’t Bother With ‘Fragile’ Stickers
While there’s nothing wrong with putting a ‘fragile’ sticker on your luggage, most people aren’t going to notice it. Baggage handlers load luggage as quickly and efficiently as possible, meaning they don’t have time to inspect each suitcase to check if it has a sticker.
What’s more, loading luggage quickly often means tossing suitcases into the cargo area, regardless of what stickers are on them. Thus, if you truly want to protect your niche items, forget about those ‘fragile’ stickers.
Pack Individually
Wrapping four or five glass bottles together is an excellent way to save space in your suitcase, but it also makes them highly susceptible to shattering. If you want to make sure that your fragile items make it through the trip intact, you should wrap and pack every item individually. That way, even if one of them breaks, the others will be fine.
In addition to that, if you are packing bottles, you should always wrap their tops and bottoms, as well. Not many people think to do this, since in theory, it’s perfectly suitable to wrap the sides of a wine bottle. However, wrapping the top and bottom will mitigate the damage in a worst case scenario.
The wrapping will keep the glass in place and will also prevent its contents from spreading all over your luggage.