In Which We Sell You An Empty Bag...

That's the best kind of carnival trick - selling an empty bag and then running away before you discover there's nothing in it. Except in our case we need not run - the whole idea is the emptyness. I address myself to the Camera Electronic customers who travel - who take their cameras to holiday destinations on a regular basis - who pack more than they should while vowing to pack less than they need. And who then do it again next month. The inside of a suitcase can be a chaotic thing. It may start out well-organised on your bed at home but halfway round the world and halfway through the trip it looks like a bear's nest. Short of throwing everything out of the hotel window and emptying the mini-bar into the case, travellers need a solution to too much that is too dirty. The Peak Design Packing Cube is just such a solution. It's a deliberate pouch/bag system that will carry an amazing amount of material - either out on holiday or home to be washed. It's not padded - that's a saggy pouch you see there - but it is made expandable and secure so that you can stuff it to bursting without it actually...bursting. It's meant to go inside other bags to organise them at very little volume or weight penalty. I tried it with an entire cushion from the lounge room sofa. open the zip and the lid and just stuff it all in. If you are accustomed to denuding every motel and hotel you stay at of towels and coffee sachets this might be just the thing you want. It's ever so much more discrete than a pillowcase over your shoulder when you are checking out, too. There's two separate compartment in the pouch so the cleans can go on one side and the dirties on the other. It's vented. NOTE: Today is the start of the post-Christmas sales. Hie it down to a Camera Electronic Store or open up the on-line computer shoppig page and see if you can make the CE credit card machine melt. There will be good bargains as well as the cashbacks that are currently running. Plus, if you are not at home on Boxing Day, you can avoid the visitors. That's gotta be worth something...