Every year at the Rick Steves tour guide reunion, we spend time planning, but also socializing. This is when the plotting begins. Ideas crafted over a few beers are often the best. And so it was, that my colleague Fabian Rueger and I came up with Packupine, a packing app.

 

As you know, packing an efficient bag based on weight is one of my passions. I’ve written and spoken about my crazy strategies. But how can I help people use that strategy more effectively? This is the idea of this packing app.

The app starts by helping you generate a list of items to pack. This list is based on criteria you give it, and based on our years of international travel. The list will pop up, and a projected weight will be calculated, based on the average weight of items. You can export the list to email or notes on your phone to print it out.

But the closet is where the fun starts.

The closet function takes you to categories of items, and lists generic things, like pants or dresses. In each category, you can add your own items. In the item description, you can name, photograph, and add the actual weight.

 

When you’ve customized all of your favorite travel items, you can tap them and drop them into your packing list, which will eventually give you a pretty accurate estimation of the weight.

So the idea is this: you can sit in a cafe a day before your trip, browse your closet on your phone, then drop all of your belongings in your bag for a real list of your own things, with an actual weight. I’m hoping this method will help people see where they spend their weight and make better packing choices.

This is our first release of the app, available on iPhone and iPad for the low, low price of $1.99. I hope you’ll give it a try and let us know how it goes. We will be continually improving it based on your feedback. Sorry, no Android version…yet.

The interface is simple, and I’ve drawn a little mascot to guide your way, Packupine. After all, if a cute little porcupine can pack a great bag, so can you.