On the plane ride into Phnom Penh yesterday morning, I realized that I am genius. This inflated sense of ego came from a severe lack of sleep and one simple idea.

I travel a lot and I use the same carryon on every trip. It’s the perfect size and I love it, but I tend to lose my passport/ticket/keys/phone/money and everything else important as soon as I chuck it in there. Now, I understand that there are specific bags made for this specific problem. In fact, there are entire companies based on organizational travel gear. However, I will probably not buy one of those extremely well-designed bags because I don’t like how they look and I am vain enough to let that impact my travel experience.

Instead, I have an easy solution: pack a clutch in my carryon.

I usually put a clutch in my checked baggage for nights out. But because I had an uncharacteristically big Monday night, I scrambled to pack late at night and threw the clutch into my carryon with everything still in it. It was the kind of packing job that my mom would shake her head it. However, when I arrived at the Bangkok airport at 6am on Tuesday morning, everything had its place and there was no sweaty, stressed-out shuffle through my bag as I checked in and breezed through security.

As it turns out, me + a few cocktails: logistical mastermind! I should write down all of my three-drink ideas!

Better not.

All photos by Caitlin Decker