Over years of traveling for work and for fun, I have developed a habit of packing light. At first, it was simply a cost saving measure, as I didn’t want to pay for a checked bag on my flights. As I have traveled more over the years, even though I could theoretically pony up the money for a checked bag, I still tend to travel light. Traveling light really helped while adventuring around New Zealand last year. For one, we saved money by not paying for checked bags. For two, having less stuff taking up space in the confines of a camper van was definitely appreciated.
I planned my New Zealand packing around my trusted Kelty rucksack. This ruck has accompanied me on most of my travels since graduating from college, including traveling around Europe, three deployments, numerous hunting trips, dozens of hikes, and myriad other bits of travel. For this trip, I managed to cram all the clothes, books, and tech I planned to carry with. Everything in the title image fit inside, or dangling off, of my ruck throughout the duration of the trip.
On many trips, there are times when I would like to carry stuff, but don’t want to carry my full ruck. Either I don’t want to carry that much stuff, or I really don’t want to look like a Prepper/LARPer/Military Patriot. For that reason, I typically carry another bag or two. On many trips, I bring a Duluth Trading Company messenger bag (man-purse), but on the New Zealand jaunt, I brought a “packable” backpack, a fanny pack, and a “dry-bag.”
Jenny bought both of us our own packable backpacks for Christmas before setting off on our adventure. These unstructured backpacks can be compressed into a small square and zipped closed, making them ideal for this type of trip. Both backpacks also have a small waterproof section that is great for keeping a phone, wallet, and passport dry. I clipped my folded-up backpack to the side of my rucksack for our flights, then filled it with whatever we needed for the trip.
Jenny and I both brought along fanny packs, but we both brought different types of fanny packs. Jenny brought her large “mountain biking” pack that she bought in Portland while visiting family for a wedding and I brought a smaller fanny pack that had an RFID shield. Jenny used her fanny pack basically every day, but I only used mine when I wanted to bring more stuff than fit in my pockets but less stuff than requires a backpack. During our travel to and from New Zealand, I would simply clip my fanny pack to my ruck sack, right along the compacted backpack.
Our dry-bags aren’t all that exciting, they were given to us during a “military appreciation” even hosted by Budweiser, so they are a sort of bright green camouflage with a Budweiser logo printed on them. They were free, and they worked, so that was nice.
Next most important to me was footwear. My feet friggin’ suck at being feet, so having high quality footwear is highly important. Recognizing that I could only fit so much clothing and gear in my rucksack, I chose to bring my best hiking boots and a pair of flip-flops. I had no intention of walking around in my flip-flops, they were brought around as a compact set of footwear to wear at pools, beaches, or in the camper van after a long day of adventuring.
The real star of the footwear show was my hiking boots. Several years ago, I bought a pair of Hanwag leather hunting/hiking boots on the recommendation of a hunting podcast. I have now worn them on several hunts, dozens of hikes, and all over New Zealand. These Hanwag boots were very expensive, but since my feet are not good at their job, I do not mind buying expensive, high-quality boots to keep me adventuring longer.
Clothes were important because you have to wear clothes, even in New Zealand. Since Jenny had planned our trip out to the minute, I knew exactly when and where we had a break to do laundry. With that laundry break in mind, I planned my clothing based on these things: I needed my clothes to be lightweight and easily packed, I wanted a warm layer for over my t-shirts, and I wanted a jacket to keep the wind and rain off.
Jenny and I weren’t in New Zealand during the cold season, so I wasn’t worried about bringing heavy winter clothes. Instead, I packed as if I was expecting a crisp Autumn day with a chance of rain basically every day. The main lesson learned here was that brands like North Face, Darn Tough Socks and Alaska Hard Gear are absolutely worth the price due to how light, packable, and durable their clothes are. I brought two pairs of North Face pants, an Alaska Hard Gear jacket, and some Darn Tough merino wool socks.
I also brought a lightweight hoody, a flannel, and a handful of tri-blend t-shirts. They really weren’t anything to write home about, they did their job just fine. Jenny did pack more stuff, but even she kept her luggage limited to just a small backpack and a carry-on size suitcase. Jenny gets cold easy, so most of her extra stuff was sweat shirts, sweat pants, and other warm clothing.
Another Duluth Trading product I brought along was my Dop Kit. I really like the Duluth Trading Dop Kit because it fits enough stuff if I pack smart, and I can slide it into the water bottle pouch on the side of most backpacks. Jenny and I also packed micro-fiber towels that fold and roll into a very small size. Again, packable was the name of the game. Jenny and I also packed some travel laundry bags that her sisters gave to us to carry our dirty clothes, which also came in very handy throughout the trip.
At a certain point before heading to New Zealand, Jenny and I did two things: Watch the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies, and strongly consider getting a high-quality camera. In the end, we decided to stick with our cell phones for most pictures and videos, and brought along our GoPro Hero9 action cameras for specific applications. Believe it or not, the main reason we decided to stick with these were that they had a smaller foot print (more packable) than something like a Canon or Nikon camera. Plus, those cameras are so expensive and we spent our money on the trip. And cell phone cameras have gotten really good lately.
That, and two pairs of headphones, was all we brought for technology. No laptop, no tablet. In order to keep our meager tech arsenal charged, we brought along a voltage converter, a car charger, and two charging bricks. Usually, we would charge the charging bricks and GoPro batteries while driving around in the camper van during the day, then use the charging bricks to charge our phones at night. I think this plan worked well, and kept us very packable.
I like to travel with books, so I brought along Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert and American Buffalo by Steven Rinella. Both paperbacks and both very good reads. I can’t stand reading off of a tablet if I can help it, so even though a Kindle is far easier to bring along than a couple paperbacks, I just bring the hard copies. While we were at Hobbiton, I did pick up copies of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Silmarillion and The Hobbit to add to my library, so those had to be packed and brought back in the same rucksack.
In addition to two new books, Jenny and I did buy a few souvenirs. Jenny is a big magnet and post card collector, and I like a good sticker. We bought quite a few of these souvenirs, and I even bought a pair of “Gondorian Ranger” gloves from the Hobbiton gift shop. Even though we packed lightly, one of the benefits of bringing multiple bags was that we had the ability to spread items out into extra bags to carry on or even check on our flights back to the U.S.A.
One of the things that struck me while Jenny and I were preparing for this trip and while we were traveling around New Zealand was how much I appreciated having high-quality gear. We were more comfortable, more confident, and better able to enjoy ourselves with gear that didn’t feel flimsy or cheap. That is not to say that all gear needs to be expensive, but rather an adventurer should know when and where to prioritize high-quality gear. For me, I will always prioritize high-quality footwear, as foot pain is a huge limiting factor for me. Others might have different tolerances for other items. For instance, Jenny gets cold far easier than I do, so she would be willing to spend more on a high-quality jacket where I might just make do with whatever I have on hand.
Whatever the case, take what you have, and go out on adventures of your own!
