Forum menu
The Xtrail packed for a week in a Scottish cottage, I only took the photo so I could remember how I did it.
2 suitcases, booze for a week, fishing gear inc a garden fork for digging lugworm, walking gear, 2 camping/sitting out chairs, some food, spotting scope, waterproof clothing inc 2 pairs of wellies, gravel bike & associated gear, plus the kitchen sink & still room for more.
The rear seats were only 3/4 dropped too. You could live in the back of that car.
Just come away to the Lakes and Scotland for a week with partner and dog.
I was actually ashamed when a couple of neighbours saw how full the van was as I was packing it.
There's barely room for my 2 bikes and 2 paddleboards because of all the non-essential crap.
I like to think of myself as a minimalist camper, but now, 4 person tent that you can barely lift in its bag, 2 double duvets and all the pillows, sheets, self inflating mats covered in sleeping bags, then the duvets.
I hope nobody sees me and thinks I'm a Glamper!... 😂
Don’t forget to pack the first thing you’ll need upon arrival in the car first.
Welcome to the world of large air tent and trailer nose weights. The only way to get the weight distribution right is to drop the 50kg leviathan into the very front of the trailer and then pack behind it. Alright in the dry and a total pita in the wet!
I once met up with the late Orange-Crush (AKA Peter Valente) off here when I was up at the SSDT in Fort William, & in the back of his ‘ Hotel Berlingo’ was a Honda 90, a set of stepladders ( he didn’t have a real ladder), a porta potti & a 25 ltr water barrel. Plus everything else for a week away in a Berlingo.
T5 kombi. Pack bags. Lob them in the back. Realise you've got shed loads of room still. Throw in the fishing gear. Body boards. Surf boards on the roof. Rearrange it a bit so when you pull up somewhere for the night on the way down south you can easily pull out the bed, pop the roof up and the 4 of us and dog can get a few hours comfy sleep.
I don't think we have enough moveable stuff to fill our LWB van. So long as we don't take too many of the bikes.
I was going to post a few hours ago about the joy of going on holiday in a van, (a proper van, not one of your aspirational lifestyle wagons) but we're off to Cornwall next week and I'm taking Darcie's luggage while her and my daughter fly down from Manchester.
It's only got 4m cubed luggage space. The dog'll probably just have to run behind.
Just need a woof rack.
Just need a woof rack
Get ya coat!
Get ya coat!
Has he pulled?
@DaveBoyWonder
How do you deal with the dog when travelling in terms of securing/safety?
We've previously ruled out T5/similar campers on the basis of not having an easy method of securing the travel sick (but responds well to anti-sickness medication) pooch.
We currently do the very large tent + trailer thing but I'm increasingly of the view that van + larger driveway awning might be better.
It's needs to be planned just like everything else on a trip.
Even do it before to test the best way.
Shuddering memories of many annual trips to France. Land Rover Discoveries have an enormous load space but with two active kids and a fortnight of fun to look forward to it was very much my job to load carefully and methodically. I used the bodyboards as a makeshift bulkhead and could load the boot to the headcloth and the family knew to bring all their stuff to the garage so that I could play suitcase/hold-all/bedding/inflatable pool toy/cycling kit/essential groceries Tetris. Then once I had loaded all three bikes onto the tow bar mounted rack Mrs Scape would inevitably appear with a bag for life full of more “essentials” and an inflatable dolphin just to cheer me up.
There’s barely room for my 2 bikes and 2 paddleboards because of all the non-essential crap.
I skipped past this last night. Love the fact the bloke in this relationship* regards the bikes and paddleboards as essential, all that crap the missis packs, meh.
* OK, yes. Massive assumption I know. Flame away.
I assumed that it was intended to be humorous (which it is).
Heading to the isle of wight for four days camping on sunday. @Scapegoat good tip on the bodyboard bulkhead. 🤌
On a slight tangent how hard is it to put a small case / rucksack / Disney bag for life into the overhead locker of a plane and then quickly sit down in the seat on your boarding pass.
Pilot last had to say if you all don't sit down wewillmiss our tight take offslot. Seemed to mainly be women trying to rearrange the contents of said carry on case and the seating plan of the entire aircraft so little jimmy didnt have to sit on their own.
As for car packing, absolutely, i want the heavy square stuff first and preferably no bags for life that will vomit their contents when you open the boot. And when you say thats everything but neglect to mention the three or four bags for life with various essentials that is not everything.
Reading this I now know what a lucky bloke I was!
My late wife seemed to take a small rucksack for a 2 week holiday, it was me that had all the gubbins. Bikes & cameras etc. I am a very fussy car packer though as the slightest thing rattling boils my piss.
Carolyn's minimal approach did come in handy when we did a 3 week camping tour of Fance in my 1966 MG Midget. That does require a level of creative packing including stuff put in plastic bags taped up inside the engine bay under the front wings 😮
The random carrier bags is blue touch paper when I’m packing. Just random stuff that never stops coming out the house! CRV has 700L boot. We’re not short of space until the dog cage takes half.
It’s odd how also many of you are also married to my wife.
We’re not short of space until the dog cage takes half.
My sister's car (a Focus estate) has to be very carefully packed for exactly this reason. The dog cage lives in the car. And then fitting the "stuff" for two small kids, and a weeks' worth of holiday gear into it requires very careful packing.
The dog actually has more space in her crate than everyone else has in the car once it's fully loaded.
I am a very fussy car packer though as the slightest thing rattling boils my piss.
Two plastic bottles of pop next to each other. SQUEAKsqueak, SQUEAKsqueak, SQUEAKsqueak, SQUEAKsqueak, AAAAAAAAARGH!
MrsMC is taking daughter, daughters friend and quite a lot of kit the leaders couldn't fit in a horsebox off to the Poacher Jamboree this afternoon.
I kept out the way once I'd loaded the big trolley for her.
My lad walks out of the door carrying his guitar.
If it's an electric with a headphone amp I'd chuck all my own stuff out including the spare undies to make sure there was space for it. The price of a peaceful holiday.
Yep, I sympathise! Sold my Astra to buy a relatively new A3 which I’ve always wanted. The boot is definitely smaller, even though litres are apparently the same!
Going camping it was so chocked full I could only just see behind me! We had the same with her and being pregnant helping pack the car, me knowing it wouldn’t fit like that and having to change it, she threw her toys out and I sorted it all… 30 mins later all water under the bridge but yes, bigger car needed when little un arrives!!
Just packed to drop the 4 little kids at camping, we're not even going with them and the tent will be there when we arrive. Pram, clothes bag, sleeping kit and a couple of bags for life neatly stowed. Turn around and there's an Everest sized collection of motley carrier bags and tat in the hallway, 2 hours later it's still growing. My plans of fast and light camping with them this summer have been cruelly dashed.
I genuinely don't get it. I am, by any sensible metric, an over-packer. On the trail I'll have inner tubes, chain links, cable ties and duct tape, first-aid kit... I'm the sort of geek who takes a screwdriver to the pub "just in case."
Packing for a night away a couple of weeks ago, I slung underwear and basic toiletries into a small rucksack, my girlfriend had a suitcase. Like, how long do think we're away for, love? I've done a fortnight in America with less.
Packed yesterday for a fortnight camping in France - five years ago, we could squeeze everything into a Mitsubishi Colt. This year, the Astra Estate is bulging at the seams like a cartoon clown car. No idea what we've bought extra - I guess, whatever the space, Mrs Pondo'll always fill it. 🙁
🤣 we had things like a plugged in coolbox this time to keep food cool in the car. Also 2 reclining chairs as we were staying at her folks house with no mod cons, we really really needed that house to have a pool though on the days it was 25 degrees at 9am and 36 degrees at 4pm!!
I just got myself into trouble reading this thread and s****ing away - Mrs a11y wanted to know what I was finding so funny, I let her read some of the comments and was met with a massive eye roll and a "yep, that's you" comment.
Well, I like it all being organised and actually fitting in and having easy access to some stuff without moving everything else to get to it. Like packing the waterproof jackets in the deepest part of the cargo area underneath EVERYTHING, and it pissing down on arrival at the campsite. No, that's never happened dear.
This is partial pack of our van for a 2-week camping/biking/SUP trip. So far 4 x bikes, biking gear/toolbox, toilet, freezer (really), 4 x clothes bags (1 each), camping kitchen, cups/plates/cooking stuff, induction hob, plus 4 x plastic tubs mainly filled with food, folding crates with various shite in them. Still had the coolbox, 2 x SUPs, more folding crates, and a 50kg inflatable tent to fit in there. That's the back of a dual-cab Transit - it's true that you expand to fill the space you have...
Everyone in my house knows packing the car is MY job.
Exactly this. And it's a fail if I can't use the rearview mirror, or if I can hear any knocking or rattling about.
We’re not short of space until the dog cage takes half.
Yeah, dogs.
I gave in and bought some external storage. Roof bag*, and 4 x 50L dry bags, one per person. All the clothes and similar kit now go on the roof. Solid stuff goes in boot, 'next door' to the dogs.
The roof bag & dry bags cost the same as kennels for a week, so, swings and roundabouts.
* very importantly, a roof bag can be stored in a small space; a roof box, not a chance.
This is partial pack of our van for a 2-week camping/biking/SUP trip.
Credit where it's due, that's some impressive stuffing. I think at that point I'd have been investing in a bike carrier.
@a11y back wheel of bike on the left looks to be too far out, you sure the door will close properly?
Smiling at this thread, could be us. Now has a T6 Kombi which has a lot of space but we can still fill it when needed. Went camping last weekend, back was pretty full! I'm a big fan of holdalls for holidays, they load well and can be crammed in better
I'm the only one allowed to pack the van/car, they know I'm OCD about it. I think that's why they like to give me all the random stuff at the end, like a bag of toiletries or a carrier bag of shoes
I'm also a little (maybe a lot) OCD about packing stuff at the supermarket. Heavy stuff first so it doesn't crush the light stuff!
one per person. All the clothes and similar kit now go on the roof
I read this too quickly, missed the "per", and thought, "bit harsh sticking someone on the roof"!
Credit where it’s due, that’s some impressive stuffing. I think at that point I’d have been investing in a bike carrier.
We have, eventually, along with a roofbox. Kids bikes now go on the rack, ours still go inside. It's embarrassing when a dual-cab van's not big enough. Constantly evolving my packing strategy. I'd rather have all bikes hidden inside - easier stop offs enroute etc. W<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">e could fit everything inside without using space-inefficient plastic boxes, but I like order!</span>
@a11y back wheel of bike on the left looks to be too far out, you sure the door will close properly?
It's effing tight but it goes, 1341mm wheelbase and 29x2.6/2.5 tyres makes for a long bike.
I’m also a little (maybe a lot) OCD about packing stuff at the supermarket. Heavy stuff first so it doesn’t crush the light stuff!
Have a sensible packer virtual high five from me!