Backpack or Suitcase, that is the question.
In life, it is often said that we all carry with us an unspoken weight.
In this case, however, it is merely a question of whether the burden of that weight will be on your back or seamlessly rolled alongside you with a handle for your convenience.
Travelling to New Zealand and wondering whether to use a backpack or suitcase?
Ultimately, it depends on what you want to get out of your trip.
Realistically, suppose you’re going to spend a year living, working, and generally existing on the other side of the world. In that case, you’re not only going to accumulate loads but also need somewhere to store it all.
I recall going to TKMaxx multiple times before setting off for New Zealand. For reasons unbeknownst to me, I was certain I would be taking a suitcase rather than a backpack.
I sent photos into the family group chat of suitcases of various sizes for their approval, only to get relentless one-word messages from my Dad saying only ‘backpack’.
In his head, after my interrailing backpacking trip the previous October, this was clearly the most obvious choice for me. I believe that it’s the efficiency of the backpack that inspired his vehemence, the sling-it-over-your-shoulder-and-away-you-go ease that works so well for the common intrepid globe-trotter.
But, in reality, they’re quite heavy, and acquiring one thing requires a solid twenty-minute rifling session.
I wonder now, with the luxury of hindsight at hand, if my determination to get a suitcase says something about how long I’d be away.
Subconsciously, maybe I knew that I wouldn’t be home for a while.
Having been away for as long as I have and smug with my suitcase choice, I bask in the sweet taste of being right. Though, I doubt that Dad’s acquiescence would be readily achieved.
Fast forward to being in New Zealand for a few months, with no real issues being the bearer of a cumbersome suitcase, now abandoned on the floor in our staff accommodation to pick through as needs must, I began to accrue more clothes. RipCurl Paihia had become my favourite shop. I realised, after maybe the third trip to Ripcurl, that I would need to either lose some of the things I had brought with me or expand my storage facilities. I opted for the latter, naturally. I currently am in possession of not only a suitcase full of clothes but also three New World bags worth of extras—and that’s without counting the shoes. I felt suitably justified in my decision, therefore, to have opted for suitcase over backpack.
In defence of my suitcase:
You’re on a bit of a journey of self-discovery and about to undergo a metamorphosis of sorts, especially if this is your first big trip away. You need some breathing room, literally and figuratively, to be able to try on new versions of yourself and see how they fit. Collating who you are with who you were sometimes comes with excess baggage. All puns intended.
I know that I don’t necessarily love some of the things my atrophied and crusty hands are desperately clinging onto with a vice-like grip as the last vestiges of a version of me from when I left home, but I can’t bear to part with them.
This is a fairly ubiquitous phenomenon commonly referred to as sentimentality.
Symbolically, those clothes are representative of who I was before I left, what I wore when I last saw my Mum and Dad, they’re palimpsests. With that in mind, I was content to expand my collection of things, rather than evict some of the most beloved albeit archaic residents of the suitcase to make room for more.
MOREOVER,
I generally don’t think that New Zealand lends itself to backpacking as other countries might. You need a mode of transportation to get around (see: car). Otherwise, you could go via the Kiwi Experience bus, which takes you to all of the most notorious spots throughout New Zealand, letting you still remain flexible with where you go and works according to your time frame—a better alternative for those who aren’t looking to stay for that long nor want to establish themselves wholly in the country. With the Kiwi Experience bus, I would begrudgingly acknowledge that backpacking would be the right choice.
Which brings us back to the original conundrum:
What are you planning to get out of the experience?
A year-long roadie in a cheap-ish car to get around in, or a few months of bussing around seeing the sights?
My final point would be:
Can you fit the twelve bars of Whittakers Creamy Milk that you will invariably buy in a backpack?
No.
Where can you fit an inordinate amount of Whittakers?
In a suitcase.
I rest my case.
