"Travelling leaves you speechless , then turns you into a storyteller" Ibn Battuta
What an amazing trip we just had!
Hi we are Karen and Michael in our 60's so a mature but young at heart couple who like to travel and have just finished a 27 day tour around New Zealand.
If this is something you would like to do how do you get started?
We can tell you all you need to know and what you need to do to make your dream holiday brilliant.
We did a huge amount of research before we left the UK and what we found were lots of inspirational blogs and vlogs out there for people younger than us; many were highly energetic, strenuous and high octane/adrenaline rushes which is not us! We are definitely a young at heart couple looking for fun and adventure but need to acknowledge in our maturity we cannot always scale the highest mountain!
If you want a trip tailored to your energy levels (ours are still pretty impressive); and are very much young at heart here what we think is the perfect trip for people like us.
Our trip actually started in Sydney, Australia for New Year and then we flew to Auckland at the begining of January 2025. We toured both North and South Islands and saw lots of amazing things and places and would go back again tomorrow as there is so much more to see.
In this blog we want to share with you the 7 essential tips you need to plan a trip like ours and what we learnt we needed to do before we left the UK. The full details of our time in New Zealand can be found here including the places we visited, where we stayed and how much it cost.
7 Essential Planning Tips for the Mature but Young at Heart Traveller: off to New Zealand: What are they?
How to plan your epic journey
What to consider before you leave the UK (in our case) including modes of transport in New Zealand and preferred places to stay
What are the government requirements for entering New Zealand
A brief overview of luggage and packing
Foreign currency - what to consider
How you can stay connected in New Zealand
Helpful Apps to download
Planning Tip 1: Planning the outline of your epic journey
Ok who loves a spreadsheet?
We do and we know that may seem a bit OTT. This way we keep a record of what we have booked what still needs to be done and where we are up to. Otherwise we have bits of paper everywhere and we have been known in our earlier days to have missed a ferry as it was booked for a different day!
We literally start by deciding how long we want to be away for, when we want to leave and if there is any flexibility in this. Pinning down your flights as early as you can to obtain the best deals is crucial especially if you are travelling at peak periods and so we use the well known flight search engines to find the best option for us.
Flying long haul is hard at the best of times and we know that the cost of flights will vary enormously depending on the class you travel in, who you fly with and how many stops or stopovers you make.
We chose to keep our costs to a minimum and so flew with Turkish Airlines which we think were great, travelling over 2 days (over 30 hours) with 2 stopovers. We considered this to be part of our journey and experienced the airports in Istanbul and Kuala Lumpur on the way out and Sydney, Singapore and Istanbul on our way home. This also meant part of our journey was with Malaysian Airlines and Singapore Airlines. We couldn't fault any of these for service or efficiency.
We used the multi-city facility on the search engine so we could stage our journey to suit us. Some people prefer to use a travel agent for piece of mind. At this stage just double check your dates for each stage of your journey and add them to your spreadsheet so it's clear and even get someone else to check before you press the pay button.
Our early spreadsheet looks like this:
Ok now we have our dates pinned in the diary we can choose how flexible the rest of our tour is going to be but more about that later.
Planning Tip 2: How to Travel and Where to Stay in New Zealand
Our Trip was planned for January which is summer in New Zealand and so we knew there would be a higher demand for some things and we would need to book as early as we could. We did a lot of research on the best way to travel around this amazing country and as we are mature but young at heart we wanted to experience the sights as many a young back packer does but without the backpack😊. We are used to camping and sleeping in our 4x4 in the UK and Europe and we have stayed in many Airbnbs. This time we really wanted to travel and stay in a campervan as it seems the best way to experience all that New Zealand has to offer and so started to weigh up the pros and cons as we see them.
The pros of a campervan:
Its a self contained unit giving freedom to stay in 'off the beaten track' places
All your luggage stays with you there's no repeated packing and unpacking
You can freedom camp provided you have a self-contained certified van so potentially no additional accommodation costs
Provides the opportunity to self cater at any time of day and to store your food in a fridge 24/7
Laundromats are available both in towns and some paid for campsites and so you can pack less clothes if you are prepared to wash them.
The cons of a campervan:
It is expensive especially if you want a larger van
Fuel economy may be lower than a car
The standard of campervans vary so choose wisely
Not all companies allow you to pick up and drop off in different places or indeed on different islands
You may still have to pay for accommodation i.e. campsite fees for electricity and water etc.
The ease of moving about a campervan for the mature but young at heart traveller may be more challenging depending upon the campervan you choose.
Parking may be more difficult if you are not used to a larger vehicle
Accommodation in New Zealand is not cheap and so we worked out that car hire for 27 days plus Airbnb or other hotel accommodation would be similar to a campervan with fully comprehensive insurance. As we wanted to yield to the young at heart person inside us and have flexibility in when and where we stopped for the night we opted for a campervan.
Now choosing a campervan took a long time as the reviews were varied, the costs varied greatly and the style of vans almost blew our minds! Did we go cheap and cheerful (no such a category as cheap 😂), did we go spacious and all mod cons or did we opt for the young trendy version but with facilities? These are serious choices as you need to think what is right for you.
Some of the factors to consider when making your choice:
The seasons in New Zealand affect the daily cost of your campervan with the summer/peak season being December to February and so is the most expensive
Booking your campervan early if you are travelling during peak season will guarentee you more choice
The campervans are insured within your basic hire cost however, the excess is not and this is very expensive should you damage the van; ours was over £2,000 excess. Buying the additional insurance often comes with additional items like an outdoor table and chairs and linen exchange. You need to weigh up the additional daily cost versus a large excess. The extra daily cost is approximately £24 per day which we felt was worth it for peace of mind and we absolutely used the additional table and chairs.
Can you stand up and cook in your campervan? If you are mature like us this was vital as we knew moving around in a small space we would benefit from the height and being able to cook inside if the weather wasn't dry.
Do you want to Freedom Camp (camp in places for free yay!), if you do then you need a certified campervan to say you are self contained (this means you have fixed toilet and washing facilities to last for three days without needing any external facilities) and we can assure you this is checked regularly as we were checked at least twice.
Lake Rerewhakaaitu Department of Conservation Camping
Comparison websites are great for choosing your campervan and we liked motorhomerepublic.com it was easy to use and communication was great when we asked about the insurance. The prices quoted were the same as if we went directly to the Jucy website for example.
A self contained/certified campervan was our minimum standard followed by the cost. We opted for a Jucy Chaser (3 berth) as it had a toilet and shower on board with a kitchen and fridge and it was approximately £1,000 cheaper than other similar campervans. There were some even cheaper vans out there but the reviews were less positive and the money we saved on the Jucy campervan meant we had more for the experiences we wanted to do. The campervan cost for rental was £5180 for 24 days.
Our campervan from Jucy did have a collection option from the airport which is great as a free shuttle is provided but we decided to collect our campervan 2 days after arriving in Auckland. We wanted to include Auckland in our places to visit and explore and rather than find a place to park the campervan we opted to book a hotel for 2 nights via booking.com and get an Uber from the airport then use local transport to explore the city. This enabled us to become familiar with local transport and see the city at a walking pace. The cost of the campervan for 2 days was the same as the hotel and Uber. (The taxi was reasonable costing about £30 but Uber can icrease their prices at times of higher demand at which time we would look at other forms of public transport).
The flights and campervan were our biggest items to plan and book so now these were nailed we could look to the other requirements we needed.
Planning Tip 3: Government Entry Requirements for New Zealand
Depending on which country you are travelling from you need to check your Government website and what the visa requirements are for New Zealand as the entry criteria are strict and differ for each country.
We are UK citizens and the details of what you need to do and when are quite clear. The details we have shared below were correct at the time we wrote this so they will give you a guide but you should always check the most up to date information on the government website as we know a couple of things have changed even since we visited New Zealand.
When you have completed everything you need they should be added to your spreadsheet. Any ommission of these requirements would deny you entry into New Zealand.
In the UK you must have a valid passport with an expiry date of at least 3 months after the date you plan to return.
For UK citizens you can visit for up to 6 months without a visa
You will need to obtain a New Zealand Travel Authority (NZeTA). This is very straight forward and can be obtained electronically using the NZeTA App with the results coming through within 72 hours. This is valid for up to 2 years and cost us £17
At the New Zealand Border Control you will need to show proof of an onward or return ticket and proof that you have enough money for your stay
You have to pay the International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy. This is paid via the NZeTA App also and at the time we applied it was £35 but has since increased to approximately £50
You need to complete a New Zealand Traveller Declaration which can again be completed online and is linked to your passport so is checked when you arrive at the e-gate or by a border officer. The earliest you can do this is 24 hours before you enter the country but must be complete before you reach border control
There are very strict rules about what items can be taken into New Zealand and it is illegal to import most food products. It is important to declare anything which may be prohibited or subject to tax or duty. As you enter New Zealand it is made very clear what is and what isnt permitted. If you are in any doubt declare your items to the Biosecurity New Zealand Official or dispose of them in the marked bins available at the airport. Our experience was that these Officials are very helpful and if you ask they will tell you what is allowed. If you break the rules there are serious fines of up to £50,000 or even a prison sentence. If in doubt ASK!
Planning Tip 4: What Luggage is Best and How to Organise your Packing
Do you take too many clothes when you travel?
Are you like us trying to plan for all weathers and all occasions?
Do you bring home clothes you haven't worn?
This is us and usually down to me (Karen). We did it again on this trip and now with our recent experience we can help you consider your packing so you don't do the same and neither will we!
We knew the weather would be varied ranging from hot and humid in Sydney and Singapore to British like weather in New Zealand and cold in the glacier regions. The full range if you like and sometime all in one day! We wanted to participate in fun activities, walk in all weathers, but then stay in the odd luxury hotel and go out for meals.
So what would we advise?
Take a soft bag on wheels with a telescopic handle. This makes it easier to transfer in the airports but also the bag will fit more easily into your campervan. We saw lots of campers with hard cases that they placed outside of their van to make more space. We took 23kg each and even this was heavy on occasions to move. As a mature traveller we would not have managed this in a back pack even though we are young at heart lol. We definitely should have taken less clothes (one of us took a months worth of underwear and socks which we could have reduced to a week and then washed them!)
Consider adding brightly coloured straps to your bags to help identify them at the airport baggage claim and to also protect the zips on your bags. Add a TSA padlock to your zips.
Use Packing Cubes to organise your clothes. They were a revelation and are amazing. We tested two makes and both were good and made picking clothes each day in the van ideal as you selected the relevant cube and all your clothes remained together and organised. We used Travln Double Compression Packing Cubes and Suitednomad Compression cubes both from amazon.com both similar in price. The Suited Nomad were lighter in weight.
Think about how often you may wish to wash your clothes then reduce the number you need for those days.
Pack to wear layers for all weathers. We had lightweight jackets that provided warmth, lightweight cagoules and trousers that are waterproof, a couple of outfits for evening and then shorts/leggings and t-shits for the daytime. We could have reduced our packing by at least a 1/3.
This is us stood on the Franz Josef Glacier Take hiking/walking shoes and consider wearing them on the outward journey as they are heavier to pack and carry.
Check what bed linen and towels you get with your campervan hire as then you don't need to pack these. Some people have turned up to find their van doesn't have any (Ours did).
Planning Tip 5: What to do about Foreign Currency and Exchange Rates
We don't know about you but paying high exchange rate fees, bank charges or trying to find a cash machine abroad really doesn't appeal and it feels like someone else has your money.
A few years ago we discovered the WISE card (there are other similar cards available this is just the one we use wise.com) and this made a huge difference to our travels. We use this all the time when we travel abroad transferring money directly from our bank to the account and converting it to the currency we need. Any fees are minimal and the exchange rate is usually good showing you in an instant what you will get.
We've used this card extensively in Europe as contactless, via Applepay and using the actual card and pin number. In Europe you pay the price you see for the items you purchased in the local currency.
In New Zealand and Australia you can also use this card but there is a slight difference.
Contactless is called Paywave and although widely available sometimes you need the physical card to insert and your pin number. The seller, however, adds a percentage fee to your bill for the use of a card to cover their bank charges (anything from 1-2%). This is regardless of whether your card is a credit or debit card and Wise although a debit card is treated as a credit card.
Taking some cash could therefore potentially save you some money. You would need to weigh up though the exchange rates you get when you buy cash and if you run out of cash and use the cash machines in New Zealand we think the fees are extortionate and on one occasion were 25% needless to say we didn't get the cash! In some places using your physical card and entering your pin number you weren't charged the additional 1-2% but it wasn't in all cases so you would need to check first if this applies.
Using the laundry and some campsite showers in New Zealand requires coins usually $2 coins and so some cash could be helpful. We didnt take any cash at all and tended to get the coins when we were at a campsite from the owner.
You don't need cash for any public transport or taxis either so it really can be a cashless trip. However, you both need your own card as when you tap on and off public transport you cannot use the same card.
Planning Tip 6: How to Stay Connected
Everyone has their own way of staying connected with the outside world whilst they are away and many travellers would advocate a local sim card which you purchase on arrival in your chosen destination (often the airport or train station).
We think there are a number of things to consider first:
The mobile phone coverage in New Zealand can be very patchy and in some places non-existent!
Consider what your home phone plan is. Ours is unlimited texts and calls but only 12GB data (for £9 per month) which when you are abroad wouldn't last you long at all. Our phone provider will charge a worldwide roaming fee of £5 per day up to the limit of 12GB. Basically expensive and not much use. We use our phones a lot for way finding, booking tickets, social media or even watching programmes. We would very quickly run out of data.
The best option for us is an e-Sim and the best provider we have found is holafly.com
(We have tried maya.net and whilst it appears cheaper it was based on data usage so we went back to Holafly which has unlimited data). Calls can be made via WhatsApp only which worked for us and you pay by the day. The daily rate is reduced for the more days you buy ours was £2.07 per day for 27 days. We bought this for one phone only and then hotspotted our second phone which made the whole cost really reasonable. There were times when we couldn't get a signal as we were completely off grid but this was where we were not our network provider.
Using and installing an e-Sim is so easy as long as you follow a couple of bits of advice:
Buy your e-sim online when you have access to WiFi as you can activiate it on a date chosen by you so you can buy it in advance
You need the WiFi to download the e-Sim onto your phone
Give your e-Sim a name eg New Zealand Travel so you know which one is loaded for which country this way it makes it easier to delete them later
Make sure you follow the instructions and turn on the mobile data for that e-Sim as like us you may wonder why its not working straight away
Absolutely crucial turn off the mobile data and data roaming for your UK sim otherwise you could be charged data roaming without realising this. It happened to us on a previous trip and it was only when we ran out of our 12GB we realised and got a hefty bill. You could even take your own Sim card out but keep it safe!
Planning Tip 7: Helpful Apps
We found these Apps useful to access information and organise our travel.
NZeTA to organise your travel authority
Campermate is really useful to help you find campsites paid and unpaid and places of interest
RankersCamping is similar to Campermate and shows you where public dumpsites are too
Booking.com to book last minute hotels
Wise App to keep your finances in order at a glance and for instant currency conversion
Weather App to forecast the unpredictable changes
What Next?
Ok we hope you found the 7 Essential Planning Tips for the Mature but Young at Heart Traveller: Off to New Zealand helpful.
That's us all set ready to go! We didn't book any trips or ferries as we felt it was too far in the future and we wanted to retain the flexibility with the risk of course that the availability may not be there.
Our plans worked very well and set us up for the amazing journey ahead. If you too are young at heart travellers like us we hope you find our experience useful for your planning.
You can check out where we went and the amazing adventures we had by clicking the link to our next blog. We will include where we stayed, activities we participated in and overall costs to give you an idea of what is possible. We can't wait to share this with you...
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