Do you love the adventure and cost savings that go with camping but don’t want to spend all your time getting to your destination? Flying to your destination can give you more time experiencing your destination and less time getting there. We love the fly in and camp out approach to visiting any rugged place. We’ve taken dozens of camping trips that have allowed us to experience some amazing places in a budget friendly way.
So how do you fly with all your camping gear?
Well you could easily break your budget getting every bit of camping gear to your destination. When flying and camping mix, some preparation is needed to make sure you stay on budget and still have everything you need at your destination. So if you’re traveling on a budget, these tips will help you to fly with camping in mind.
Flying and Camping Packing Options
If you’ve gone camping before, chances are that you have all the gear you need to complete a comfortable camping trip. However, since you’re flying with your camping gear you may have to adjust what you take or buy new versions of your gear to fit your fly and camp trip. Before rushing to the nearest REI, take stock of what you will pack.
What Size Baggage Will You Take
The first question you should ask is what is your baggage allowance and will you upgrade. When we’ve planned to fly with camping gear, we’ve always been allowed free carryon luggage and had the option of paying for larger checked bags. Check with your airline for full details.
You’ll also want to remember any carryon restrictions when packing your bags. Airlines typically don’t allow any sharp items, like camping knives in carryons but these items are allowed in checked bags. Also keep in mind any restrictions on chemicals, liquids or pressurized cans. To fly some of these items to your camping trip, it may be worth paying for a checked bag. Check with your airlines for full carryon restrictions.
We are able to fit all of our gear into two carryons, two personal items and one checked bag. In the past, this has required us to pay an upgrade fee to bring a checked bag. However, when booking your flights, it may be worth exploring airlines with free checked bags to avoid this extra fee. We recommend starting by packing your free luggage and adding additional baggage as necessary.
What Can You Buy On Site
As you pack, keep in mind that you can buy some camping gear upon arrival. This is especially true of larger bulkier items that won’t fit well into baggage. When flying with camping gear, ask yourself, is it really worth paying extra to upgrade you baggage allowance or can you get that item on site?
For us, we purchase anything that won’t fit in a suitcase. This is typically things like camping chairs, disposable coolers and all of our meal items. On our last camping trip, we spent $15 each on two camping chairs and $5 on a disposable cooler. We bought these items at the Walmart nearest the airport and gave them away on the last day of our camping trip.
Buy Before You Fly
Essential for Flying with Camping Gear
One of our must-have items for a fly and camp trip is a soft sided cooler. These coolers come in multiple sizes so you can find one that fits the needs of your trip. They also can fold and roll up which makes them easy to pack in luggage.
While everyone owns a water bottle or two, it’s worth investing in some hydration backpacks or collapsible water bottles for your fly to camp adventure. We love the connivence of a hydration backpack but either option is better than a standard water bottle as it can be rolled up and tucked in a corner of a suitcase.
Another great invention for flying with camping gear is the telescoping camp fork. These are your typical marshmallow roasters but they can shrink down to a smaller size and extend when needed. They are inexpensive and are worth the extra purchase for the convenience of packing.
Consider Upgrading Specifically for Flying
If you’re using sleeping bags, consider upgrading them. More expensive sleeping bags will often be lighter and more compact than budget friendly sleeping bags common at childhood sleepovers. If you can’t choke out the ridiculous sum of money for these upgraded sleeping bags – Paula couldn’t either – then at least purchase a stuff sack. Stuff sacks are a type of drawstring bag that is meant to be compressed after it is filled. Paula’s cheap sleeping bag can be compressed by about one third of its size with the help of a $10 stuff sack.
We would also recommend making sure you have the proper size tent for the trip. While we love a luxury tent as much as the next person, when you are going to fly with camping gear, it is definitely better to have a smaller tent. We have a two person backpacking tent that folds down to about the width of a water bottle and weighs a minimal amount that we use to camp and fly with.
You’ll also want to pack all of your camping essentials that you normally would, keeping in mind space and weight of items as you do so. Anything that is too heavy or large may be worth leaving behind or upgrading to a different model.
Making Reservations
When you fly with your camping gear, it’s important to know what you need to pack ahead of time. Therefore, we recommend making campsite reservations so that you know what the campsites will offer you and what you will need to bring. Many budget level campsites in popular places fill up early so try to get your reservations ahead of time so you can make sure your site has what you need and is on budget.
Similarly, matching your rental car to the type of trip you are taking is important as well. We recommend making a reservation ahead of time so that you can ensure you get the right size vehicle for your trip. We like to travel on a budget so we typically opt for the midsize car. However, if you’re traveling with more luggage or planning on doing some off-roading, you may want to upgrade to a larger vehicle. We like making rental car reservations with free cancellation policies. Most of the time, these reservations will guarantee that you have a vehicle but will allow you to change at the time of pickup to another available model.
What Does Your Campsite Include
Once you’ve made your campsite reservations, you can explore the campsite resources you’ll have available to you. When we fly to camping sites, we make sure that all the camping sites have fire pits or grills. This way, we don’t have to pack a camp stove and can still eat all our meals on site.
It’s also important to note what cleaning amenities your campsite offers, such as showers and laundry. For longer camping trips, it may be beneficial to stay at a site with a laundry so you can pack less and do laundry mid-trip. Another important factor is shower facilities. When we spent 9 days in Arizona, not every campsite had a shower. Knowing this ahead of time allowed us to plan clothing options and activities best suited to a day with no shower at the end of it.
Meal Planning and Packing
In general, we do not recommend flying with camping food. If you’re staying in places with campfires or grills, a trip to the grocery store near your campsite will provide you with everything you need. Don’t forget to note any storage or cooking utensils you may need to buy as well, such as paper plates and foil.
We highly recommend planning your meals ahead of time. This will allow you to make an accurate shopping list and pack all of the cooking utensils you will need. You don’t want to bring the cast iron skillet or buy the cherry pie filling if you don’t plan on making a cherry pie.
Planning your meals ahead of time also allows you to plan your food storage. We plan all of our meals with things that need refrigeration for right after we buy them and then shift to non-perishables later in the trip. This helps to cut down on the amount of ice we need to buy.
For hydration, plan to fill your water bottles regularly. If you’re in areas where water filling stations are less common, you’ll have to pack more water bottles.
Packing Tips to Fly with Camping Gear
Now that you know everything you’ll need to pack and what you’ll need to buy, it’s time to sit down and actually pack your bags just in time to fly to your first camping site.
1. Start with Your Checked Bag
We always start by packing our checked bag. As this is the largest of our luggage, we start by packing this bag with everything that is too big to fit in other bags. This typically includes our cooking gear and soft shell cooler.
Next, we add all of our liquids, chemicals and sharp objects to our checked bag as these items are not allowed in carryons.
Be sure to know if there are any weight restrictions with your checked bag.
2. Pack the Carryons
Next, we stuff all of the heavy stuff in our carryons. Carryons typically don’t have weight restrictions so we load them with everything heavy to avoid any heavy bag charges on our checked luggage. This includes things like footwear, our air mattress and some clothing items.
We’ve gotten this whole packing thing down to an art form in the past years. When we’re flying with camping gear, we can fit all of our tent and bedding equipment into one carryon suitcase. This is really helpful upon arrival because then you only have to pull one suitcase out of the car to set up camp. If you can work some magic while packing, we highly recommend doing this.
3. Decide Where to Put the Rest
After the carryons are packed, we fill in all the holes in the checked suitcase with what is left.
Another option is to take full advantage of your personal item allowance. We use our small hydration backpacks as our personal items. You can take out the water bladder and pack that in a different piece of luggage and then use the available space to pack any odds and ends. In your personal item, pack things that we couldn’t fit in the suitcases or things that we might need on the flight. We typically pack our camera, electronic equipment and snacks in these.
If you like our fly and camp style, pin our packing list for later!
this will be my first time flying to go camping. Your article is really comprehensive and so helpful. thanks for helping get me ready!
Thanks so much! I hope you have fun. It saves us lots of money – especially in more expensive destinations.