In 2017, I spent five months in New Zealand living out of a beat-up, bald-tired 2005 Wingroad named Liam Nissan. I was on a bare-bones budget, and it showed: my roof racks were two-by-fours tied down with paracord, my tent was a $20 heap of nylon from the Warehouse (a Kiwi analog of Walmart), and my cooler only held ice for about three hours before turning everything into sodden, lukewarm mush. Since then I’ve logged thousands of miles by plane and car and have tested all kinds travel and camping gear, from bougie high-end luxuries to budget hacks, to determine what is and isn’t worth the extra cash.