Owner and Operator
Age: 32
Where's home?
You can never EVER forget where your from – In my case Manchester, UK. BUTtttttttt for now and for the foreseeable future my Home is Byron Bay Babbbbbbbbby.
Languages spoken:
English & je parle petit pe francis (only after a few Bevies – DEL BOi Style ahahah)
Time spent in Australia and NZ:
Since Nov 2011!
A little about me:
The standard end of Uni – I don’t know what to DO with my life story resulted in me shopping around for flights and hitting the Open Road with Big Ryan (my college buddy & absolute Banter Man)… what was a few month adventures has become a lifestyle that I didn’t think even existed.
I get just as much a Buzz Creating Epic adventures for travellers than I do going on them myself. I’m still partial to a good old roadie and cruise in the van from Byron on surf trips – in search of waves, sunsets and open beaches!
Why is Aussie / NZ so special...
To start with Aussie Land is MASSIVE – not many peeps have been around the full circuit (and I myself wasn’t at all planning on) but the Roadie can become addictive and it certainly did for me!
I hit the road and travelled 25,913 Km’s the diversity between the tropical beach towns on the East Coast to the West Coast which feels like the end of the world got me hooked straight away. The people I met along the way – live by the chilled & relaxed lifestyle that takes you a while to get used to – but now have become totally accustomed too.
Rambling on so much I almost forgot about the little sibling AKA NZ – I planned to go there for 2 months well I ended up staying 2 years. Everything is accessible and not too far away – get ya self out of Auckland and there is literally not a person in site! There are too many moments to mention but Free Camping for a week with my Bruv-Ski {AKA Jakey Boi} next to a snow capped mountain, clear blue ocean and dolphins has to be up there. NZ has it ALL.
Favourite spot in Australia/NZ:
BYRON BAY Babbbbbbbbby (to live and stay for an extended time) however – if it’s just a visit then Uluru is MAJESTICAL {had to use the spell checker on that one}. Not gona lie after the 6 full days it took me to drive to the centre of Oz and see the red centre – I almost shed a tear.
NZ – Raglan is the ONE… perfect & laid back vibes it’s just UNREAL alsooooo – Big up Tim & Suz – they’ve made ‘Raglan BackPackers’ their own. In 6 and a bit years of travelling you can imagine how many hostels I’ve stayed at. This one is in a league of its own. The town itself is amazing but the hostel makes it.
Backpacker tips:
Put down the phone – chat to the person next to you – don’t take every moment for granted and be as open as possible – you just don’t know what the next person will bring into your life – Special Mention to Mollie Bylett – The Blog on how we met is COMING!
Funny travel story/or best moment in Australia:
Location NZ: A rainy night in a camp kitchen kick started a game of Rock Paper Scissors – the winner got the last Biscuit. The game after that we ran out of choccy biccies so we proceeded to bet on who would cut one anothers hair with a dodgy pair of clippers >>> safe to say I lost!
Type of traveller:
Chilled out & cruising along. Happy go Lucky. More Happy than Lucky ; )
From our RatPackers
Ben was amazing and went above and beyond to find us amazing deals and exactly what we were looking for. He did it all in record time too! We were very close to our travel date and Ben was doing so much for us so quickly! Definitely recommend
Mikey was fantastic from start to finish. He was so efficient and easy to talk to. 10/10 for him, would highly recommend the service. So happy I chose to go with RatPack Travel.
Friendly helpful and accommodating. Thanks Ryan. You made it all very easy.
Great service from Ben, came back with answers within minutes and walked us through the process, great experience, thanks Ben
George was fantastic, I came in very vague and he gave me the time and examples to lock in what we were looking for. He found great deals and was easy to talk to - he was able to give tips about the process without putting any pressure. Would recommend using Ratpack.
Ben made it so fast and easy for us to reserve our camper van for our trip in the fall! Excellent service!’n
I had a call with Ryan who was super nice, knowledgable and made me feel really at ease with making my decision. He asked me all about what I want to do and achieve on my trip, although I didn’t really want to pack too much in… nor gave much detail on what I want to do, he gave options and ideas for me to look into. He used his own experience as an example which was really helpful to hear and made me feel like I’m right at home with RatPack, I knew then I was making the right choice by talking to him. He answered any questions I had, even if they seemed like silly questions to ask. The booking process is really easy and straight forward, they do all the hard parts for you. Once Ryan talked me through my options, I made my selection and all I had to do was enter my card details for the deposit and I was done! Thanks to Ryan’s detailed and calm approach I knew I was booking with the right company/team. I can’t wait for the next step!!
George has been amazing. He put together the costings for our trip, and then I changed the dates completely and he redid everything and said it wasn’t a problem. I felt that he worked hard to get me the best deal, advised me which pickup town was the best deal, when was the best time to travel, and how I could save money by adding a day to our trip (yes, it was cheaper to go for 21 days than go for 20!). George sent through mountains of advice on travel destinations, camping sites etc. I would definitely recommend RatPack Travel and George.
The Ratpack team and specifically Ryan f were great for booking our dream New Zealand campervan trip. Ryan worked hard over several days trying to find the best possible deals for us and the communication was great with updates regularly. He was able to get us 2 vans that out did any other quotes that we received and we are really looking forward to our trip with Ratpack being by our side. Thanks a lot Ryan F!
Lovely people, more than helpful.
I am so stoked with the service I received from Ryan at RatPack Travel. He was so proactive and on the ball to help me with all my questions and variations. He gave me several options and gave me other things to look at to make sure I had all that I needed. Ryan did all the legwork in following up the availability of the type of van I wanted. If you are wanting to go on a Campervan holiday no matter how long or short, I would recommend RatPack Travel! They will be you support in every step of the process, in the lead up and while on the road. Thanks Ryan! You're a legend! They are a one stop shop when it comes to sourcing campervans and motorhomes from different providers! I nearly forgot to say - he got me a great deal on a newer model. ;)
Thijs and Gemma were just so lovely to communicate with and explained everything so well. Booked us our campervan seamlessly, and with a great deal too 😊 10/10 service from them both!! Couldn’t recommend more! 😊
Ben was super helpful, easy to deal with and always got back to all my questions nice and quickly, with all the campervan options out there we really didn’t know what one to go with but Ben did all the searching for us and made the whole process really simple.
Amazing and outstanding customer service, Ryan exceeded all expectations, he and his team found the perfect deal for us, if you are looking for renting a campervan in NZ or Oz, don’t look for more! Go straight to them and you’ll see you are in the best hands! 🙌
Greg was superb! We told him what we wanted in a camper van. Even with less than two weeks notice, he didn’t disappoint. We loved our camper van and it was perfect for the two of us!
