What I Pack: Patrick Nolan

Patrick Nolan. Photo / Supplied

Do you travel light or heavy?

Light, better fuel consumption.

Cattle or first class?

It would be nice to travel first class one day.

I can't travel without...

A cooking knife and a coffee maker.

What type of suitcase do you carry?

One that can be wheeled.

What's always in your hand luggage?

A good book.

Are you a planner or last-minute packer?

A well-planned, last-minute packer.

What's the best thing you've brought back from a trip?

The girlfriend I left with.

Favourite or most exciting airport to land in?

Tribhuvan International Airport, Kathmandu. It seems to appear out of nowhere.

Best travel tip?

Knowing enough about the national sport to be able to start a conversation.

Most memorable trip?

Flying from the Plain of Jars in the centre of Laos back to Vientianne. Our guide somehow forgot to book us on the regular flight, but was able to arrange (for an extra $440) to get us on a cargo plane. We sat in the hold with goats, ducks and their owners. The pilot was a veteran of the war, it was the smoothest landing I've ever experienced. Not a quack or a bleat to be heard.

What do you do while on the plane?

Sleep, read and try not to think that I'm in an aluminium tube 35,000 feet above the Earth, moving at 800kmph.

Patrick Nolan is the director of the NBR New Zealand Opera's Genesis Energy season of Eugene Onegin, opening in Auckland on Thursday 17 September.