Beyond Backpacking

Backpacking* Europe, Asia or South America. Sound fun?

If you came to Expatriette for backpacker tips you’ve come to the wrong place. But because a savvy traveler must be well-educated, you can search the backpacker forums at Thorn Tree and get pretty much all your questions answered. Backpackers have done more to add to the Ugly American image than any package tourist ever could. And a heavily disputed wiki entry on the subject will only add to the already grey cloud covering the backpacker industry.

The hostel culture in Cambridge pretty much sums it up. You come through the lobby doors, sweaty even though it’s cold outside. The nonplussed desk attendant assesses you in a millisecond. Grimly, she hands you a key to the common dorm room. The smell hits you when you swing open the door to find…what? “Clean” clothing strung across the floor. Paint flaking off the bunk beds. Spilled contents of “green” or “brown” (who knows what color they are anymore?? Covered in the flags of the countries they “visited”). Rucksacks all over the beds. Including yours. Mmm mm. Backpacking.

It’s customary for British students fresh out of high school or university to take a ROTW trip. In the near future I believe we’ll see more Americans doing the same. Oh noooo! More kids roaming the globe, doe-eyed and drunk for the first time (at least Brits are primed for the world of grown up drinking, unlike their American counterparts).

Wouldn’t it be incredible if fresh grads traveled the world with class and a sense of “beginner’s mind.” Open to new possibilities and completely free of prejudice. A dream world? Clothes that allowed them to blend in (read: wrinkle-free, cute). Language skills that let them interact with their new friends (you’ve heard the joke? Q. What do you call a person who speaks three languages? A. A trilingual. What do you call a person who speaks two languages? A. A bilingual. What do you call a person who speaks only one language? A. An American. Touché.)

Manners! What a concept.

I’m not some granny trying to tell you youngun’s how to act. Seriously, I think we need training to learn how to act properly. I’ve been researching travel books and haven’t found many targeted at kids or school-goers on travel. Why is that? Suddenly we graduate and start looking at maps? I don’t think so.

The first step to getting beyond backpacking is educating (and getting over) yourself. Even if you go the backpacker route and carry around a grungy backpack almost as big as you for three months in Europe (more on this later), get up to speed before you go. Talk with friends that have gone before you. Get ready to ask stupid questions. (Or better yet, read Expatriette and become a card-carry Pretentious Traveler.) Beyond backpacking is modular living, it’s edgy and educated. It’s sexy. It’s Expy.

*Backpacking is a term used to denote a form of low-cost independent international travel, differentiating it from other forms of tourism notably by the following typical attributes: minimal budget use, longer duration traveling, use of public transport and multiple destinations/countries. (from the wiki entry)