Reasons Why Backpacking is Awesome
Why does everyone go on about backpacking all the time? What’s so great about hauling a backpack halfway around the world, getting to meet loads of people and trying things you never, ever, thought you were capable of?
If you haven’t been backpacking yet, you may be wondering why we bang on about it all the time.
Why Backpacking is Good for You!
- You See the World
Backpacking gives you the opportunity to travel and see a lot of the world on a budget. You might need to lower your usual living standards a bit with eating street food and sharing a dorm and bathroom with other people. But it is a great way to see different environments on low costs.
- It Gives You Strength and Confidence
Backpacking lets you experience the culture and your surroundings in a more intense way. At first you might have a problem with the language in the country or you are not used to the smell, food and culture. You are on the “road” so you get to know new people, new impressions and differences from what you experienced before. This “on the road” experience will give you strength and confidence for the future.
- You Learn to Be Flexible
Backpackers live day to day basically, we don’t have a strict timetable. Let’s say you want to travel up north somewhere and for some reason you want to spend another night in that city – you just organise a place to stay for the night and leave the next day. Your day is not planned out, you plan by how you’re feeling. Sometimes you feel the urge to move on to see more of a country or the opposite can occur if you feel that you would like to spend some more time at this one place because you haven’t seen everything yet. You don’t get the feeling that you are missing out and due to the flexible timeframe, it is easier to enjoy the moment.
- You Have the Adventure of a Lifetime
Backpackers have an adventure of a lifetime. Each time they go with their giant backpacks to the airport, bus station or even by foot on the streets… they are about to experience a life adventure. You don’t worry about a thing, you have a goal where you want to be in a day, months or even years and you get there eventually.
- Find Lifelong Friends
Backpackers love to stay in hostels, not only because it is cheap, fun and convenient… no, because they love to meet other backpackers. If you travel on your own the easiest way to meet similar minded fella’s is in backpacker hostels most of the time you even find lifelong friends while you travel, and you keep in contact.
- You’re More Open Minded
Backpackers tend to be more open minded. Due to experiencing many different cultures and events backpackers tend to have a different view on life. They are more laid back since somehow, they always made it through difficult and sometimes dangerous situations.
Once you are a backpacker you can’t stop being one. This lifestyle is addictive.
Let your mind free, experience the world, get to know yourself better and become a backpacker
- You cannot and will not learn everything from a book.
There is this thing called ‘life experience’. Ask 100 people who they would rather sit next to at a dinner party, someone who has stories to tell of their travels, or someone who read about a country in a book, I guarantee all 100 would say the person who has lived the experience.
It is also amazing how many more conversations you can join in just because you have travelled somewhere and have that genuine knowledge inside you. The best way to learn is to physically experience it, the socially inept and boring academic stereotype had to come from somewhere.
8.The sociability factor.
You are on your own and you cannot hide behind your friends. Loneliness is hell, so you have to make the effort to talk to people and engage in social interaction. Or, you have become far too introverted with your own friendship group that you ignore and forget other people around you and are essentially being an unpleasant person. Backpacking is the perfect way to understand all areas of social interaction.
If you are staying somewhere long term and have bonded with those within your dorm room, be honest how often do you try to talk to new people in the hostel? Chances are you stick to what you know. That is until you eventually move on and find yourself the new arrival in a hostel full of long termers.
With backpacking you meet people from all walks of life and develop an understanding of how people feel. You will never forget that feeling of arriving somewhere on your own and not knowing anybody and you will always remember the people you first spoke to when you arrived somewhere. Simply by living as a backpacker you develop empathy, respect and understanding of treating people as you yourself would like to be treated.
- To be a little slutty.
It’s not really the correct thing to say when someone asks you why you want to go backpacking for a meeting the wealth and variety of the opposite sex you want to, or maybe you still live at home and bringing home that sexy girl / guy you met isn’t really a good idea. So, you go backpacking where nearly everyone you meet is sociable. Throw in some days on the beach, some drinks, raging hormones and any other reason you may have had for justifying your trip goes well and truly out of the window.
10.Backpacking helps the economy.
For some countries tourism is the major area for income and the economy. In fact, nearly every country that you can possibly imagine visiting ranks tourism as one of the top earners for their countries economy. If we all stopped travelling, we would seriously hinder the global economy and we have all experienced the pain of the recession.
Now if anyone dares to question your motives for backpacking or dismisses you as a person who is ‘lost’ then take this, point, and throw that in their face. “I am doing my piece for the global good, what are you doing?” Just remember to do your bit for the global good as environmentally soundly as possible. We backpackers aren’t exactly innocent when it comes to polluting the globe.