Why I Choose The Backpacker Travel Style
It’s no secret (I mean just read the opening statement on my blog and it’ll tell you) I am pretty new to the travel game and even more so when it comes to the backpacker way of traveling. When I made this life changing decision to visit at least 10 countries in 10 years I knew that some sacrifices would have to be made.
When I started out I had two part time jobs that barely paid for my car loan every month and no idea how to even do the most basic travel bookings. Believe me I started into this idea of traveling by myself with the intention to use a travel agency and have them make all the bookings and itineraries. However, I quickly came to realize that not only was the packages they were offering to me expensive they were not exactly what I was looking for. Now they said I could customize my trip, but what I wanted was to basically start from the ground up and build my own trip and trust me that option was stupid expensive. So there went that plan.....
Plan B! Okay...so since I’m too poor to pay someone I’ll just plan it all myself!
Oh, optimistic Kimberly you have no idea what you’re in for....
Saying that figuring out how to plan, book, and then take an international vacation when you have never even left your side of your country before would be easy is an understatement. Seriously! I’ll be honest and say that I would probably still be lost in the Dallas/Ft. Worth Airport right now if I hadn’t made friends with a local that showed me how to navigate an airport. I had no clue what I was doing and I made more than a couple mistakes on that first trip to be sure. (Some I have admitted and some I shall take to my grave **face palm**)
Backpacking, as difficult as it was to get my head around, was a choice I made out of necessity. Limited funds meant that I would have to exchange my 3+ star hotels for hostels, my large checked luggage for a carry on, and my fine-dining for street food.
Now over two years later a few things have changed. I have graduated and was able to get a full time job that pays me well along with helping fund my schooling as I pursue to further my education. My car is paid off and I am able to save more extensively that I was able to in the past. If I really wanted to I could stay in nice hotels and travel through a tour company but I don’t. Why? Well the truth is that I fell in love with backpacking!
Whenever I traveled with friends and family in the past I felt as if we always went to the tourist hot spots, stayed in secluded hotels located in the tourist end of the city, and ate at places that seemed familiar. When I went to New Zealand alone and on a budget I stayed in a hostel and meet some super cool people that I would have never talked to if we had been in a traditional hotel. I have ate in the basements of run down buildings in Japan and got some of the best food from them. I have hiked hours to see the most beautiful secluded waterfall in Iceland.
I have meet so many interesting people while backpacking because backpacking forces you out of your comfort zone. To me it makes me feel more like a traveler than just a tourist.
When most people think of traveling like a backpacker they think that it means having “less” of a vacation when compared to traveling with a more generous budget - but it doesn’t; it simply means that you travel differently. Backpacking can be done with or without a guide book and it is just simply done with a no holds bar attitude.
So long story short “Why do I choose the backpacking travel style?”, because it works for me and it makes my travels feel like so much more than a vacation. It makes them feel like an life experience.
As always happy travels (no matter your travel style)!
