03 Dec Who are backpackers and why do they exist?
There‘s something fascinating and impressive about the people who are brave enough to leave their comfortable surroundings and embark on a life changing adventure. Cindy Drabaviciute gets inside three backpackers’ heads and investigates the positives and the negatives of backpacking and why backpackers exist
Thailand/Rita Kulesovaite photography
Backpacking came about in the hippie era. The 1960s and 70s were the years when thousands of long haired, beaded free souls traveled from Europe to Asia looking for a different way of life. They dropped everything and flew their homes in the hopes of finding their own identity and to experience a new adventure. When Rita Kulesovaite, a 26 year old backpacker from London, found out that “discovering yourself is a cliche” used by many backpackers, she wanted to show herself, “in the words of Louis Armstrong, it is indeed a wonderful world.” A backpacker is a person who travels with a massive backpack on their backs with all their stuff in it, stays in hostels or with locals and is typically on a low budget .The huge backpack includes clothing, gadgets like laptops and tablets and all other essentials. Rita Kulesovaite, points out the three most important items to have as backpackers are a passport, (probably the most important piece of document to everyone and everywhere), a credit card and a Swiss knife.
Most backpackers are in their twenties or early thirties as they have less to commit to and have more time on their hands. Even though backpackers travel to amazing places that look like holiday destinations, backpackers don‘t consider their trips as holidays. Backpacking is all about broadening your mind and experiencing different cultures. My interviewees agreed that backpacking came from the desire to see the world, but did not want to splash out on luxuries. Rita expands, “I always wanted to travel, but it was just a distant thought until I came across a blog written by a guy name Chris Guillebeau, who helped me realise I didn’t have to live my life the way other people expected me to. And if I don’t decide for myself what I want to get out of life someone else will probably decide for me.” Justina Valeisyte adds, “Being a backpacker as such wasn’t my intentions“. Her intentions were to see the world and as being young with barely any money for travelling, she had no other option, but to travel in the cheapest ways. Hitchhiking, couch surfing, staying in cheap hostels and sleeping in tents were the only “luxuries“Justina could afford. The word “backpacker“reached Justina‘s ears long after she started travelling this way.
Many backpackers will usually work within the area they are located in to save money, to familiarise themselves with the locals and the culture. Rita Kulesovaite lived in a province in the south-west Cambodia, Sihanoukville for three months and worked as a bartender at a local bar where the beach was five steps away. Pretty amazing, right? Anyway, here in the ‘real’ world, we live for the days that are marked ‘payday’, as down there, in Sihanoukville, Rita did not only have the opportunity to work bare foot ( one can only dream ) , but instead of getting her steady wage, she settled for accommodation and food.
According to an article by mojonews, dated 2013, the number of backpackers visiting Australia has fallen by seven per cent. Even though figures show the decline of backpackers in Australia, it does not, most certainly mean there is a worldwide decline. People still travel, but they choose different destinations. It’s easy to monitor the number of people crossing the border, but you won’t necessarily know if he/she is a backpacker or just your average tourist. To support and emphasize my findings, I caught up with three Lithuanians before they continue with their backpacking experience and head to South America and asked them about the most popular destination for backpackers. If we can find out the most popular destination, we can figure out where all the backpackers from the Land Down Under (Australia) escaped to. Marius Slepetys, 27, and girlfriend Justina Valeisyte, 26, decided to visit Southeast Asia, Thailand in particular. Marius says, “Southeast Asia is probably the best place to start, because it’s very cheap and there are loads of travelers.” On the other hand, Southeast Asia is not only known as a popular destination for backpackers for its pocket friendly living, but as Justina puts it, “ Not only is it one of the cheapest destinations for backpackers, it’s also a place with amazing beaches.” Justina also mentions that she heard stories about the locals and how friendly and welcoming they are. Rita Kulesovaite decided to start her backpacker’s journey in India and when asked for her reasons to travel there despite it being an incredibly big country, Rita shows that she likes a challenge and says, “if started from the hardest, you’ll built up your confidence much faster.” India is not as popular with backpackers, ,but let’s not turn away from India just yet, as Rita says, “Even though it’s not as popular as surrounding countries such as Thailand, more and more backpackers are pinning India down on their ‘must visit’ list, as it’s one the least touristy developed countries.”
As well as being courageous, curious and thirsty for traveling, backpackers have hopes and expectations before stepping onto a foreign land. Marius says, „I expected an adventure” and he most certainly got one. His stay in Thailand lasted for three months, that’s a lot of white sand and deep blue sea as well as beautiful wilderness and “loads of amazing people from all over the world”, as he himself puts it. If that’s not an adventure then I don’t know what is. Justina’s hopes were to see the world, meet new people and experience what she hadn’t experienced before.
Even though some people look at backpackers with huge admiration, (people who in society are referred to as ‘chickens’, me being one of them) and think of them as fearless human beings, they still have fears of being robbed, scammed and falling sick. Marius says, “My biggest fear when travelling is being robbed. It’s a scary thing to happen to someone, especially when you are out of your comfort zone.” His girlfriend seems fiercer and says, “The desire to travel beats any fears you might have. You just don‘t think about them“, but she is quick to add that whilst travelling in Asia her biggest fear was to catch Malaria or get food poisoning. These aren‘t the kind of fears I would be having if I was to go and ‘discover myself’ in a foreign land. Especially when there has been so many tragic incidents surrounding backpackers, like girls going missing and backpackers being murdered, hence the reason I‘m not planning to go backpacking any time soon.
Moving onto happier things, let’s look at the best things about being a backpacker. According to our adventurous backpackers, the best thing is to be able to discover things you never knew about yourself. Rita explains, “With the help of foreign cities, different cultures and liberating getaways you can really find peace and happiness in the simplest things.” Justina really values the freedom backpacking gives. It allows you to plan your journey, “create your own adventure”. She goes onto add, “Being exactly where you want to be, with the people you want to be with, visiting places you want to visit. The freedom to choose and know that everything is in your hands is really the best thing about being a backpacker.” Marius and Justina, both agree in unison that the people you meet there and the experiences you go through will stay with you for the rest of your lives. Surely, everything can’t be peachy, can it? And all three of them assure me that backpacking is not a bed of roses, quite literally. Justina and Marius, whilst staying in Cambodia, were not the only occupants in their little room. They had to share a room with rats! Yes, that’s right. And then in Thailand they were once again not alone, they had to live with these disgusting creatures, slimy creatures. Yes, you guessed it, they were indeed frogs! You choose which of the two occupants you would rather share a bed with. Justina says, “Sometimes it can get really frustrating and tiring. For example, walking long distances with a huge backpack in unimaginable heat can take a lot out of you, but in the end it’s all worth it.” Rita feels that the worst thing about being a backpacker is letting people you just met, go. She says, “It’s a snowball of sadness. You don’t know if you’re ever going to see each other again. It really gets to me, especially just as you get to know them.”
I have found out the reasons backpackers exist and they are all pretty simple and obvious. Backpacking is the cheapest way to travel and see the world. It’s the desire to discover the unknown and there’s not a doubt in my mind that backpacking is one of the most adventurous and fun ways to experience the world. I’d like to end my findings with some words of encouragement from Marius, Justina and Rita. They all agree that backpacking will change your life and it’s the cheapest way of travelling. Justina says, “It’s the best thing I’ve ever done. Every time I look back at the photographs, I can’t believe I was lucky enough to experience it all.” Rita believes in trying and failing rather than regretting for not doing it at all. She adds, “It’s easy to become afraid of life when all you see are daily news items with images of blood and war. But when you get to these places, invariably that’s not what you see.”
Bon voyage, Rita, Justina and Marius!
