Nomadic Matt's Travel Site

For the last three months, I’ve been traveling around Australasia visiting New Zealand, Fiji, and Australia (for the second time). I’ve noticed something interesting- a lot of  the travelers I see are  young (18-24) gap year kids and most never consider leaving “the beaten track.”

Don’t get me wrong- I am happy to see people traveling. Whether by tour, cruise, car, or foot, taking the first proverbial step is a feat in itself. The very fact someone made the effort is amazing. Not enough people do it.

However, it’s dismaying to see so many of young travelers sticking to the same places. Popular places are popular for a reason and there is nothing wrong with going to them. They are wonderful but when you have nothing but time, you don’t really have an excuse to skip the other places too. The huge majority of gap year travelers  always seem to want to stay in the big places and never even try to see something different. Even when I prod them and try to convince them, they seem uninterested.

Take Western Australia for example. Not a lot of backpackers travel there. Almost all the travelers I speak to say they don’t have enough time to fit it in, even if they are spending months in Australia. Many just have no real answer as to why they aren’t going. Yet Western Australia is one of the most beautiful parts of the whole country. Even Aussies say if you want to see the “real” Australia, head west. It’s a lot less developed and incredibly beautiful. However, most travelers I speak too never even consider it. They just stick to the highly touristy and overrated Sydney to Cairns route.

You see this pattern a lot in other places too. In New Zealand, travelers follow the backpacker buses. The hardly ever head out of the major tourist centers. In Fiji, they just go to the Yasawa Islands. In Laos, travelers go tubing, get drunk in Vang Vieng and declare they have seen Laos.

There have always been travelers who just stick to the beaten path. Some people just don’t want to make the effort to find something new- they want to go meet other travelers and get drunk. However, based on the conversations I’ve had with people, this trend seems to be growing. Backpacking seems to have become an “industry” in this part of the world. Everything seems to be geared to doing everything for the traveler. There are special backpacker buses, hostels will pick you up from anywhere, there are special activities, special dinners. Hostels have there own bars to keep you in once place and, overall, it seems to always be about taking the work out of long term travel and make it more like a long holiday.

Backpacking has always been about being independent. I love how you have to figure it all out yourself. You find your way and in the process find out about yourself. In Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji, everything is done for you. I feel like it’s becoming more like a tour that has you stay in hostels. It’s all easy. You just need to show up and your hand is held for you.

Travel is more than just going somewhere. If that was the case than a trip to the movies could be counted as traveling. In my world, travel is about going to destinations to experience new things, people, and places. It’s about gaining insights into new cultures, trying local food, and yes, getting drunk at the local waterhole while locals tell you slang and curse words in their native language.

Travel isn’t simply getting on the greyhound, being dropped at a hostel, then shuffled to a backpacker tour and then a backpacker bar. It’s not about always staying on the beaten path. It’s not always about having your hand held. But the more I see these young travelers simply accept this travel, the more I get discouraged. I hope this idea of long term travel and backpacking doesn’t stick around but I think this trend is only going to continue among young travelers.

Then again, maybe I am just lamenting about an idea that only existed in my head.

Editor’s Note: My goal here was not to disparage people who travel a certain way. As I say here, all travelers are equal. It doesn’t matter how you travel. However, that doesn’t mean I don’t wish people saw something different or lament the fact that backpacking has become more of an industry than an adventure in solo travel. Travel how you want to travel. Just remember popular destinations are great but they aren’t the only thing that exists and most backpackers have the time to see a mix of places.