Are you a backpacker? Are you not sure if you are? Backpacking is more than slinging a backpack on your shoulder and setting off. It’s a way of traveling. If you ever wondered if you were a backpacker, now is your time to find out. If you do any of these things, chances are you’re a backpacker!
You don’t know what to write down when asked for your permanent address.
You don’t know what to write down for occupation on the custom’s forms.
Pasta has been your main meal for months. Sometimes you mix it by putting chicken in it.
You wear the same shirt for a week.
You wear the same jeans for two weeks.
You do your laundry in sinks.
Everything you own fits into one pack.
You make new friends everywhere- bus stops, ferries, train stations, airports.
You think nothing of sharing a room with the stranger you just met at one of those places.
Hot water is a luxury.
So is air conditioning.
You will sleep anywhere as long as it is cheap.
You have a warped sense of cost. Three dollars for a room? Great deal! Three dollars for a meal? Outrageous!
When you go back home, you find it weird that you can’t haggle over prices.
You can’t sleep without earplugs anymore, even if no one is snoring.
You haven’t slept in a room by yourself since you left home.
When asked what day it is, you can’t remember.
You ask people where they’re from, before you ask them what their name is and you remember them according to where they came from, not their name.
No matter where you go, the beer is never cheap enough.
You can say cheers in more languages than you’d like to admit.
You have permanent flip flop tan lines on your feet.
You find it odd to be surrounded by people who have the same accent as you.
You fill your pockets with as many bread rolls and jam from the free breakfast as you can so you can eat lunch today.
You get pleasantly surprised to find toilet paper in the bathroom.
You believe that a good shower constitutes running water.
You haven’t showered without flip flops in months.
You plan your travel around getting a free accommodation on a train, plane, or bus.
You have learned to say beer in 10 languages.
Your budget revolves around how much alcohol you can buy in a night.
You spend your nights in airports to save money.
You know the nationality of everyone just by looking at their bags.
You see a television as a luxury and a waste of time.
You still think the three shirts you have been wearing for the past 6 months are fashionable.
You have fisherman’s pants.
You know what the words “visa run” entail and how painful it can be.
You plan all your future trips around free accommodation from all the promises people made to you at hostels.
Spot on with most of those, but I will never, NEVER lose my fashion sense enough to think that fisherman’s trousers are a good idea.
I am a backpacker! One thing I’ve been meaning to ask though Matt: what is a shower?
Great post! Consider it dugg
God I miss backpacking, even though I’ve only done it for a couple weeks at a time. I’m hoping to be down in Thailand for Christmas actually, but only for 10 days
Great List Matt – Don’t forget that there is not point to shopping for you, because you have no where to put it! And you have seen enough churches, temples, and so one to last a lifetime.!
What in the world are fisherman’s pants/trousers? Like cargo pants?
Ha! Awesome list. i must say- my loyalties are divided. Some trips are best with no strings, no plans, no comforts- just a full backpack and some bulging pockets! I don’t even mind that mildewy smell all of my clothes get after being shoved not-quite-dry into a pile of other stuff.
Other trips, however, are a break from many long hours at work and require a comfortable hotel room, running water, much shopping and room service
Oh the fickle hearts of your readers, Matt, what will you do with us?
great article…love the pic so much…
Accurate list! – don’t forget the diet of crackers for when Delhi belly kicks in
Hey, two more to add!
- you carry around a small compact medical box, which is stuffed with self adhesive plaster
- you have a map, neatly folded stuffed in one of your pockets
@craig: there is always time to shower!
@alicia: I miss it too!
@jamie: Fisherman’s pants are popular in asia. They are long and made out of a light and loose material to help keep you cool. Essential backpacker wear in the area.
@sarah: I don’t know what I will ever do with you!!!
So true. I hate flip-flops.
Ah ! well, I do fit a few of them..but still need a clean room and a loo..thats probably luxury !
It’s been a very long time since I’ve backpacked (hey, I have a 12-year-old), but it’s funny how familiar everything on this list still is.
Especially the ‘cheers in more languages…’
Not only do you know others by their nationality, but you also put descriptive words before said nationality according to their personality to help distinguish them from others of the same nationality: the crazy german, the hot norwegian, the weird australian, etc.
“You ask people where they’re from, before you ask them what their name is and you remember them according to where they came from, not their name.”
I thought I was the only one!
Great list!
Does 30 out of 36 constitute a pass?
…I think I’d add “you feel naked without a money-belt”.
Does anyone else get “phantom money-belt” syndrome for a few days when they return from a trip? Sudden panic when you notice it’s not there?
I checked half. Does that still make me a backpacker?
Having picked myself off the floor from laughing at the truth of it all, let me add… you know you’re a backpacker:
- when you throw out parts of your book as you read – it makes them lighter
- when you use baby shampoo to wash your clothes, wash your hair, wash your body – and in emergencies brush your teeth
- when you carry a jar of peanut butter or marmite in your pack, ‘just in case’
- when you find yourself squatting on your haunches for half an hour or more to chat, and feel no pain
- when you actually know what the BBC World Service is
and about not knowing what to put down as a profession… in fact, it’s when you put down ‘English teacher’ as a profession, no matter WHAT you do!
I laughed out loud at this. There are more here that are true than I’m willing to admit to.
Thanks for sharing and being so thorough. LOVED IT!
Beth
ALL TRUE!!!! Love it!!
Aah, I am a half backpacker then.
Prefer a dry & clean loo though. Its another thing that I don’t get it most of the time unless checking into a (nice) hotel.
Scribetrotter’s points made me laugh.
“You get pleasantly surprised to find toilet paper in the bathroom.”
))) …this was so funny and true.
LMAO
Good and funny list. Haven’t done any extended backpacking for a couple of years but still take bread, butter, jam etc home from restaurants. Old habits and all.
don’t forget learning how to haggle in farmer’s market and planning an entire vacation around picnics and eating in the room LOL
In summary: backpackers are cheap and smelly. Yup, you got it.