Fighting The Flashpacker Label (What Is A Flashpacker Anyway?)

When I to start with heard the phrase “flashpacker,” I immediately believed of the Bill Bryson guide, “A Stroll in the Woods.” The major characters are hiking the Appalachian Trail and operating into folks representing, additional or less, a microcosm of society. A single person they met was absolutely and utterly clueless about what it requires to total that kind of undertaking. As a result of their conversation, the hiker explained that, rather than be educated about points, he would basically depend on the quite a few gadgets and gizmos that filled his backpack and dangled from his straps. I’m not quite sure the outcome of his adventure, but one can only assume.

This, to me, was my preliminary vision of flashpacking. Retaining this in thoughts just after a lot of many years of travel all in excess of the world, I’ve come to understand that this is a fluid term, one particular that is seemingly evolving with the planet. I wouldn’t really phone myself a flashpacker just still, but I will admit that I have tendencies to swing that way. It wasn’t lengthy ago that I carried every little thing on my back. Even some trips now phone for that. Now that I’m pushing thirty, I know I will not be blacklisted from the travel community if my hostel reservation involves a personal bathroom.

Reading the Bryson story, I got the impression that flashpacking was in essence some idiot, depending on his load of disposable income, living out some unfulfilled dream about becoming a backpacker and traveling the world. Even so, now, just after a small investigate, I have a unique comprehending of the term. The flashpacking definition I now have is generally anything to this result: A backpacker, only a minor additional grown up.

Nor remarkably, even Wikipedia tackled the endeavor of defining it:

A flashpacker shares some of the characteristics of a backpacker: a sense of independence, no fixed itinerary and reasonably extended intervals of travel to additional exotic and far-flung locations. Whereas backpacking is typically related with spending budget travel and destinations that are relatively low cost, flashpacking has an association of much more disposable revenue when traveling and has been defined basically as backpacking with a bigger budget.

Now, really do not presume I’m traveling on some enormous budgets — I’m not, I’m just a little better at fiscal self management now (usually). Just after a little reflection, my comprehending of the term has gone from, “Aw, hell, I’m a flashpacker,” to far more of a “Yeah, I’m in all probability some sort of flashpacker.”

Just after reading through this current Vagabondish post wherever they offer up 6 helpful tips on being a successful flashpacker, I uncovered that they appear to be paralleling my personal thoughts, and now I truly feel just fine about the label.

Nevertheless, two notable variations on the record are two you will not find on a backpacker’s tip listing: “Don’t really feel guilty for taking brief-cuts” (e.g., flying from Belgium to Spain rather than overland), and, “Don’t be ashamed to splash out” (“If you want to check out each and every of the most highly-priced types of beer at a brewery in Munich, go for it”).

What to get away from this? Throw in your laptop, whiz in the privacy of your personal bathroom, and adjust your underwear from week to week. Or do none of this. It’s no huge deal, and get in touch with it what you want. Each and every of us still travels by our personal means — regardless of whether that is evolving or not.

[photograph by Georgio Montersino/Flickr]