What You Really Need in Your Backpack Before Hitting the Road

Are you ready for a few weeks or months in a developing country or region? Almost any physical item imaginable, like a backpack, clothes, toiletries even shots (should you deem them necessary) can -- and perhaps some cases should -- be acquired at your destination. Therefore, what do you really need? Without further banter, I present to you the following five intangibles.

Behold!…

1. A bit of money
2. No commitment to a job
3. No commitment to personal or family relationships
4. The proper documentation
5. The traveling spirit

Let’s break each of these down.

FIRST – A BIT OF MONEY

How much money? This of course depends on how you travel.

I would say that, in the budget-travel friendly regions like Southeast Asia and the Indian sub-continent, I spent about $7000 annually. This is about $19/day. I’m talking about countries like Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, India, and Nepal. In South America, it probably worked out to about $9000 annually. Here, we’re talking about countries like Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, and Ecuador to name a few.

On all my trips, I have been the very definition of a shoestring traveler. I consistently looked for the cheapest places to stay, ate street food incessantly, and traveled by overland public transport. I also bargained for everything I could, because I knew that when my limited funds ran out, I would have to stop traveling.

Yet I lived well like this. Wherever I went, I stayed in my own clean, safe room -- not a hostel with many beds to a room like in Europe. I ate three or more meals a day out. I saw all the places I wanted to see and met loads of amazing people. I partied at night. I even bought a bunch of stuff and sent it home.

Given the weakness of the dollar, and slight inflation in those countries, I’d say that in 2007 I would want about $9k a year to travel in Asia, and maybe $11k a year in South America in order to maintain the same lifestyle. Still a bargain!

Finally, there is the issue of how to carry your money. In most countries today, you can just carry a Visa or Mastercard card that can be used to take out cash in your home nation, and then use it to grab local currency. Just be aware that this may not be possible in the most remote destinations on the planet – some countries in West and Central Africa, for example, may be utterly devoid of cash machines.

SECOND – NO COMMITMENT TO A JOB

This is pretty self-explanatory. Of course, you can’t have a present job that ties you down. And you can’t have promised to start a job in the near future.

You might think that this would limit long-term budget travel to the realm of students and lifelong transients. But throughout my journeys, I saw long-term travelers who broke this mold. I met, for example, many seasonal blue-collar workers. I also saw people who were working professionally, and just wanted to take some real time off. See our related piece on how to get time off from work.

THIRD – NO COMMITMENT TO ONE OR MORE PERSONS

Yes, it’s hard to travel in the developing world with a family. But I saw some people doing it. I’ll never forget a Swiss woman – a single mother -- who was taking her children through Laos, one of the least developed countries in Asia. I met her on a rather uncomfortable bus packed with locals and negotiating a bumpy road. The kids didn’t seem to care – and when the bus stopped they got off and started playing with hill tribe children. She told me it was tough but rewarding, and that she and her children got special treatment from locals wherever they went.

If you’re seriously involved with a significant other, then it might be best to try to convince them to go with you. But beware: Is this person up for a long-term adventure? They too have to have all five of these factors present! Plus – are you going to enjoy traveling together for an extended period of time? Will you fight? Will your boyfriend, girlfriend, or spouse be able to handle the rigors of budget travel? Or, like many people, will they rebel against living outside of a world of creature comforts? I have long believed that, for me, the ultimate test of long-term compatibility is a good six-month road trip in a hardcore region!

FOURTH – THE PROPER DOCUMENTATION

It is easy for those with an American, Canadian, EU, Japanese, or other developed world passport to take this for granted. Sure, sometimes we have to put up with red tape and even long lines. Getting an Indian visa in Nepal for example, required considerable patience. But I usually waited to acquire visas until I was in the region of my destination countries. And in the end, those from the developed world can go to most countries without problems.

But this is not so for all of the world’s citizens. Several people from developing countries mentioned that it was extremely difficult for them to get tourist visas because of suspicion for alterior motives in their destination countries. Others, like Chinese, face domestic obstacles to foreign travel.

FIFTH – AND MOST IMPORTANT – THE TRAVELING SPIRIT

The traveling spirit includes getting over the natural human fear that faraway, different and impoverished places are dangerous. Part of this is a realization that you will rarely be targeted or looked upon with disdain simply for being a foreigner. With a little luck, bad things won’t happen. In eight years abroad, I have rarely ever gotten sick or hurt, and the only time I had an act of physical violence committed against me was in Europe. Oh, and someone stole my old camera in Peru. But that’s about it.

All that said, having the spirit also means realizing that putting up with some occasional physical discomfort is worth the rewards of seeing the way the world really is.

To me, the traveling spirit also means making an effort to spend real time with locals and travelers. This might mean learning a local language, or just actively listening to what people have to say. Of course being friendly, open-minded, and well-informed is important too. And most of all, the long-term traveler better be ready to have some serious and uninhibited fun.

-justin

What Separates the Traveler from the Tourist

Yahoo’s online dictionary defines tourist as “one who travelers for pleasure”. I contend that not all those who venture to the developing world on pleasure (as opposed to business) are tourists. Instead, some are travelers, or backpackers. I actively identified myself in this way on the road, in the local language when possible.

A traveler is defined in the same publication as “one who travels or has traveled, as to distant places”. I’d say that’s a good start, but that it doesn’t fully describe the people I have met and hung out on the road. Right then -- what are some factors that separate the traveler from the tourist? I’m not sure that any list could ever be comprehensive. But as I understand it, the traveler tends to…

• Travel for an extended period of time
• Possess at least some local language ability and use it or attempt to use it to communicate
• Think and communicate in local units (temperature, currency, height/weight/distance measurements, etc)
• Eat local food where local people dine, especially on the street
• Seek out local bars and night clubs as opposed to those full of tourists
• Get around by using local public transport
• Eschew guided tours
• Bargain effectively.  
• Spend real time with local people other than those directly in the tourism industry, i.e. hotel staff, taxi drivers, tour guides, etc…with the action often taking place in the street.
• Spend time with other travelers, often getting information from them on cities or town within a given country or region later in the journey
• Stay in cheap accommodation, often guest houses
• Be realistic about the dangers posed by supposed "trouble areas", being careful not to blindly overrate them
• Carry items with a backpack as opposed to a suitcase
• Use a guidebook oriented towards budget travelers
• Think of oneself as a traveler

So there you have it, some tangible ways that travelers can be discerned from tourists. When someone does all the things on the list, it’s hard to deny that this person is indeed a traveler. The usual caveats about labels and generalizations apply, and this is of course a spectrum; most people are somewhere in-between, possessing some “tourist” traits and some “traveler” traits on a given trip. Someone might be a hardcore traveler on one trip, and be an unabashed tourist on the next.

The above are simply manifestations of the desire to dig below the surface and see the world as it really is, as opposed to existing in a location to “relax comfortably” and “see the sights”. Ultimately, it’s about attitude and mentality – the traveling spirit. After acquiring, nurturing, and manifesting that spirit for over a decade, it may be hard for me to ever be a tourist again. But people keep telling me that when I get considerably older, maybe I’ll enjoy traveling as a tourist. Ask me in twenty-five years!

-justin

Where to go

Why the developing world?

On this site, we’re not really looking to provide advice on how to do a one-month Euro-rail trip. No! We’re talking mostly about traveling in the developing world. Of course the more developed destinations like the US, Europe, and Australia are not without their charms – for one, they are great proving grounds for harder core travel. But I’ve got to say, I vastly prefer traveling in the developing world because that’s where all the chaotic, unpredictable, and less regulated fun is. That is the where the culture is visible, accessible, vibrant, authentic, and markedly different from what most travelers – who overwhelmingly come from developed countries -- are accustomed to. In much of the developing world, in particular wherever there is favorable weather, people seem to spend much of their lives outdoors. And we get to see it all.

What’s counted as the developing world?

When thinking about traveling, I find it useful to think of the world in regions because you can arrive at one country, and then travel around in others within the same region. Guidebooks such as Lonely Planet and Rough Guide do the same thing; for example you’ve got the book that started it all, Lonely Planet’s classic “Southeast Asia on a Shoestring” by Tony and Maureen Wheeler. So let’s say that, when we’re talking about the developing world, we’re talking about…

1. Northeast Asia (minus Japan)
2. Southeast Asia
3. The Indian Subcontinent
4. Central Asia
5. South America
6. Central America and Mexico
7. Eastern Europe
8. The Middle East
9. North Africa
10. West Africa
11. Central Africa
12. East Africa
13. Southern Africa

- justin

If I only have room in my bag for one more thing, what should it be?

Leave your toothbrush. Ditch the medicine. Forget your zip-off pants. And to hell with pajamas. Bring a packtowel.

Really, I should write this post in verse. An ode. That's how much I love my packtowel.




Beautiful








Glorious




Made like a car shammy, these are small, synthetic towels made to fold small and dry quickly. Having watched one to many traveler lug around a wet beach towel or try to dry off with an old t-shirt in a hostel, there really no question in my mind about the necessity of this object. MSR makes them. Cascade designs makes them. The brand is not important. What is is that I stop typing, you stop reading, and we both open a new window and buy one right now.

Go ahead. What are you waiting for?

-paul

How to find airline specials

I've got to type fast in order to steal his post from Justin, particularly as he taught me everything I'm about to type.

In my previous post I explained the budget traveling importance of kayak.com, the one-stop website for finding the best fares. Kayak allows you to find great prices by searching as widely among airlines. There is, however, another way. Specific airlines regularly offer some pretty dramatic specials. Tickets at these prices come and go very quickly and so you are unlikely to come across without spending your life in front of a computer. Unless, of course, you find your way to

This site does the research for you. They scour the web for specials and regularly come up with amazing ones. Justin flew from Los Angeles to Boston for under $200 through one of the promotions they discovered.

Best part is, it's easy to use. Just visit www.airfarewatchdog.com, sign up for their email list, tell them your home airport, and you'll begin receiving lists of specials as often as you'd like.

So, with a $300 return to Costa Rica sitting in your inbox, what are you waiting for?

-paul

How to find a cheap plane ticket

Some travels questions take a long time to answer, others are quick. Once upon a time, the question above would have involved a complex answer detailing the differences between travel offices and bucket agents, or rating expedia.com versus travelocity.com. Today, however, a traveler searching for plane tickets need only make one stop:



www.kayak.com is a godsend to budget travelers. Its inventors should be awarded the Nobel Peace prize for keeping me away from frustrating travel agents. If you're not familiar, kayak searches the databases of other websites, dozens of them, and returns a comprehensive list of all the fares available. After having used them for the last year, I've never seen their prices be beaten. Only two comments bear mention. First, if it's relevant, check southwest.com for fares as well; for some reason kayak does not report them. Second, once kayak returns fare options they direct you to one of several links where you can purchase the fare. www.cheaptickets.com often comes up and should be avoided. I'll detail my experience with them in another post, but their poor customer service nearly cost me $1000 once.

Anyway, for now, go to kayak. Create an account. Take their tutorial and learn their filters.

After all, what are you waiting for?

-paul

How to save for your trip

If the most frequent question is "How do you get the time off to travel?" the second most common is certainly some version of "how do you afford to travel so much / so often / for so long?" the short answer to this question has two parts:
a) save in your real life, spend in your travel life
b) travel's not nearly as expensive as you think it is

The longer answer requires some explanation and makes the most sense if I hit upon these two topics in reverse order.

Shoestring Travel

Vacationing has lent an unfortunate misperception to the economics of travel. Americans have become used to resorts, cruises, and $150 hotel rooms -- none of which are necessary for, and some of which even take away from, a positive travel experience. I would guess that a couple on vacation in the Caribbean for a week would have little trouble spending $1,500 US per person ... or roughly the cost of the month I spent in Argentina recently. Travel does not need to cost what we think it does.

So what's a potential traveler to do?

Choose your country carefully. Whatever indigestion the US economy is feeling from having digested Bush administration policies, the US dollar is still a strong currency world wide, one that will carry you much farther abroad than in does at home. Travel publications like www.lonelyplanet.com and www.roughguides.com can help you estimate travel costs as you plan your trip; some of their numbers might shock you. South Africa ... $20 US per day. Morocco ... $15 US per day. Bolivia ... $12 US per day. Really, how can you afford not to go?

And, plan on being a frugal traveler when you arrive. Limit your lifestyle. Avoid touristy hotels, restaurants, and attractions. Take public transport. Skip tours in favor of finding your own adventure. Future posts will cover this topic in all kinds of detail.

Live for travel, save for travel

Aware that your travel goal is financially attainable, some lifestyle changes are in order to set aside the few thousand dollars that your 2 week, 2 month, or 2 year adventure will require. As there is no one way to save, I will offer the formula that has kept me on the road long enough to need a second set of pages for my passport.

NO CAR

The one decision that has saved me more money that any other was the choice I made to live in cities and thus avoid owning a car. In the eight years since college graduation I have never made a car payment, insurance payment, registration payment, nor spent $40 at the pump. How much I've saved, I'll never know, but it's been enough.

INTERNET BANKING

Everyone has and needs a bank account, but low interest rates have made them fairly useless as a savings device for the last eight years. Useless, unless you have cashed into the internet banking revolution. hsbc.com and ingdirect.com offer accounts that have been paying between 4.5 and 5%. Here your money stays liquid and accessible, but pays a rate high enough to help finance a trip. In fact, keep $10,000 in there long enough and you may travel for free.

BUY PLANE TICKETS EARLY

Often, the flight to wherever you are going is more costly than actually being there. Act early to cut down the very flexible price of this ticket as much as possible. Most airlines will allow you to book 10-11 months in advance. Though specials rarely arise this early, base prices are usually affordable. For example, I flew from New York to Cape Town, South Africa last August for $1,000 US return because I bought the ticket in January, a ticket that was $2,500 a few months later.

Additionally, if you are really good, using frequent flyer miles cuts flight costs down to zero. Like getting a good price, nabbing these tickets requires you to act early as these seats go fast.

SECOND JOB

There's no harm in taking a part-time job to pay for your travel habit; I've done it. My advice? Make that job work double for you. Find work at a wilderness outfitter like EMS or REI. Not only will the job be fun and pay well enough to support the occasional trip, but taking time off is expected in this line of work AND it will offer you a large discount on just the expensive travel gear you will want to buy anyway.

TRICK YOURSELF

And, if all else fails, come up with a system to fool yourself into setting aside enough cash to hit the road. Save change in a jar. Don't go out on Friday nights. If you're desperate, recycle your college fraternity's beer bottles. Once, I kept an envelope in a sock drawer that I would stuff with whatever one dollar bills I found in my wallet at day's end. Sound silly? 327 of them later, I flew to Halifax, Nova Scotia. You can too.

So,what are you waiting for?

-paul