There are some really great benefits of backpacking, which is why so many people do it every year. It's a great experience to have at least once in your lifetime. To be able to wander freely with no rigid plan and do as you please every day is a priceless and fun way to discover a new place.
If you’re thinking of making the trip, but need that final push- here are a few reasons why it’s a good idea to give backpacking a go:
You Meet The Best People
A lot of the time when you go backpacking you tend to stay in places that you might not otherwise have entertained, like hostels with huge rooms that you’ll be sharing with people you’ve never met before.
This might seem like an intimidating prospect if you’ve never done it before, but the truth is- you’re going to have the time of your life.
I have made the best of friends on my solo travel adventures. My only advice is if you're a female and not comfortable with sharing a room with the opposite sex, then book a hostel that has female-only dorms.
The best thing about backpackers’ hostels is that everyone is there for the same reason – because they love travelling and seeing the world, and because they’re looking for a little adventure, just like you.
If you want to, you can still spend most of your time by yourself, just you and your guidebook, but if you’re looking for some people to go exploring or partying with, then other backpackers will be the ideal companions. It's such a great opportunity to connect with people through all walks of life from all over the globe.
It Encourages You To Be Independent
There’s no better way to learn real independence than by travelling by yourself. If you’re young, you might not have been away from home much by yourself before, so going backpacking will help you figure out that you can sort out everything by yourself, and that you know how to spend time alone without feeling as though you’re about to get eaten alive by your own thoughts.
If you're going travelling- chances are you’ve worked hard to save money, you’ve checked out sites like thebackpackerlifestyle.com to figure out what exactly you’re going to need, and you’ve realised that actually- you can do anything you want to.
It's a wonderful and very freeing feeling and really helps you to grow more confident. Travelling solo through Europe certainly helped me to become a more confident person. You learn so much on the road by yourself and you grow stronger. There are bad times as well as the good but it's all experience and afterwards I felt that no matter what life threw at me I could deal with it. If you go in with a positive attitude and mindset then those little things that do go wrong won't bother you.
The Costs Are Low
One of the best things about backpacking is that- especially if you go by yourself, it’s easy to keep your costs down. If you’ve never learned to budget before, then now is absolutely the time to start. Make sure that you don’t go over the amount of money that you assign yourself for each week – ending up in financial dire straits is not the best way to spend your awesome backpacking trip.
Although you should be aware of how much you’re spending, you should also make sure that you aren’t too stingy – you should fully experience the places that you go to and treat yourself to some great meals and sightseeing trips. Not wanting to fork out the money to go whale watching or something else equally cool is the sort of thing you’ll regret for the rest of your life.
But overall while you are backpacking you can get cheap accommodation, if you eat locally then food and drink costs will be low, and transportation costs are low if you make the most of local public methods like buses and trains to hop from place to place.
Depending on where you travel to is also a big factor. Places like South-East Asia and Eastern Europe are a haven for budget travellers as you can literally live comfortably on $20-$40 a day.
You Can Choose What You Do
Another excellent benefit of backpacking is that you can decide exactly what you want to do. You have the freedom to choose where you want to travel to, whether it's hopping around Europe, stomping through cities, soaking up history and culture or spending days on a beach in Thailand. Although it’s important to have some sort of a plan (you don’t want to run out of money before you’ve paid for your flights home!) you can afford to be flexible and see where each day takes you, instead of assigning each day a number of activities like you might if you were going on a regular holiday.
Going backpacking gives you the time you need to really explore the rest of the world – it’ll broaden your horizons and you’ll return home at the end of the trip feeling brighter and more inspired. That, my friends, is what it's all about.
You Will Learn Something
This is a solid guarantee and the first reason to get out and see the world. You will learn something that you never knew before, and whether it’s something about yourself or the outside world, backpacking is an opportunity to soak up stuff that you would never find by just sitting at home.
You might discover that you have a gift for reading maps and signposts in German or that your new favourite food is a bowl of Vietnamese noodles- whatever it is, it’s worth the trip.
If you need one more benefit from backpacking it’s this- it’s fun. Even the parts you don’t enjoy at the time, waiting around for that bus, a rude receptionist, the rip-off bar – that’s all going to be part of the laughs when you get back home and tell everyone about it.
Just enjoy the journey!
Have you ever been backpacking or are you wanting to in the very near future?
Happy Travels,
You Meet The Best People
A lot of the time when you go backpacking you tend to stay in places that you might not otherwise have entertained, like hostels with huge rooms that you’ll be sharing with people you’ve never met before.
This might seem like an intimidating prospect if you’ve never done it before, but the truth is- you’re going to have the time of your life.
I have made the best of friends on my solo travel adventures. My only advice is if you're a female and not comfortable with sharing a room with the opposite sex, then book a hostel that has female-only dorms.
The best thing about backpackers’ hostels is that everyone is there for the same reason – because they love travelling and seeing the world, and because they’re looking for a little adventure, just like you.
If you want to, you can still spend most of your time by yourself, just you and your guidebook, but if you’re looking for some people to go exploring or partying with, then other backpackers will be the ideal companions. It's such a great opportunity to connect with people through all walks of life from all over the globe.
It Encourages You To Be Independent
There’s no better way to learn real independence than by travelling by yourself. If you’re young, you might not have been away from home much by yourself before, so going backpacking will help you figure out that you can sort out everything by yourself, and that you know how to spend time alone without feeling as though you’re about to get eaten alive by your own thoughts.
If you're going travelling- chances are you’ve worked hard to save money, you’ve checked out sites like thebackpackerlifestyle.com to figure out what exactly you’re going to need, and you’ve realised that actually- you can do anything you want to.
It's a wonderful and very freeing feeling and really helps you to grow more confident. Travelling solo through Europe certainly helped me to become a more confident person. You learn so much on the road by yourself and you grow stronger. There are bad times as well as the good but it's all experience and afterwards I felt that no matter what life threw at me I could deal with it. If you go in with a positive attitude and mindset then those little things that do go wrong won't bother you.
The Costs Are Low
One of the best things about backpacking is that- especially if you go by yourself, it’s easy to keep your costs down. If you’ve never learned to budget before, then now is absolutely the time to start. Make sure that you don’t go over the amount of money that you assign yourself for each week – ending up in financial dire straits is not the best way to spend your awesome backpacking trip.
Although you should be aware of how much you’re spending, you should also make sure that you aren’t too stingy – you should fully experience the places that you go to and treat yourself to some great meals and sightseeing trips. Not wanting to fork out the money to go whale watching or something else equally cool is the sort of thing you’ll regret for the rest of your life.
But overall while you are backpacking you can get cheap accommodation, if you eat locally then food and drink costs will be low, and transportation costs are low if you make the most of local public methods like buses and trains to hop from place to place.
Depending on where you travel to is also a big factor. Places like South-East Asia and Eastern Europe are a haven for budget travellers as you can literally live comfortably on $20-$40 a day.
You Can Choose What You Do
Another excellent benefit of backpacking is that you can decide exactly what you want to do. You have the freedom to choose where you want to travel to, whether it's hopping around Europe, stomping through cities, soaking up history and culture or spending days on a beach in Thailand. Although it’s important to have some sort of a plan (you don’t want to run out of money before you’ve paid for your flights home!) you can afford to be flexible and see where each day takes you, instead of assigning each day a number of activities like you might if you were going on a regular holiday.
Going backpacking gives you the time you need to really explore the rest of the world – it’ll broaden your horizons and you’ll return home at the end of the trip feeling brighter and more inspired. That, my friends, is what it's all about.
You Will Learn Something
This is a solid guarantee and the first reason to get out and see the world. You will learn something that you never knew before, and whether it’s something about yourself or the outside world, backpacking is an opportunity to soak up stuff that you would never find by just sitting at home.
You might discover that you have a gift for reading maps and signposts in German or that your new favourite food is a bowl of Vietnamese noodles- whatever it is, it’s worth the trip.
If you need one more benefit from backpacking it’s this- it’s fun. Even the parts you don’t enjoy at the time, waiting around for that bus, a rude receptionist, the rip-off bar – that’s all going to be part of the laughs when you get back home and tell everyone about it.
Just enjoy the journey!
Have you ever been backpacking or are you wanting to in the very near future?
Happy Travels,
 |
| Pin it! :) |
*This post contains affiliate links and images that are not my own.
