In 2020 I set out on a 5 month backpacking trip around Southeast Asia. Though my trip was cut short (due to COVID-19), I learned so much about what makes a great backpacking trip. Here are 13 crucial tips for your next backpacking experience.
1. Less is More
Before you can head off and start backpacking around the world, you have to partake in every traveler’s least favorite task, packing. Packing for a backpacking trip is not easy, and the most important tip I can give you in regards to it is to NOT over-pack. It can be tempting to pack a lot of “just in case” items, but remember, everything you add is extra weight that must be carried throughout your entire journey. Be very selective of what you take and make sure you have a valid reason for packing each item. There is nothing worse than backpacking for months with an overly heavy bag that you need to unpack and repack every few days. Part of backpacking experience is learning to be resourceful, and you’ll be surprised at how little you need.
2. Protect Your Finances
Money is precious for a backpacker, and the temptation to say no to travel insurance and save a few hundred dollars is high. Should you get it? Let me say this loud and clear…PLEASE BUY TRAVEL INSURANCE! You may be the safest traveler in the world, but if you spend an extended period anywhere, there is always a risk of getting injured or sick. Medical bills can get wildly expensive, and you don’t want to return home with thousands of dollars of credit card debt. Additionally, having travel insurance gives you the peace of mind to embark on adventures without fearing a potential accident. Ease your mind, protect your financial future, and get travel insurance!
Tip: Safteywing and World Nomads are two of the best travel insurers for backpacking trips.
3. Plan But Don't Overplan
Okay, you’ve got the boring stuff out of the way, now its time to plan your trip. The only question is, how should you go about planning an extended trip spanning several months? If you love trip planning as I do, you might be disappointed with tip #3, which is to not plan the daily details of your trip. The best backpacking experiences come from local suggestions, traveler tips, and spontaneous decisions made with your new friends; This means you’ll want to give yourself as much flexibility as possible to change plans. Booking hotels and transportation in advance only limit your possibility of discovering hidden gems during your travels. All this being said, you don’t want to come into your trip blind either. I’d advise having a plan of what countries you want to visit and what experiences you feel you can’t miss at each destination, and leave the rest open-ended.
You may feel uneasy coming into such a big trip with hostels and logistics not booked, but trust me when I say you will figure it out. Apps like Hostelworld make it easy to book lodging even hours before arriving in a city. It may seem more efficient to pre-plan and pre-book everything and it probably is, but the efficiency is worth losing for the freedom to change plans. You will be surprised at how much your preferences and travel priorities change as you go further into your trip. Give yourself freedom and do not over plan.
4. Slow and Steady Wins the Race
Tip #4 is probably the most important tip for any backpacker, and that is to travel slowly. This trip is not your classic vacation where you jam pack every tourist attraction into one week. The beauty of backpacking is that you have time, and it is important that you use that time wisely. Instincts may tell you to create a goal of visiting as many countries as you can, but this is the wrong way to approach the trip. You will have the rest of your life to take a week off from work to visit a country quickly, but you may never get the chance like you do when backpacking, to reside in a country and explore it to the max. Don’t get sucked into the checklist trap. As cool as it may sound to come home and say you visited 20 countries in a few months, it is important to remember that you are traveling for yourself, not others (see tip #13). Don’t travel for Instagram and don’t travel to check places off a list; Travel like an explorer and understand a country before you decide to move on.
5. Keep it Local
The best way to adhere to tip #4 is to make local experiences a priority on your trip. When I traveled to Luang Prabang (in Laos), all my research told me that the main tourist attractions could be seen in two days. I arrived in the city and decided to put off the main attractions and instead attend a local storytelling performance. After the performance, I spent some time talking to lead storyteller who offered to take me to his village to help teach kids English. I wanted to help out the kids and so I visited a local bookshop to buy them books. The local bookshop owner asked if I wanted to join him for lunch, and so I did. After lunch, I became interested in the local cuisine and so I took a cooking class in a local village. Why am I boring you with a long detailed list of what I did in Luang Prabang? Because it was a perfect example of how to travel locally. If there was one thing I learned from my backpacking trip it was that local experiences almost always topped the touristic experiences. I ended up spending four days (instead of two) in Luang Prabang and missed half the places I planned to see. Do I regret it? Absolutely not. My time in the city was one of my favorite parts of my trip, and it was all because I left the city understanding the local way of life.
6. Comfort Isn't Your Friend
People fear situations that they aren’t familiar with. Language barriers, culture shocks, and unfamiliar cuisines scare people away from traveling to certain towns, cities, and countries. I understand this fear and have felt it myself too, but one thing I’ve always said is the more your travel destination feels like home, the less you’ll get out of your trip. If you want travel to mean something you must seek discomfort. Look to visit places that are different from your life back home. Don’t be afraid of new situations and experiences. Half the fun of travel is learning to get by. Be safe and be smart, but don’t be afraid to travel to destinations that make you feel like you don’t fit in. Don’t look for comfort but instead seek discomfort.
7. Embrace the Foreign Diet
“I miss pizza.” -A constant thought that would come into my head every time I set out to eat dinner in Southeast Asia. I was tempted to eat foods that I loved back home but resisted the urge to do so. Why? Because I wanted to feel like a resident, not a tourist. Cuisine is a big part of many countries, and embracing it is just as important as seeing its main attractions. You don’t have to abandon the foods you eat at home but don’t get into a habit of constantly seeking it.
8. Recharge The Batteries
Backpacking is thrilling, adventurous, exciting, and, as you may have noticed from all these tips, it is also hard work. Living in hostels, changing your diet, struggling to communicate, unpacking, and repacking- traveling for so long no doubt gets tiring. Because this is a long multi-month trip, you want to make sure you don’t get burnt out. When you feel tired, sick of traveling, or homesick, take a day for yourself. Get a hotel instead of a hostel, watch some TV, read a book, go to the beach, or eat your favorite home foods. Every once in awhile it is okay to take a day off from your adventures to simply recharge your battery.
Tip: If you feel guilty watching TV on your trip but need to relax, watch documentaries related to the countries you are traveling too.
9. Pick Your Waves Wisely
Despite my love for beaches, I made a strict rule on my backpacking trip to only visit the absolute best beaches I came across. Every country has its “things” for lack of a better word that it is known for, and it is important you spend most of your time enjoying those aspects. Too often do I see travelers wasting time at mediocre beaches instead of indulging themselves in the best parts of a country. In a country like Vietnam, for example, which is so well known for its culture, caves, mountains, and history, spending too much time at a beach doesn’t make much sense. On the flip side, in a country like the Philippines, which is known to have some of the world’s most beautiful islands, beach time is almost a must. People will always recommend a beach in every country that offers one because, well, everyone likes beaches! That being said, you don’t have to try and visit them all. Save the beaches for the countries that are known for them.
10. Shots or Sleep?
You are going to meet a lot of people while you travel and probably get invited out almost every night. I believe having fun with others is a great way to make friends, and that is one of the reasons I party a lot. The downside of partying while traveling however, is it takes up time and money. The decision to party or not is always a challenging dilemma for backpackers. My advice is if you like to party, do so in limitation. Save your partying for big festivals, opportunities to drink with locals, and moments where you feel you have made a solid group of friends. Enjoy the backpacking party scene, but don’t overdo it.
11. What is Your Name?
Two years ago, I started keeping track of every person I met in my life. Whether it was a stranger I met for five minutes or a new coworker, I logged my interaction on an Excel spreadsheet. This habit paid huge dividends on my backpacking trip as I began actively seeking out names of every person I came across. By doing so, I forced myself to interact with so many more people. It’s crazy how a simple question like “what is your name?” can lead to a new friend. If not in your personal life, I at least advise doing this for any trip you go on. Not only will you force yourself into many more conversations, but you will also be able to go back and remember the people you met along your once in a lifetime journey.
12. Give and Get
My backpacking trip to Southeast Asia was the first trip I took where I had a set amount of money I reserved strictly for donations. I planned to donate all the money and do it so on a personal level i.e not just writing out a check to an institution. This goal changed my trip entirely. I found myself interacting with a lot more locals as I tried to get their opinion on where and to whom I should donate my money. I discovered more of the local way of life as I ventured out to markets and local shopping malls to buy donation items. Most importantly, I saw the impoverished sides of life that most tourists don’t normally venture out to see. Having this money and sticking to my goal of donating it made me a better traveler and allowed me to contribute back to the people of the countries that I visited. If you have the means to do this, set aside a part of your backpacking budget for personal donations, and you will return home feeling great about your trip.
13. Know Your Why
It’s almost impossible to go on a backpacking trip without making some sacrifices in your current life. You’ll be away from loved ones, spending lots of money, living without luxuries, and potentially returning home without a job or house. So how do you make the most of these sacrifices? Along with the other 12 tips I have given you comes the single most important piece of advice I have-know your “why”. Your why is your guiding force behind this trip and the reason you are willing to make the sacrifices necessary to make it happen. This why will guide the decisions you make about the trip and help you overcome any obstacles that get in your way. For me, my purpose was to learn about new cultures and to develop a new outlook on life. My Why led me to Southeast Asia (known for incredible culture and some of the most amazing people in the world) and helped me with all my intra-trip decisions. Travel with your own purpose, actively seek it, and this once in a lifetime trip will not disappoint
Wonderful tips Nishil. Always also look for India connection!