Backpacking Through The World

It used to be common for young people from wealthy families to take "The Grand Tour" – they would travel through Europe, visiting all the most culturally uplifting sites, often staying with relatives and friends. Young people from less wealthy families started exploring Europe in the 20th century, staying in some of the first youth hostels, but not until the 1970s did this become in vogue.

Today, it's a common thing for youth to travel to Europe, the Middle East, South America, and Asia and backpack through the countryside, staying in hostels during the night and seeing everything possible during the day. It's a remarkable way to personal growth, and because of traditionally dormitory-style accommodations and public transportation, it's easy for youths to make friends with people from all over the world.

But it's not just young people today who are backpacking across the countries of the world. Older people who never had the opportunity to travel as young adults are starting to take these adventurous vacations, and hostels and hotels are catering to them. Today it's easier than ever before to see all those things you missed, and meet friends from other cultures while you travel.

Where To Stay

Hostels used to cater only to youth, and had a cutoff age of 26. Today, they take travelers of all ages, and besides the standard cheap dormitory accommodations they have always offered, they have private single and double rooms as well. But you're not limited to hostels for inexpensive accommodations. Many universities in the off-seasons open their dormitories to travelers as ad-hoc hostels. In warmer places during the summer, a backpacker carrying a lightweight tent can camp out; campsites can be found throughout Europe, the United States, and South America.

If you stay in a relatively public place, be certain to secure your valuables. Though the chance is low, there is some theft in hostels and even in camping areas and the worst thing you can do is lose your passport and travelers cheques to a thief while traveling.

Don't try to backpack through dangerous terrain. For instance, it's a bad idea to backpack through lightly-populated areas and through deserts, or in places with known conflicts including Israel. Stick to motorized transportation in these places, and keep your eyes open for anything suspicious. If you think something's wrong, get away from it; you can always come back later. Learn to trust your instincts. Remember, the world is not your cradle. It's beautiful, wonderful, amazing, and dangerous.

Staying In Touch

It's critical that you stay in touch with loved ones and friends while you backpack. If anything were to happen, your sudden silence is the first alert that something might be wrong. You can purchase a cell phone with a SIM card attachment, which is a great way to have phone service overseas; buy it in a phone store where the salespeople can tell you exactly what to get to have the appropriate phone service. Some cell phones also have PDA components, but what you really want is one that has mapping capabilities so you can avoid getting lost.

It's nice to have a laptop so you can access the Internet as well, but it's hard to carry one around when you're traveling. Instead of a laptop, consider getting a PDA or a Toshiba Libretto mininotebook. You can find them at reasonable prices secondhand on EBay. If you're not sure, do some math. How often would you need to access? How much will it cost you to plug in locally to access the Internet, versus using an Internet café? If it's cost-effective or even a little more expensive to get your own device, it's worth the convenience.

Safety First

When you're in a foreign land, and especially when you're traveling through several foreign lands, it's critical that you know how to keep yourself safe. Make sure all your Visas are in order, and know where to find your home nation's embassies in the countries you're visiting so that you can replace lost paperwork or get new Visas if necessary. Check also with your country's Visa-providing offices for countries you shouldn't visit, and be certain to check in periodically on your travels to see if anything has changed.

Try not to take anything of real value with you. Keep your most important documents next to your skin so that they cannot be pick pocketed, and leave copies of all your travel papers, travelers cheques numbers, credit cards, and photo ID with a close friend or a relative. If you lose everything, they can fax copies to you or to the nearest embassy so you can have replacements made quickly; and having a replacement copy of credit cards makes it much easier to report them stolen.

Finally, don't do anything to put yourself in danger. Do not be overly trusting of friendly natives; in some volatile countries, people have been lured to their deaths this way. Make sure someone knows where you are at all times. Don't carry weapons with you (this can get you killed or put in jail, depending on where you are) and always cooperate with law enforcement in any country you stay in – but also insist that you be allowed to contact your embassy.

Where To Go

The fun part is figuring out where to go. If you want to leave your travels free-form with an open-ended return date, look into buying monthly public transportation tickets. Eurorail still has some of the best deals available for cross-European travel, but research tickets carefully before you buy to make sure they go where you want to go. You can purchase monthly rail transportation to travel through other regions as well. And look into getting a plane ticket that allows you to return whenever you want. Some ticket deals also allow you to return from a range of airports, so you can get one that allows you to fly back from Heathrow or any other airport in England or from Paris or Brussels if you prefer, all at the same price.

After making sure your transportation is in order, you can go anywhere that strikes your fancy, whenever you wish. You can do a tour of Europe's castles, starting with Neuschwanstein, the fairy-tale castle of Bavaria, and moving back in time to the earthworks fortifications throughout Ireland, Britain, and France; or you can make it your goal to visit every major art museum from the Louvre to the remarkable Palace Museum in China's Forbidden City. Most archaeological groups in the Levant and Egypt welcome volunteers, if that's something you like. Or you can just focus on meeting people from all over the world on your travels.