Ask Cancuk about backpacking/independant travel.

[xxThe_Lebowskixx]

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i don't understand people walking around with those gigantic backpacks. I think you can fit three or four people in there. Do you use one of those?

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What don't you understand?

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Wtf it is that you guys have inside of there? Ive done some backpacking and I just used a regular sized backpack from high school.

here is an example http://www.flickr.com/photos/ongaein2/90392395/ but the ones I see people with usually are bigger than this and go about a foot over their head.

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As I've said, a lot of people bring way to much [censored], but even sooo... think about any [censored] that you're going to want for a year.. or even 6 months, through multiple climates in lots of cases.. and then try nad put your whole life into a backpack.. there will probably be a lot of [censored].

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this is another thing i don't get about backpackers. its like you guys want to visit as many places as possible in as little time as possible. i guess if you are short on money or going to college you don't have the time to stick around, but it seems like 2 things are missing from your travel experience

1. you have no contact with locals, because you are always leaving next week so you spend all your time with white people.

2. you are always going to be seeing the touristy sides of places. in my experience, you arrive in a destination and then it takes awhile to find all of the cool places that tourists don't know about - this again comes from making friends w/ locals or doing your own investigating which obviously takes more then 3 days. your statement about thailand being a tourist trap seem to highlight this. if you are a tourist, then of course its going to seem like a tourist trap. thats because you go where all the other tourists are going.

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I think both of these statements are pretty broad, blanket statements.

I usually stay as long as I want in any place. If I like the "feel" of a place, i'll stay there for an extended period. If I dont, then i'll probably leave pretty quickly. I really try to find cool areas of places and very rarely go to any "tourist attractions" inless they're something I really want to see, or supposed to be "unmissable". Do I get out of one city as much as someone who lives there for a year? Of course not, but I get out as much as I want/can in the areas that I like and want to see.

I don't think I ever called Thailand a "tourist trap", and if I did that's not really what I meant. I only spent about a month in Thailand, and the only places that I actually liked were Bangkok and Chang Mai, spending about 10 days in BK and a week in Chaing Mai. The thing I didn't like most about Thailand was the tourists/backpackers. It seemed to me like every backpacker was pretentious about all this "3rd World Travelling" they were doing here on Koh San Rd, and the "culture" they were getting by paying thai chicks to [censored] them. In the south I didn't have the time to find a secluded beach, and just went to Koh Pha Ngan for New Years/Full Moon.

Again, I think you're making a broad statement saying we have no contact with locals. The whole idea of travelling is to experiance other cultures, atleast to me. What's the point of going somewhere like Thailand and eating banana pancakes the whole time? I'm not going to sit here and tell stories with examples, because that would look stupid, but this is certainly not true, atleast in my experiance.

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ok, i don't think we are really disagreeing. ive been living a thailand for awhile, so the word 'backpacker' carries the connotation of what you just described as your dislikes.

[xxThe_Lebowskixx]

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What's so bad about going where tourists go? I mean, there has to be a reason all the tourists are going there... I do subscribe more to your line of thinking though, where I'd rather stay in one place for a while that is less "touristy" but that's b/c my main reason for traveling is to surf, and I'll sacrifice some safety/nightlife/touristy attractions to score quality, emptier waves.

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well, there are usually a bunch of shops set up around hotel and tourists areas geared for people who have only been in the country a few days. the quality in these places is usually pretty lousy and designed to extract money. the people you will meet are used to dealing with a bunch of moron tourists everyday and be pretty jaded. it can be hard to realize the difference when you first arrive, but trust me, you will definitely realize the difference after you have been living somewhere for awhile.

for example, here is a typical tourist schedule in bangkok:

arrive on khao sarn road. get a guest house. drink beer with other tourists. take a tuk tuk to a bunch of temples and pay 3 times the far. he asks you "want tattoo" and he takes you to a tattoo parlor for tourists where you get a bad tattoo for 3 times the price. then he takes you to a gold shop and a tailor even though you are screeming at him that you dont want to buy anything. you decide to get a massage by your hotel and a bored girl comes into your room and gives you a very lousy massage because you dont know what a good massage feels like. you paid for an hour and she says times up after 40 minutes. then she asks you for a tip even though she would never ask for one in a non touristy area. then you go and get dreadlocks added because you see your friends from yesterday doing it. you are hungry and you see a sign in english advertising thai food. you go inside and notice that its all white people eating. waiter comes and says "you want rice chicken?" you try talking to him but he is disinterested "rice chicken yes?" you say OK, fine. the food tastes ok to you, the way it does in your home country. Wow, I guess the local thai food in USA is pretty authentic. Your bill comes and its the same price as the food in USA too. You walk around for awhile and buy some souviners. then you see a bar with a guy standing outside holding a sign in english. you go inside and all of the customers are white people...you see where this is going?

[Cancuk]

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i don't understand people walking around with those gigantic backpacks. I think you can fit three or four people in there. Do you use one of those?

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What don't you understand?

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Wtf it is that you guys have inside of there? Ive done some backpacking and I just used a regular sized backpack from high school.

here is an example http://www.flickr.com/photos/ongaein2/90392395/ but the ones I see people with usually are bigger than this and go about a foot over their head.

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As I've said, a lot of people bring way to much [censored], but even sooo... think about any [censored] that you're going to want for a year.. or even 6 months, through multiple climates in lots of cases.. and then try nad put your whole life into a backpack.. there will probably be a lot of [censored].

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this is another thing i don't get about backpackers. its like you guys want to visit as many places as possible in as little time as possible. i guess if you are short on money or going to college you don't have the time to stick around, but it seems like 2 things are missing from your travel experience

1. you have no contact with locals, because you are always leaving next week so you spend all your time with white people.

2. you are always going to be seeing the touristy sides of places. in my experience, you arrive in a destination and then it takes awhile to find all of the cool places that tourists don't know about - this again comes from making friends w/ locals or doing your own investigating which obviously takes more then 3 days. your statement about thailand being a tourist trap seem to highlight this. if you are a tourist, then of course its going to seem like a tourist trap. thats because you go where all the other tourists are going.

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I think both of these statements are pretty broad, blanket statements.

I usually stay as long as I want in any place. If I like the "feel" of a place, i'll stay there for an extended period. If I dont, then i'll probably leave pretty quickly. I really try to find cool areas of places and very rarely go to any "tourist attractions" inless they're something I really want to see, or supposed to be "unmissable". Do I get out of one city as much as someone who lives there for a year? Of course not, but I get out as much as I want/can in the areas that I like and want to see.

I don't think I ever called Thailand a "tourist trap", and if I did that's not really what I meant. I only spent about a month in Thailand, and the only places that I actually liked were Bangkok and Chang Mai, spending about 10 days in BK and a week in Chaing Mai. The thing I didn't like most about Thailand was the tourists/backpackers. It seemed to me like every backpacker was pretentious about all this "3rd World Travelling" they were doing here on Koh San Rd, and the "culture" they were getting by paying thai chicks to [censored] them. In the south I didn't have the time to find a secluded beach, and just went to Koh Pha Ngan for New Years/Full Moon.

Again, I think you're making a broad statement saying we have no contact with locals. The whole idea of travelling is to experiance other cultures, atleast to me. What's the point of going somewhere like Thailand and eating banana pancakes the whole time? I'm not going to sit here and tell stories with examples, because that would look stupid, but this is certainly not true, atleast in my experiance.

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ok, i don't think we are really disagreeing. ive been living a thailand for awhile, so the word 'backpacker' carries the connotation of what you just described as your dislikes.

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Ya, outside of a few very specific cities/resorts/areas, Thailand, as a whole, is the worst for that... I think this is mostly because this is the first place a lot of people go backpacking/travelling because it IS a very different culture than home (if they experiance or not is a very different question) but at the same time it's pretty safe and very easy to travel "independantly"...(taking "tourist" buses everywhere and following every other white person around isn't my idea of independant travel but, c'est la vie)....

[Jigsaws]

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Wtf it is that you guys have inside of there? Ive done some backpacking and I just used a regular sized backpack from high school.

here is an example http://www.flickr.com/photos/ongaein2/90392395/ but the ones I see people with usually are bigger than this and go about a foot over their head.

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I have the big backpack mostly because I'm a big guy myself. A smaller backpack wouldn't fit well on my back - which could worsen the back problems all tall people have to struggle with. A good backpack like the one I have is also very useful when you go out to do some multi-day hikes.

I never managed to fill my huge pack more than halfway though - I have experienced travellers in my family that got me to travel very light.

Cancuk,

that trip sounds sweet. I've already been to most of the places you mentioned - the town from where you took the boat to Trinidad is called Puerto Villarroel, I'm pretty sure. I worked in Villa Tunari for a while, which is very close. You are right about El Bolson, by the way - I spent almost a week there just chilling, cooking, drinking, eating - god the fresh bread was so incredibly good. And the microbrewed beer. Paradise with gorgeous views of the mountains.

Only two more weeks before I get on the plane to BA again. Teehee.

[Cancuk]

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Cancuk,

that trip sounds sweet. I've already been to most of the places you mentioned - the town from where you took the boat to Trinidad is called Puerto Villarroel, I'm pretty sure.

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Yes! Ended up spending some time there waiting for a boat. The place we stayed was some German guy's place who was definitley a little shady.

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You are right about El Bolson, by the way - I spent almost a week there just chilling, cooking, drinking, eating - god the fresh bread was so incredibly good. And the microbrewed beer. Paradise with gorgeous views of the mountains.

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We had an awesome place too. We stayed up river, like towards Bariloche ( I guess that's north).. probably a half an hour walk away from the Market at this guy's house. We got our own Cabin, and he had all these animals at his place... it was so awesome. He sold leather hats at the market.... oh the market!... the homemade raspberry juice? Or the waffel's with fresh whipped cream and fruit? Or the jam? To die for. The bread! oh man... the bread.

God I miss travelling.

[MrHoobris]

How do you handle your money supply/cash? Do you carry traveller's cheques? A safety stack of USD while withdrawing in a bank in each country? Or do ATMs/Visa work pretty much everywhere these days?

I imagine this is region specific, so let's say South East Asia. Thanks.

[Shizzle12345]

why travel alone? Im pretty young and all just finished high school. But if i want to do this i want to do it with someone else. I would feel pretty lost alone, dont you have that? Im also a pretty introvert person.. I dont make friends really quick.

[Cancuk]

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How do you handle your money supply/cash? Do you carry traveller's cheques? A safety stack of USD while withdrawing in a bank in each country? Or do ATMs/Visa work pretty much everywhere these days?

I imagine this is region specific, so let's say South East Asia. Thanks.

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ATM's are pretty widespread, and def. the main source of money... although some contries (Laos, Myanmar in SE Asia) have very few ATM's in them, so cash is the only way.

Ya, I usually have a stack of either Euro's or USD's for an emergency.

[Cancuk]

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why travel alone? Im pretty young and all just finished high school. But if i want to do this i want to do it with someone else. I would feel pretty lost alone, dont you have that? Im also a pretty introvert person.. I dont make friends really quick.

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I've done it both ways, but personally i've found that alone is way better.

You don't have to deal with another person and doing what they want to do.. alone you ahve complete freedome.. which is huge for me. Also, there are SO many people doing the exact same thing in a lot of parts of the world (and most of the places you;re probably interested in going) that making friends/meeting people, etc. is very, very easy... as everybody is in the same situation as you.

But, going with someone could be awesome too... just make sure you really enjoy this person's company... as you'll probably spend nearly every moment with them for the next x months.

[silkyslim]

What about retirement? How can you go so long without working?