Backpacker 101 (part 1)

After reading about backpacking trips in the past posts, have you come up with an idea of what  backpacker is?

Backpacking is about to plan your trip, determine your route and take care of yourself. It is a positive, proactive, unconstrained, profound, frugal but full of poetical traveling style. Backpackers have their own style- you can walk in the cities, drive on the highways or hike in the natures. Backpackers need to be responsible to themselves including care about accommodations, transportations and their own safety.  But their work is also rewarding, you can not only learn how to be independent, take care of yourself, but also own the journey only belongs to yourself.

What is the hardest part? For many people, it’s to take the first step - having a heart that is ready to go out of your comfort zone, to step to the world you may never know.

Here are 6 steps for backpackers. 

Step one: Recognize yourself

To recognize yourself, you need to know:

• How much money and time you are willing to spend
• ŸWhat do you want to see in your trip? Nature or culture? Bushwalking or shopping in big cities?

Once you understand what you want deeply, it’s easier for you to start to plan.

Step two: research and determine your destination

The basic research you need to do is about the scenery spot, climate, transportation, price of commodities. If you pursue a depth of your trip, you might also want to research on local history, culture, language, holidays, architectures and arts. For the newbie backpackers, you should start your research early. The more information you have, the more smooth and fun you trip will be.

I will talk about other steps in my next post.

Help exchange - the special way to travel

I have worked in a farm and a hostel through HELPX.

I applied to about 3 farms that match my schedule and one of them took me. I was really picky when choosing these farms. I was looking for the farms with different kinds animals I really like to work with, while a lot of them only specifically have a few kinds. I ended up working in a farm has sheep, cattle, goats, ducks, chicken, big parrots, and even two ostriches. I also looked for private room, free meals and the farm owner need to have good comments. Most importantly, they don’t ask me to work long hours so that I can have my own time to have fun. And those are all possible in Helpx.

I worked 2-3 hours per day and took one day off in that week. My job included feeding animals, digging potatoes and cleaning house. They are not really hard and I surely had lots of fun during working. The best experience I got was to sell animals and vegetables in a farmers market. We sold more than 10 chickens, 3 ducks and a lot of potatoes that day.

The couple in that farm was really nice. They tried to let me have all the experiences I can ever have in a farm. They showed me how to feed animals, how to inseminate a cow and they even shaved their sheep earlier because I was leaving the next day.

Help exchange is a good and special way to explore the world you don’t know. It’s not about how much money you can make or how important your job is. You volunteer your time and receive free accommodation. Remember, the amazing experiences that you don’t have in your daily life are what you will treasure the most.

A "smiling" goat. It ran toward me every time I walked to the fence.

Websites you need for planning your trip

Besides CouchSurfing, there are so many other resources you can use. I will talk about some useful website when you are travelling in a budget in this post.

Hitchwiki

Hitchwiki is a collaborative website for gathering information about hitchhiking and other ways of extremely cheap ways of transport. It is maintained by many active hitchhikers all around the world. You can get information about how to hitch out of big cities, how to cover long distances, maps and many more tips.

Semester at Sea

Semester at Sea is a multiple country study abroad program open to students of all majors emphasizing comparative academic examination, hands-on field experiences, and meaningful engagement in the global community. Students from 250-300 colleges in the United States and the world participate on Semester at Sea each term. Credit earned is transferable to a student’s home institution.

WWOOF

WWOOF is a worldwide network of organization. They link volunteers with organic farmers, and help people share more sustainable ways of living. In return for volunteer help, WWOOF hosts offer food, accommodation and opportunities to learn about organic lifestyles.

Helpx

HelpX is an online listing of host organic farms, non-organic farms, farmstays, homestays, ranches, lodges, B&Bs, backpackers hostels and even sailing boats who invite volunteer helpers to stay with them short-term in exchange for food and accommodation. In the typical arrangement, the helper works an average of 4 hours per day and receives free accommodation and meals for their efforts.

Volunteer Vocations

A list of organizations that take volunteers：

NEIO- Nepal Education Initiative Organization

IHF- International Humanity Foundation (Indonesia, Kenya and Thailand)

PISCO SIN FRONTERAS (Peru)

Otra Cosa (Peru)

Aec Tea (Brazil)

Sikanda- Solidaridad Internacional Kanda A.C. (Mexico)



I will talk about my own help exchange experience next week.

CouchSurfing - What? How? Why? When? Where? PART 4

Now I will talk about the best host I’ve ever met and she is also a really good friend of mine now.

I applied for a 4-day couch in Sydney. At first I applied to her mom, while she said she is travelling in other country at that time but her daughter can open the door for me. So luckily, I met Miriam. She is a Jazz singer and I went to a bar where she was singing to meet her at first. She is a lovely girl and a good singer. I also got the amazing chance to live in a sea-view house (with a queen-size bed) alone.

The beautiful view I got at her house. This is the Sydney Harbour side.

After I told her that I kept getting lost in Sydney, she spent a whole day to show me around. You know when you have companies who have grown up in that city, it will be so different to travel with them since they know all the fun places. We are the same age and share a lot of common interests, so it’s easier to connect with her and we became good friends. I also spent two nights in the bar to listen to her songs and I indeed had a good time.

The beautiful view I got at her house. This is the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House side. Don't you think just this amazing view will be enough for enjoying Sydney. And don't forget you don't need to pay for it. 
CouchSurfing is not about SUFFERING!

Before I left, she drove me to the train station and told me I will always be welcome to her place no matter how long I need to stay. Sydney became my favorite Australian city because of her. I came back to Sydney about half month later and spent another three days at her place because she made me feel really welcome.

But that is not the whole story- Miriam came to Beijing in 2012. We had dinner at my apartment and we even traveled together to south China for ten days. I am sure I will meet her again in the future. When I talked with her on Skype last time, I invited her to Niagara Falls and she invited me to her place in New York since she will record an album in New York in 2013.

So this is my story about CouchSurfing, and I will post about HelpExchange (volunteer vacation) 

Check out this vedio from BBC- CouchSurfing Report.

CouchSurfing - What? How? Why? When? Where? PART 3

In this post, I will talk about my own Couchsurfing experiences.

I went to Australia as a backpacker in 2011 and I spent around 800 dollars for a one-month trip. I met three Couchsurfing hosts during that time.

So my first host is a nice young lady who lives in Melbourne. She picked me up at the train station and brought me to her place. Since it’s my first day in Australia, I just dropped my stuff and then went to the city directly. Unfortunately she had to work during the whole night every day. So I barely have the chance to talk with her. So my suggestion is if you really want to talk with people, try to apply for these ones who can match your time. A funny fact is her cat was snoring everyday next to me on another couch!

The couch I slept in Melbourne

Downtown Melbourne

The Twelve Apostles at The Great Ocean Road (near Melbourne)

My second host is a single mom who lives in Gold Coast. She was really interested in Chinese culture and her mom was an English teacher in China 30 years ago. I remembered that she told me that she has hosted Couchsurfer from Iran and China, and she just need one more from North Korea to collect all the “evil countries”. While she said the both the Iran girl and me have changed her mind about those countries. But here is another important thing I have to say is even though we went well with each other- she cooked nice meals for me for free and we talked a lot every day, you have to make sure you followed your schedule or at least communicate about it. She kicked me out of her house at the 4th day, because I made a mistake when applying for the couch- I applied for 4 days while I actually need 5 days. She just told me I have to leave, so I ended up in a hostel that day and that is out of my budget. So be aware of the date, you may meet some strict-scheduled hosts.

I will talk about my third host which is the best I’ve ever met in my next post.

CouchSurfing - What? How? Why? When? Where? PART 2

As for Couchsurfing as a guest, here are some suggestions:

Before

· Prepare early. Even though some hosts consider last minute application, you don’t really want to take that risk.

· Before you start to apply for a couch, complete your account profile as detailed as you can so that hosts can get to know you better before they decide whether to host you or not.

· Read hosts’ profile carefully and choose the one who share the same hobbies with you. You will feel much easier to talk with them and have more fun hanging out with them.

· Read former guests’ comments to find out if they are nice to guests.

· Choose location carefully. If you don’t have access to a car and the local public transportation is not convenient for you, don’t live in suburbs.

· Write a sweet application email to host and explain why you want to Couchsurfing at their place.

· Don’t worry about the “No” answer, keep trying and you will find your perfect host. From my own experiences, I often get about three “No” followed by one “Yes”. So that is good enough for me and I will talk about my own Couchsurfing experience in my following posts.

During

· Be polite and show your respect to your host. Don’t mess up with their houses by using their kitchen, drink their milk in the fridge without their permission and don’t forget clean your own mess. Those examples are all from a lady host who has hosted a lot of people and she got so mad at those bad guests.

· Be open-minded. Respect different cultures. Remember it’s all about culture-sharing.

After
· I often prepare some sweet and small gifts for my hosts as goodbye gifts. But it’s up to you though.
· Keep in touch with your hosts and you may become really good friends.

---PART 3 will be posted next week!

Prepare your backpack! Let’s start a new journey.

Backpacking is not only the way you choose to travel. It's a lifestyle, and you will never be too young, too old or to wealthy to be a backpacker to start your own journey.

In this blog, I will introduce some backpacking tips such as how to travel through Couchsurfing, how to plan your volunteer vocation, which website can be used for your trip and most important, how to save money.

I’ve met so many amazing people via Couchsurfing. I got the chance to live in a sea-view house alone in Sydney one week for free. I worked in a farm in Canberra and got the chance to sell vegetables and chickens at a local market. I’ve met different people in hostel dorms and we talked about everything, from life, culture to philosophy. I have hugged with lady-boys in Thailand. I have sat in the Central Park for a whole afternoon trying to imagine I am a New Yorker. I have biked lake-round in plateau. I have hiked in the desert during summer time. I have watched sunrise in the arctic area in front of a polar bear jail...

I did enjoy all my trips and I traveled in a very limit budget. I am willing to share my experiences and tips with you. Are you ready to follow me and start to pack your luggage? Let’s go!