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 1

So in this post, I will talk about Couchsurfing. I had so many amazing experiences from Couchsurfing, and I HIGHLY recommend it to you.

Couchsurfing is a web community of over 5 million members in 97,000 cities. Their mission is to create inspiring experiences. Just like you can get from the word COUCH and SURFING, you are actually surfing on other people’s couch when you are traveling. But it doesn’t limited to couches; you may also have your own bed or your own room. And it’s all free.

How does it work? Why is it free? You need to register an account on their website and then you will have the access to host other people or apply for couches. Personally, I treat Couchsurfing as a good way to connect with different people from different cultures rather than just a cheap way to save your hotel money. As a host, you can contribute to it by choosing your couch status- Yes/Maybe/Not right now, but I can hang out. So it means even if you are not travelling, you can meet new people by hosting them. And believe me, everyone has amazing stories to share with you.

For suggestions to guests, I will post it in Part 2.