Even if you wouldn’t identify as someone who has the travel bug, I would recommend it as an experience to form part of any journey of growth. That applies to the spiritual realms as well as physically. There is a wealth of knowledge possessed by backpackers, as unassuming as they may be, typically kitted out in clothes they have worn for 3 or 4 days, long hair hanging down their backs, and an eager eye for the best deal they can get as part of any element of their travels.
The best thing that could have ever happened to me personally was having my bank go through some problems at what I thought was the worst of times, since I couldn’t access my money having already jumped on the plane to Southeast Asia. I had to pay a cancellation fee which would turn out to be cheaper than honouring that particular booking. The alternative of that was subsequently backpacking in the cheapest hostel I could find in Phuket, Thailand.
As of the writing of this that hostel no longer exists, so if anyone wants to follow in the footsteps and enjoy the exact same experience that I enjoyed, there will be a few subtle differences in the specific details.
So anyway my ramblings take us to what was a kitchen table placed right in the middle of a makeshift kitchen and bedroom in the hostel, where a wealth of knowledge was shared between a dynamic selection of backpackers who happened to be sitting down for a meal or just resting at any given time.
One of the areas in which backpackers have a wealth of knowledge is just the right philosophy for life. Generally speaking the consensus is that one should seek to define “enough.” Beyond a certain point it doesn’t matter how much more you have than the next person or how much more you would have had, had you decided to work longer as opposed to taking some time off to enjoy some of the things that form part of any trip anywhere in the world.
Backpackers know where to go to get the best deals on food, accommodation and even entertainment elements synonymous with travellers, such as how to get UK no deposit bonuses for the popular serial-traveller pastime of online betting.
Backpackers know where to go and eat for cheap, because one or more of them befriended a local and would have been let in on the quirky little nooks and crannies the typical traveller doesn’t dare to venture to. Backpackers know how to balance the essentials of life with those elements of life that merely feed their souls, which is why they often make for the envy of vacationers whose hefty salaries seem to afford them just one vacation per year that just seems to go by way too fast.
Backpackers seem to know how to be happy and enjoy life without much in their pockets, because they understand where true value lies and how to tap-into that value at will.