Now we are all Flashpacker?

Now we are all Flashpacker? -

flashpacking is to describe a concept for backpackers, the upscale their travels. You travel with a backpack, but they stay in nice digs, wearing fancy electronics, tend to be a little older, have to spend a bit more money, and do not cook every day in hostels. They are backpackers with means. This distinction has been around for a few years and, as I have traveled around the past year, I think is totally meaningless. In fact, I think we all transformed into an old way of traveling "Flashpacker .." - a backpack, a few dollars, and a worn guide is well behind us

When I first in 06 travel I started barely saw anyone with a cell phone and hardly a few people with an SLR camera and never with a laptop. Hostels computer but he hardly had Wi-Fi. Eighteen months later, when I traveled Australia after living in Thailand, I noticed many travelers phones had some hostels had Wi-Fi, but few had computers.

Now everywhere I go, I see mobile phones, Wi-fi available, netbooks and SLR cameras. And I see, expensive mobile phones also. I am amazed at the number of people with smartphones, iPhones and Blackberries. Moreover, there are a lot of people carry MacBooks and expensive PCs - it's not only netbooks travelers. Briefly, backpackers are much wired today than they used to.

The Art of Backpacking has totally changed and it is not returned. This is not a good or bad thing, but just a reflection of our affiliated and different times. Go in an Internet cafe or a hostel and take a look at the computer. Everyone is on Facebook. Facebook is so ubiquitous on the road as it is back home. It is also typical that I was not the only one who worked on my laptop in the hostel common room.

Back in the "real world" to get people used digitally connected. We with our cameras and our phones recordings used. What expensive and inconvenient on the way to be (and therefore only for "Flashpacker") is now cheap and easy once for all.

As I sit and write this post, I am in the common room of my hostel. It's lunchtime and the place is full. Next door, on the leather couches in the common room are five backpackers on computers. In the kitchen and around me backpackers are not the cheapest clothing available, but wearing name brands like Diesel and Armani. A girl just walked wear by a hair dryer on the way to her room. This is not your parents backpack amount.

hostels have in response to this upscaling and since this has become widespread, we expect it to default. But while that a change is the greatest thing I've noticed is not about style but about behavior. I have noticed a dramatic change in notion of security. Back when I started traveling, people PacSafes had and tried hard to keep their stuff locked up. Well, I see people phones on their beds, leaving connected iPods while they are out, and unlocked bags. When I started traveling with a laptop, I brought it out in secret. I was always afraid someone would take. Now I sit in my bed typed. People just do not seem as worried as they are used.

now that backpackers some extra money seem addition to have, there is a whole network of backpackers services looking to spend to help. Travelers seem to take longer routes to be more hop-on / hop-off buses, and stay in a beautiful and expensive accommodation. Look for the backpacking experience with all the ease of a prepaid vacation. In New Zealand, I would say about 75% of travelers use one of the backpacker buses. In Europe, I have noticed more travelers flying between destinations. In Asia, more tours sprout on for young travelers.

I see these freight train does not stop any time soon. I suspect as common as iPods are today, computers of tomorrow will be. But the rising prosperity of most travelers means that even those who "broke" are, will still carry with them their toys and comfort on the road. For me, that's fine, as long as once in a while they pull to remove the iPod and the interaction with the target so long savings to interact with spent

Update 2016: , I was right! Nowadays everyone has at least one intelligent device on them when they travel. High-tech cameras are everywhere. Hostels everywhere are like mini-hotels now and woe to the establishment, which does not have Wi-Fi. The freight train did not stop. The term Flashpackers out of fashion went, shortly after I wrote this post, because it turned out, we were all Flashpacker. Flashpacking is exactly what Backpacking these days!

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