How to travel the world with just a backpack

Tell your parents you’re going backpacking in India, Southeast Asia or even travelling Australia and they are going to panic, worry about your safety, and worry about your bank balance. But with good advice and sensible travel planning you will be able to prove to anyone that doubts you, travelling with just a backpack is the best way.


The question is, where do you get advice from about a country on the other side of the world?

Well, to start with you have travel guides such as The Rough Guide and Lonely Planet, while these are great for telling you where to go, what to see and which place to stay – the downside is that it can be very easy to travel along the guide book, never straying from the well trodden path. Use the book wisely, but don’t be afraid to put it down, deep in the backpack!

Another option would be to surf the web, hunting for different blogs that will tell you more about adventure backpacking and gap year experiences. This is a great way to get a very personal account of one person’s experience travelling, just remember that countries can be like Marmite – you either love or hate them! Everyone has his or her own journey, whether it is backpacking one country or travelling round the world, the best way to know if you’ll enjoy something is to do it.

Which brings us to my final recommendation for travel advice, sites such as Travelblogs and Round My World. These sites are social hubs for backpackers and travellers to meet and share stories and experiences. You are easily able to discover a multitude of opinions and tips about places to visit that aren’t quite on the beaten path, there are also heaps of photos of destinations around the world. Checking out travel blogs on these sites can give you a real insight into whether the horror stories you’ve been told by friends are accurate or not!


The next step is to check for travel advice from your government, the British Foreign Office website is usually excellent for providing reliable information about safe travel.


By now you’ve probably picked a shortlist of countries to visit, places to go and sights to see – just to throw some extra options into the mix I’ll give you a list of my favourite places to travel to worldwide – and why I loved them;


1. Nepal.

Nepal is one of the most stimulating places on earth to backpack. Everywhere you travel in Nepal brings new sights, smells and sounds. The pollution of Kathmandu is soon forgotten as the friendliness of the locals wraps you in a protective bubble, the noise of the rickshaws is drowned out by the laughter of friends as you drink Everest Beer – and then you discover Momos, a Tibetan dumpling, and my favourite food of all time.
After a few days you leave Kathmandu, and ride the whitewater of the Trusili river all the way down to Chitwan National Park on the Indian border – here you can ride elephants, see wild rhino, and hear the tigers roar at night. If you get really lucky you’ll see the tigers too. Then it is another exciting bus ride, up into the Himalayan foothills to Pokhara, the town by the lake. If anyone can show me anywhere on earth as stunning and as comfortable as Pokhara – I’ll buy the ticket there today!

2. Hoi An, Vietnam

Vietnam is a still a communist country, so sending a faulty iPhone to England is tricky as the censors cannot check the content (god bless DHL!) In an odd way this just makes it even more endearing, and nowhere in Vietnam is quite as charming as Hoi An.
Cobbled streets and old world comfort are not what you’d typically expect when travelling to a tiny town in South East Asia. But this is where to drop the backpack, put your feet up, and chill. Great food, the cheapest beer on the planet (the delicious, home brewed Bia Hoi) and the fact that Hoi An was one of the few places to escape being destroyed in the war make it a travellers heaven.

3. It’s a Secret!

My favourite island on earth is very quiet, very friendly and very unknown – I hope it stays that way for a long time, it would be terrible to see it turn into the tourist trap that is Kho Pi Pi. It may be mentioned on my travel blog at Round My World, so if you’re a keen backpacker, come check it out!


Made it this far? Great! You’re ready to start looking into flying, and arranging travel insurance. Booking flights can be one of the most exciting times in your travels, as you will be finally setting a definite date to escape on your adventure! There are companies out there that cater specially for gap year students and young travellers, STA Travel are one of the best – they can also provide you with good insurance cover, be sure to let them know which extreme sports and adventures you plan on trying, they can then make sure that you are insured for skydiving in Fiji and diving in Australia!


Finally, if you’re about to go away on your own backpacking adventure.. Good Luck and have a great time!