Backpacking: The Bohemian’s Vacation
This post is by David VanArsdale, one of our contributors.
I don’t understand the people who buy express passes at amusement parks. They pay extra to skip the lines and walk straight to the roller coasters. Yes, waiting in those zig-zagging lines sucks. Yes, you’re sweating so much that your underwear is sticking to your ass. But I’d argue that your ass sweat and the long lines are all part of the experience.
Simply put, vacationers are the people with the express passes. Travelers are the ones waiting in line with swamp butt—and they’re better for it. Vacationers can say that they’ve been to a country. A traveler can say they’ve been to a country and had a richer experience.
I don’t mean to be a prick. And it’s not that I hate on vacationers, its just I think they’re missing out, and I’m comfortable admitting that I connect more to backpackers and I think there’s a higher value to it. And I’m ready and willing to defend my position. Vacationing is about comfort, fun, and relaxation. Traveling and backpacking are about transcendence, growth, and my personal favorite: adventure.
Vacationers rarely go on true adventures. There’s this interview with Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia, that really hits home. He talks about the people who claim they go on “adventures” to Mount Everest: “You get all these high powered plastic surgeons and CEOs. They pay $80,000 and have all these Sherpas who put all the ladders in place…You get to a camp and you don’t even have to lay out your sleeping bag. It’s already laid out with a little chocolate mint on the top. And the whole purpose of climbing something like Everest is to affect some sort of spiritual and physical gain. But if you compromise the process, you’re an asshole when you started and you’re an asshole when you come back.”
I am in no way comparing myself to Yvon. But his philosophy is something that I’ve taken with me. For me, it’s the “process” of traveling that I truly love about backpacking. It’s the entire experience. It’s the uncomfortable and awkward situations contrasted by the feelings of bliss and relaxation.
I began forming my own thoughts about backpacking, traveling, and vacationing when I was in Siem Reap, Cambodia. I started to see that vacationers were coming to Camobia to see the temples of Angkor Wat. Backpackers were coming to Cambodia to see the temples and Cambodia.
Siem Reap Hostel has an indoor pool with volleyball nets, its own bar and order-out kitchen, and open third floor balconies with comfortable lounge chairs and TVs. I started to feel like I had stopped traveling and started vacationing because of how nice the hostel was. It was far from a 5-star hotel, but to me, it might as well have been…and it felt incredible. But I have to say, when you stay at such a nice hostel (versus a modest one), it can be easy to get lost there. You don’t want to leave the confines and you start to lose your sense of reality. On the second day, it almost didn’t feel right to enjoy Mai Tais by the pool because of my morning run, which snapped me out of LaLa Land and opened my eyes to the real Siem Reap.
The luxuries of this hostel were severely contrasted by the surrounding area, which I wouldn’t call poor, I’d call it complete poverty. I went to Siem Reap to see the ruins, and I saw them both: the deteriorating temples of Angkor from the early 12th century, and the ones 50 meters from my hostel door. There are some absolute shit areas around there, literally. The water is dirty, poop brown. And I saw people bathing and pulling water from that river.
I like to take walks or runs when I travel (a little tip I picked up after my buddy JP). After the locals have seen you for the 4th or 5th time, I feel like they’re more willing to interact with you. Also, it helps me get my bearings and it forces me to see the country as it is. In Siem Reap, a majority of the people live in poverty. The people live in shacks. I’m not sure why they put numbers on them, but my best guess is because it gives them a sense of community. “039…That’s my home.”
In regard to Yvon’s philosophy, I’m not sure how much I “compromised the process” but I kept the backpacker’s mentality and an open mind to both enjoying life and experiencing Siem Reap. We ate a bag of grasshoppers from the Bug Lady on the corner. We went to dinner with our tuk- tuk driver who took us to his local. We partied until 4AM in the dive bars with the uneven pool table in the back room.
I started to realize that to backpack is to travel…and sometimes, to go on vacation. I not only stayed at a great hostel and watched the sunrise over Angkor Wat, but I also spent time away from the developed parts of the city and saw the poverty that exists in Cambodia. It’s this balance that I love about backpacking. We get to experience these countries as they are—not just for what they’re known for. And we’re better for it.
-photos and article by David VanArsdale
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24 Comments
I agree with you in the sense that there’s so much more to a country or a city hidden outside the high and safe walls of a luxurious 5 star hotel. However, I do believe that one thing can’t go with the other. I don’t really consider myself a backpacker (although I have, in fact, travelled with a backpack on countable occasions). I have a full time office job (which I actually enjoy) and spend my 25 vacation days travelling to whatever place I’d like to go at that moment. I do not do a living out of travel, so whenever I do, I like the comfort of sleeping in a clean bed, in my own room and have my very own bathroom whenever possible. I like to pack jeans and a colourful pair of sandals that I can wear to have brunch.
That’s what I did, for instance, when I was in Cuba. I stayed at a nice hotel, with a pool, next to the sea… with room service and a cocktail bar open until late playing Cuban salsa. This doesn’t mean that all I do when I’m in Cuba is lying on the beaches of Varadero sipping mojitos. During my stay, I spent all my free time with Cubans. I went to have dinner at off-track restaurants, went out to a all-cuban party, learned how to dance salsa and visited Cuban food markets. One week in La Habana, and I didn’t even step into La Bodeguita del Medio.
Having been a traveller for as long as I even remember, I’ve learned that there is simply no black and white. There is no tourist vs backpacker. There are tons of people who are positioned in between the two, and they are neither less adventurous for doing so, nor do they get a poorer travel experience. Time available to travel, previous experiences… there are many other things that impact one’s decision on the type of travel – I can no longer afford spending 40 hours in a bus ride, so I’ll just fly. I’ve learned that sharing room in a hostel is fun, yeah, but if you’re limited on days to travel, you’ll prefer to have more freedom and get some good sleep whenever you want.
Maybe the rich plastic surgeons travelling for 80,000 USD are under constant stress on their daily life, but also fancy visiting a different country. If in 3 weeks vacation they backpack Mount Everest the hard way – do you really think they will be rested and are able to get back to work? Doesn’t just everyone have the right to visit the Everest? Do you really need to decide between travel and your career?
Nicely written piece.
glad you liked it!
Megan recently posted..4 Countries. 3 Continents. 2 Bags. 1 Girl
great article, funny and a very interesting perspective on things
Thanks Stephen! We love the piece David did on your mad photography skills
Megan recently posted..4 Countries. 3 Continents. 2 Bags. 1 Girl
“Travelers are the ones with the swamp butt”
A wonderful and well written article. I guess we are swampy butt adventurers!
Thanks! Glad you liked it
Megan recently posted..4 Countries. 3 Continents. 2 Bags. 1 Girl
What a powerful post! I am with you, the real joy in traveling comes from the process. On a side note, we are headed to Siem Ream for the first time this spring.
Sorry for the delay on this! I’m excited you are going there! Keep me posted on how it goes
Megan recently posted..4 Countries. 3 Continents. 2 Bags. 1 Girl
love this! you’re right.
Siem Reap is the perfect place for a little perspective. it’s still small enough that you can see a clear distinction between the tourists and the backpackers.
jealous of your hostel though…nice
i have to be honest, though. totally agreed on everything except one little detail…
I will always get an express pass to see Mickey
haha I will too! Mickey is awesome
Megan recently posted..4 Countries. 3 Continents. 2 Bags. 1 Girl
All of this vacationers do this and travelers do this, comes across as inverse snobbery to me. If you pay 100$ to stand in never ending queues, that is entirely your business. It is neither a badge of pride, nor a badge of shame, but a personal choice. As to which is the better experience at a theme park, depends on whether you queue a lot in your working life.
Yvon Chouinard, makes a really good point about Everest though. I don’t think it has anything to do with labels but with a deeper psychology. After being subjected to cradle to grave advertising, eventually people start to believe that the mint on the sleeping bag is necessary to demonstrate that they are someone of worth and that the ladders are their red carpet up Everest.
Things are about to change though as Professor T Jackson was quoted last week; “The days of spending money we do not have on things we do not need to impress people we do not care about are over.”
Thanks so much for your comment John, and please excuse the delay on my end! I see your point about inverse snobbery but I don’t think that’s what our writer is trying to say. Great quote you ended with.
Megan recently posted..4 Countries. 3 Continents. 2 Bags. 1 Girl
Thanks for the comments everyone! David did a great job with this article – very insightful
The best way to really see a place is from the eyes of a local. Sure, if you come to vacation where I live, I’ll give you the tourist mickey mouse version. You’ll be sitting on wild horse safari tours with 20 other look-alike tourists and waiting in line to climb the lighthouse and no I’m not telling you where the best surf spots are. I’ll send you to the touristy restaurants, all the while, helping my friends make money so they can travel too. But if you’re lucky, I mean really lucky, I’ll let you in on the secrets. This means, A: You are respectful of my home & community and B: I think that you’ll actually stop and appreciate the beauty. Well, even then I might not let you on all the secrets. But, the point is if you can make a local a friend there is an entire world still to be discovered, way beyond the hipster/trendy touristy path of off the track restaurants and sights to see. Let’s face the facts, it’s all been discovered, but are you really seeing a place for what it is, or what the travel books are telling you to see.
Amy recently posted..8 Moments Lost in Time: 2011 in Reflection
Thanks for the tips Amy. I definitely agree that getting a local experience is a far more fulfilling experience than simply visiting the tourist trips. It’s also gives you some pretty awesome memories.
Megan recently posted..4 Countries. 3 Continents. 2 Bags. 1 Girl
Love this post – very thought provoking. But like a lot of people I don’t understand why travel can only be an either/or proposition, one of which is right and one of which is wrong. If it’s your money and your time it’s your right to define what your trip should be. Have to say though, I don’t understand “tick the box” travel like the plastic surgeons and CEOs in the post – if you’re going to do it you really do need to do it, and feel it and be completely consumed by it…..
Jo recently posted..Who says you can’t take your children to Europe?
Very well said Jo! Thanks for the feedback
Megan recently posted..How to be Cultured on a Cruise
Backpacking with the wife through Central and South America for six months and I can see your points. Our point of view is that backpackers are in their very essence tourists. Don’t put backpackers on this philosophical travel pedestal. We’ve hung out and gotten to know a lot of budget travelers, backpackers, tourists, and travelers. Some are great and some are close minded idiots. Didn’t matter whether they were “backpacking” or ” vacationing” . Don’t put yourself in this budget adventure box that can’t see where people’s heart, soul, and experience really matter. Travel and vacation do go hand in hand, as you mention. But sometimes I would rather hang with a kind vacationer than my sometimes snooty “backpacker” peer.
Thanks for the feedback guys! Please note that this is a guest post from another writer. Can’t speak for him.
Megan recently posted..How To Avoid Getting Homesick
This is a great article. Instead of trying to explain to people what I mean when I’m trying to convey this to them, I should just link them to this page! I wholeheartedly agree with you. In fact, what is covered here has been a relatively recent realization of mine. The travelbug has bitten me.
haha that’s awesome!
An interesting read, cant believe I only just came across this. Nice work Davo
Glad you enjoyed reading Madeleine!