Valuing Adult Hobby

Another reason for my love of backpacking is the escape from modern life it provides. As a recovering alcoholic, I find that the circle of friends I built during my twenties centered most of our social life around drinking. Brunches, Happy Hours, tailgating, etc. There was seldom an event that wasn’t based around the idea of consuming alcohol – …

Packing

Here’s a short list of items I can’t live without when backpacking. That was dramatic – I can certainly live without them, I just would rather not. • Small bottle of Dr. Bronner’s soap – this soap works for everything, washing yourself, brushing your teeth, washing your hair, doing sink laundry etc. It smells great. …

Personal Hygiene

Staying fresh and clean while traveling is already a challenge, let alone when you’re traveling for an extended period of time, with one pack, with fewer clothes, and staying in limited space and amenity lodging options. But there are some great ways to maintain your personal hygiene – if not for yourself, then for your …

Eating

Hostels appeal to many backpack travelers because they include a kitchen so that you can cook your own meals and save some money. There are some tried and true hostel recipes that require few ingredients, few dishes, and are hearty enough to get you through a meal or two. I usually like to eat a …

Hostel Tricks

While many hostels provide lockers for tenant use, you should always look when booking to see the extent of the locker. Do you need to bring your own lock? Will the locker be large enough to hold what you need locked up? Is there space for your things besides the locker, or is that it? …

Hostel Etiquette

I mostly learned hostel etiquette by staying in lots of them, seeing the nonsense bullshit youth fuckery therein, and being dedicated to being a good hostel roommate. Hostels often have many options and a while a shared dorm-style room is often the cheapest, you can often see a different payment scale depending on the number …