With a slew of new tools and mobile apps, the backpacker can now truly be a frontierless self-relying world-roaming unit.
A Tale of Two Trips
As I reflect on my last backpacking trip to South America in 2011, it’s hard to miss the stark contrast with one of the first backpacking trips I undertook in Europe in 2001.
For my 2001 trip, it had taken several weeks to plan out my itinerary. Most of this work was done with a trusty Let’s Go book that I had bought for roughly 40$ at a brick-and-mortar book retailer!
Before I left for my trip, I had bought the air tickets through a travel agent, and booked a few nights stay in a hotel in my first city by calling up the hotel directly to make a phone reservation. Upon arrival, I looked up ground transport options in my guide and actually followed the printed city map in the back of the book to find my way to my hostel.
When looking for restaurants, activities and nightlife, I again relied on the travel guide, or the advice of fellow travellers, when available. I booked all of the transport tickets directly at the stations or terminals. Few if any elements of my trip had been booked online.
The New Traveler Toolbelt
Some 10 years later, the independence of backpackers has increased dramatically. New tools, companies and services have altered the travel planning landscape and offer a fundamentally different travel experience.
Every major backpacker need category is now covered by a series of aggregators and service providers:
- Hotels: Airbnb, Hostelworld, WeHostels, Hotel Tonight, Couchsurfing, Priceline, Jetsetter, Trivago, Booking, Hotels.com.
- Flights: Kayak, Expedia, Orbitz, Hipmunk, Adioso, Google Flights, ITA OnTheFly, Skyscanner, FlightFox, FlightTrackPro, FlightStats, GateGuru, JustLanded, Airports, Ryan Air, Easy Jet.
- Transport: Uber, Hailo, Busbud, HopStop, Transit App, Lyft, Getaround.
- Research:Tripadvisor, Gogobot, Hopper, Lonely Planet, Viator, Triposo, Fotopedia, Ask A Nomad, TripTease, TripWolf, Dcovery, Outpost.
- Planning: Tripomatic, Tripit, WorldMate, TripCase.
- Maps: Google Maps, City Maps 2 Go, Scout, Google Earth.
- Food: Urbanspoon, Foodspotting, OpenTable, LocalEats, Zagat.
- Local: Foursquare, Yelp, Where To?, Everplaces.
- Communication: Skype, Facebook, WhatsApp, Postagram, Postale.
- Language: WordLens, TripLingo, Google Translate, Translator with Speech.
- Safety: ICE, My Symptoms Translator, StaySafe, MySafeTravel, Aon WorldAware.
Of course, other non-tech changes have also favoured the independent traveller. The widespread availability of wi-fi and connectivity makes accessing travel information on the go easier than ever. The creation of the Eurozone now allows the backpacker to carry only one hard currency on the ground. I still remember carrying 5–10 different currencies in my wallet on my 2001 Euro trip! For Canadians, the Nexus program has made it speedier than ever to get in/out of the country. Many countries are also increasingly offering temporary work programs, such as France’s popular PVT, which allow youth to experience foreign travel abroad.
Moving the Challenge Bar
All of these tools and changes have made the backpacker’s life easier, more efficient and more enjoyable. All of the logistics of backpacking can now take minutes instead of hours or weeks, allowing the traveller to focus on enjoying the actual travel experience.
That said, there is no doubt that the “challenge” aspect of backpacking has also dropped significantly. What was once a solid exercise in resourcefulness and planning can now seem relatively effortless. The decision has really become more about where/when to travel than about how to actually get there and around.
Of course, there are still number of new frontiers that represent substantial challenge for the backpacker.
Very few apps will likely provide useful recommendations in Myanmar, which recently opened up its doors to tourism. There are probably very few options to book a hotel room via smartphone there.
Regions with low or non-existent connectivity (except via satellite) also pose an interesting challenge. I can vouch for the fact that it’s hard to Skype back home from the depths of the Amazonian rainforest.
That said, many apps present amazingly useful functionality even when offline, such as City Maps 2 Go, Lonely Planet, Triposo, or — in the event you are actually in the rainforest — Apple’s Compass app or even bird-watching dictionary apps. Also, other speciality apps will no doubt emerge to fill the needs for these more niche travel markets and experiences.
All in all, backpacking is simpler and more amazing than ever. This will no doubt allow a large fraction of the population to travel to more countries than ever. This is a great thing. Individuals will broaden their personal horizons like never before. Developing an understanding of foreign cultures is the first step to peace and prosperity between people of all nations.
That said, adventuresome independent travellers will increasingly be looking for new challenges as the logistics of roaming the planet get easier!