Take the 'Am I still a True Backpacker?' Test

I will backpack until I die. Check.

I will still backpack after I win this week’s $50 million Oz lotto. Check.

I will spend my honeymoon in an 8-bed dorm if ever trapped into marriage. Check (just find me the woman that’ll agree)

I will refuse to use a suitcase. They are an unnecessary burden and so are more than 4 pairs of underwear per week. Check

I will embrace 3 minute showers and 2 minute noodles as a way of life. Check

I will sooner choose to stay at the Bangkok Hilton than the Sydney Hilton. Check

I will happily rest my head on a disease ridden mattress covered with suspiciously stained sheets, use a sleeping bag inner (As a make-shift whole-body condom to protect myself from the those sheets), wear thongs every time I shower, cook everything in foil and squat when I need the toilet. Wait a minute… No deal!

What constitutes a 'real' backpacker?

Firstly, let me state for the record that over the course of my backpacking career I have already done all of the above - plenty of times. Moreover, they were some of the greatest times of my life and I wouldn’t swap those experiences for the world! However, over time tastes will inevitably change. We all start to get a little more mature. The backpacking industry is no exception. There is no doubt that the quality standards within the industry have changed significantly over the last seven years, perhaps even more than I have.

Trip 1: ‘2002/’03 - Age18 – “It’s my Party and I’ll sleep where I want to”

According to renowned American psychologist Abraham Maslow, one’s Biological and Physiological needs include; air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex and sleep. My early days of backpacking involved the pursuit of only two of those needs… and the other one was drinking! (Sorry, that’s such a ‘dad’ joke). Seriously though, making choices regarding my ‘shelter,’ and ‘sleep’ were completely incidental. Needless to say the hostels I always chose were not exactly wholesome, but they did make for one hell of a party! As Martin Lane states in an article on Thumbrella recently “It’s no coincidence that the most popular hostels in any given backpacker hub are the ones with the best parties” Heck, what did I care… and more accurately what did I know? Anyway, it was all ok… because I knew that they were “Party Hostels.”

Hang on a minute. Will somebody please tell me why that’s OK? Please explain to me why having a huge night out is mutually exclusive to having a decent room and bed to come back to? I mean surely having an ample hangover recovery environment would be optimal?

Trip 2: ‘2005 - Age 21 - Don’t worry be hippy

Don't worry, be hippy!

I have been a frugal, skint, disheveled hippy before. Sometimes it was ideological; sometimes it was circumstance (i.e. by default due to running out of cash) In these instances there was just one factor that determined which hostel I chose, “Price.” When all you can afford to eat is Central American street food the chances are you can’t really afford a top hostel. The culmination of these two factors usually equates to the harsh reality of spending a lot of time on a not so brilliant dunny. Still, like before I wouldn’t trade it for the world!

Trip 3: ‘2007-‘08 – Age 23 - Bohemian Rhapsody

I was a self-proclaimed, rebellious, artistic, quirky youngster full of emo-angst and contrived nonchalance. I had to let it out somewhere so I would only check into the most quirky, artistic and bohemian type hostels. Needless to say they were often the opposite of pristine and luxurious. Let’s just say that the hostels didn’t usually have a ballroom … (and neither did the trendy skinny jeans that seemed to be what all the cool dudes were wearing). These Hostels were characteristically small, and I felt immensely ‘hip’ just being a part of them.

But for god-sakes I implore anybody artistic, trendy, cool or bohemian to give me a solid reason as to why all those things still require me to sleep in a dump, and shower in thongs? I wonder how the Dandy Warhols live now that they have cracked it as a big band?

Trip 4: Earlier this year – Age 25 - Jumping Jack Flashpacker

Until this point, I could (and did) pass as the biggest of party animals, the filthiest hippies, and the most eclectic of bohemians. However to some extent it has all been a facade. You see ladies and gents, behind closed (toilet) doors; I am secretly a closet paper layer. That’s right… a 1x 2 square horizontal, 2x 3 square vertical, class A, textbook, hygiene germ-a-phobe! To me the term ‘Flashpacker’ is essentially marketing jargon created by the backpacker industry to broaden its target market demographic, in line with raising their standards to what they should have already been anyway. In my opinion the only true test is whether a hostel possesses a toilet on which laying paper is not a prerequisite. The fact that I can happily climb into bed, shower bare footed, throw away my sleeping bag inner, cook in the kitchen, and get to actually touch some porcelain are all huge positives for me.

Backpacker, flashpacker or prince?

However, like all good things there is a catch. If having all of this comes at the price of losing some of the vibe, spirit and all round atmosphere of the hostel, then what’s the point? If I want to go and live in a sterile vacuum, I’ll move back in with my mum, thanks.

I work for YHA and no two of our hostels are the same. Some hostels are more conducive to partying, some are more rustic, and some are ‘flashier’ then others. Yet our core objective is to offer the greatest hostelling experience for our customers with a premium standard of cleanliness, safety and comfort.

Perhaps it’s just me growing up, but I no longer get a thrill out of wondering whether I will contract Hepatitis, bed bugs or a mysterious rash every time I put my head down on my pillow at night. Nor do I believe that when backpacking in Australia I should have to.

So does this make me a…?

A) Backpacker?

B) Flashpacker?

C) Sell out?

D) Princess?

Many thanks to Kevin Lippy, Online Marketing Co-ordinator for YHA New South Wales, based in Sydney for this blog.