I don't mean an age where you are not allowed to backpack anymore, I mean do you think there is a specific age where you go stop being a backpacker and start being.... something else. Do you think there is a specific line that you cross from backpacker to... traveler.. tourist... flashpacker.. whatever you want to call it.
I've been having this discussion with my dad for some time (he's in his 50's). I keep telling him that he would love southeast asia, specifically Malaysia and Cambodia, but he keeps telling me that he is to old to 'throw on a backpack and take off', and I argue just the opposite, that he has the freedom to now take on an adventure like this, no young children to take care off, more time off from work, etc. and the experience to know what he wants from a trip.
He went to Peru when I was younger (almost ten years ago now) and hasn't left the country since a short visit to England to see a friend (not long after the Peru trip). He is planning on meeting us in Europe next year, but I'm hoping to help him see that traveling the world isn't just for the young, but also the young at heart.
I just wanted to see what peoples thoughts are on this topic, age and traveling. Would you still consider yourself a backpacker at the age of 60, or more an experience traveler?
any opinions are welcome! 😊
Kristy
Reply to this I think you're whatever you want to be - at whatever age. Maybe it depends on what comfort level you prefer, or what amenities you require for health. Maybe the trip to Europe next year will inspire him.
Reply to this I hope the trip inspires him, he checks every blog and loves every part, and is very involved with where we are, what we're seeing (not just from a parents point of view, but because he is curious in nature I think). We're planning on meeting in Eastern Europe, doing a 'ancestory trail' type of thing, to Slovakia and Romania where his parents are from. I'm very much looking forward to it!!
Reply to this Maybe some people use the 'too old' arguement to avoid having to front those fears that can be part of going somewhere new. (No disrespect to your father Kristy).
For most of us here those anxieties and excitement are part of what keep us wanting more when we return.
I agree with the idea that being older actually brings more freedoms to go exploring.
"Age is a state of mind, not a number" - read Ican'trememberwhere 😊
Reply to this I'm sure his excuses for not traveling have a lot to do with fear of change, hopefully he'll be able to confront that next year!!
I will have to forward that quote to him. I think he might like that!!
Reply to this I doubt there is an age limit. I have been backpacking since I was 19. I am now almost 41 and still doing it. I have also met people who are older than I am doing it.
I have however started incorporated more into my life as the years went on, and given backpacking a slot, rather than all of my life like it used to have. Likely, it will get a bigger and bigger slot, as my daugter gets older, as I gain more time and freedom again.
from backpacker to... traveler.. tourist... flashpacker.. whatever you want to call it.
Now and again, when I find myself with some extra money, I do a bit of flashpacking. Maybe I would do it everytime or more of the time, if I had the money.
I argue just the opposite, that he has the freedom to now take on an adventure like this, no young children to take care off, more time off from work, etc. and the experience to know what he wants from a trip.
I will be taking your advise, even if you Dad doesnt. 😉
Would you still consider yourself a backpacker at the age of 60, or more an experience traveler?
I will likely be both. There is no denying that I am already an experienced traveller. So, when I am 60 I will likely still be a backpacker, and even more experienced.
I agree with KatieC. Life is a buffet, and if you dont do your own choosing, you might not end up getting what you want. 😊
I hope you Dad will love Romania as much as I did, the 2 times I was there. It is one of the destinations which has fascinated me the most.
Reply to this I hope you Dad will love Romania as much as I did, the 2 times I was there. It is one of the destinations which has fascinated me the most
That's good to hear. He's sentimental when it comes to family history, as am I. How was the english in Romania?? I assume that in the bigger towns it wouldn't be a problem to not know the local language, we are planning on going to some more remote areas though, where my grandma was born specifically is a tiny town with a dirt road and a crooked sign welcoming you, would German get you by there ok?
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Tell your father to read our blogs he will know he is not too old!!! When we took our sabbatical around the world trip in 2007 I was 51 and my husband 49. We did a variety of hostels, guest houses, low end hotels and an occassional splurge. We spent two months traveling the US, three months in SE Asia, a month in NZ, two months in Australia and a couple of weeks in Europe before returning to work...and are now saving money for our next big adventure around the world. We'd like to concentrate on Central and South America.
Until our next extended trip our adventures will be shorter. In the fall we are heading to Central Italy for just under three weeks.
Help him pack his bag and get him on the road!
Reply to this What a great question - but I'll answer a definitive "no" - no age limit whatsoever. As others have pointed out, the specific terms one associates with is much more a state of mind and self-identity than it is an actual physical definition - but I do not believe that these identities are static and fixed.
In a matter of moments I have found myself both tourist and local, without moving from the same bit of sidewalk I was occupying (if you've ever found yourself visiting a destination in your home country as a "tourist" and then ending up providing "insider" information or directions to those even
less familiar than you are you can see what I mean - instantaneous transformation). I think the semiotics of traveling have just as much (if not MORE) to do with the relationship you have with others and your interaction with your surroundings than it does it a specific mode of transportation, citizenship, age, income, etc.
Likewise, the mental image ascribed to each of those terms says more about the relationship between the namer and namee than it does anything objective. ie: Flashpackers look down on backpackers for being dirty (because they are cleaner), travelers look down on tourists for being 'inauthentic' (because they aspire to achieve authenticity), backpackers look down on flashpackers for being, I don't know, materialistic or inexperienced or whathaveyou (because they know how to "rough it"). But these definitions don't mean anything if not in relation to other term - by themselves they are meaningless.
I think you can be all or none or some, at any time and at the same time, and that we probably all are - whether we want to admit it or not.
I also agree with Jo about using age as a mask for uncertainty and fear of the foreign, as I'm fairly positive my father does the same thing (he's in phenomenal shape and climbs mountains regularly - yet if I suggest we trek through, say, the forests of NZ it seems somehow more risky than him flinging himself off rock-ledges an hour or two away from home).
Reply to this How was the english in Romania??
Last time I was there was 1999. Most young people spoke quite well in English. By young, I mean people up to 35 years old will likely speak English. Older than that, you would probably need to speak Romanian, Russian or German with them.
I haven't been to any of the remote parts, so I am not sure which second language people would speak there, but German would be a good guess. While East Europe was still connected with the Soviet Union, people learned Russian or German at school. Now they learn English. The first time I was in Romania was 1989. All of Romania was remote and untouristed then, and German is what I spoke with everybody I met there.
Reply to this French and Italian also work in Romania, probably better than German and definitely better than Russian. Unlike other eastern European languages, Romanian is from that language group rather than the Slavic group, so you might also be understood in Spanish. Romania was also the earliest eastern bloc country to get away with not making Russian compulsory in schools, replacing it with French and Italian.
On top of that, it's generally best to avoid speaking Russian in any of the former bloc countries.
Reply to this I didn't realize French would be spoken in Romania, that's good news, my dad is fluent, although it's Quebec French which I hear is slightly differnent then France French, but all the same..
Reply to this Last Saint's Year, 2004, I walked a portion of the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, and a HUGE number of the other walkers were elderly retirees . . . some looked in their 70s. Many of them pulled small handcarts instead of carrying a backpack, and they walked slowly (the towns along the Camino are close enough that you don't have to walk much more than 8-10 miles per day). But they were out there and I thought it was awesome and inspiring, and it gave me comfort to know you don't ever really have to quit.
FWIW, 2010 is another Saint's Year and they're expecting the largest number of pilgrims ever on the road, as many as 200k. That might be a trip to urge your dad to take. He'll find many age-group peers on that road, and that may help him feel less self-consious, if that might be part of the problem.
Reply to this Hi Scott and Kristy - NO WAY is your dad too old to backpack! Ask him to have a read of my blog of our bizarre little trip to Cambodia while we were bumming around Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia - Im 44, Malcolm who is not a wrestler nor a big star in Cambodia on TV many times is 52. If he speaks fluent French it will come in handy in Cambodia. I think the biggest difference from now and when i was in my twenties is I have a bit more "patience" - which you need in Cambodia - and you are a bit less inclined to stick to timetables and plans..ie we ended up in Vietnam for a grand total of 16 hours because...we werent overly impressed with Saigon/HCMC and it was labour day so everything was pretty full on. Instead of stressing how are we going to get to Halong etc we just rolled up to the airport and thought...ahhh why not, lets just jump on a plane to Cambodia now instead of waiting to get trains etc to Halong. I will also say as much as I love Cambodia, its a country where young not so life wise people CAN and DO get in a lot of trouble. At Siem Reap I met a young girl who had been robbed and tried to report the crime to police who told her she was drunk and to go away - a few hours later the police sent someone who knew where her passport was to her hotel who led her on a wild trail up alleyways where another guy holding her passport and cards demanded $200USD for return of her documents. Lets just say things didnt end up pretty for her and her entire experience was ruined. Our driver told us 'young' are 'easy' targets for stuff like this, even if he did misunderstand us and we ended up in a heroin dealers house....more about that next blog entry. A person without a few years life experience under their belt may not have been able to get out of that one so easily. Things like the Khmer Rouges reign happened while your Dad was old enough to hear about it on the nightly news so theres a different shine on things. We talked to a couple of young american tourists at the killing fields who went there because they had been told about it from fellow travellers but had no actual idea of the political climate at the time.
Im happy to be called a flashpacker, doesnt matter what you call me, im not sure when i turned from a backpacker to a flashpacker but who cares if i can afford the plane instead of the train and book my hotels online instead of haggling for a room in a backpackers - I certainly dont look down on anyone who is - chandeliers and aircon and room service is nice, so is sleeping on a woven mat in the jungles of Papua New Guinea which is what i was doing a couple of years ago. Last year I had ten thousand in my pocket and was sleeping in a non aircon hut on a remote island in Indo because thats what was there and I was there to do some scuba diving. I think thats it, we get more patient and easy going as we get older. But certainly the day the drive for adventure stops, is the day we start to age. Tell him to go, buy him his ticket, if he has any questions Id be happy to email him and can give him contact numbers for drivers in Cambodia who will look after him - after all - a recommendation from the famous giant wrestler guarantees that he will be looked after 😊
Reply to this Not sure whether we should put a comment on this thread. Not too sure what qualifies one as a flashpacker and what the divide with backpacking is. We are old compared to some, 57 and 60, carry our stuff in backpacks, travel in various forms of transport, stay in hostels, cheap hotels, tents and, very occasionally, apartments. We have been travelling continuously since October 2008. We have travelled before but we decided to get moving a couple of years ago and just did it.
Your dad is perhaps a little on the young side but he will get by. Just tell him to keep out of dodgy hostels for the first couple of weeks. After that he will be OK. Oh, and if you talk him into travelling for a long time, suggest he takes a couple of days off every now and then and just sits around doing nothing.
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