The Tux in the Backpack

One of the things that strikes me most is that there are so many Flashpackers out there, but only few of them are aware of being one.

So often I meet travellers around the world and they tell me that yes, they do love travelling independently, and to travel for a long time they need to be on a budget, but still they don’t really want to sleep in a dorm with 20 other people.

They like to enjoy a good glass of wine, and try local delicacies. Having been on the road for a long time they met all kind of travellers, and now feel like running away when they see a big group from an organised tour, or when a cruise ship arrives on the island they’re staying.

And yes, they all have an mp3 player and a digital camera (but hey, who hasn’t nowadays?) and many do carry a laptop with them.

To me, they are Flashpackers. And when I mention the term to them they like it. They don’t feel they are Backpacking, but something close to it. They wouldn’t call themselves Backpackers but don’t have another term to describe the way they are travelling.

Let’s be clear here. We’re not trying to categorise or pigeon-hole travellers. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 15% [?]

If you’re a professional (or semi-pro) photographer you probably bring with you a very good camera, equipped with all accessories, and you probably bring with you a heavy and sturdy tripod for those spectacular night or low-light shots.

If instead you use a totally automatic and compact camera you probably don’t need anything else.

But if you consider yourself somewhere halfway, probably you wouldn’t mind to take nice long shutter pictures, but at the same time don’t want to bring around a tripod that will take a lot of space or even worse, a heavy one.

In that case the solution for you is Gorilla Pod by Joby. Superlight (45.3g or 1.6oz), easy to carry, and best of all, with flexible leg joints that allow you to have your pictures taken from basically every surface.

I guess the names comes from the fact that you can bend the legs to wrap your Gorillapod around a tree branch exactly like a monkey. But you can use it to secure your camera to a piece of rock, a pole, sand, virtually any surface.

Gorillapod has got also 2 bigger, heavier brothers, with the biggest one able to support cameras that weights up to 3kgs (6.6lbs), for the pro who still doesn’t want to carry a classib big tripod around, or simply for when working with uneven surfaces where a normal tripod won’t work.

What makes it even funkier is the fact that comes in many colours as well, to go with your pink shoes or green backpack!

Definitely a must have for any Flashpacker that is not a professional photographer, or that simply don’t want to carry yet another heavy accessory. Available in photography shops or at Amazon (aff).

Popularity: 16% [?]

Japan is a very popular Flashpacking destination. Probably because you have a great culture, combined with excellent healthy (and quite cheap food) and of course it’s a technology paradise.

One of the rules of Flashpacking is while in a certain destination try local delicacies even if they’re not the cheapest choice available. Where else would you get them anyway? Is it worth to travel that far and get the same food you’ll get at home? So while a Backpacker would eat sandwiches for a week in order to afford a bungee jump, for a Flashpacker food is indeed a big part of the travel.

And what’s that delicacy that you can find only (as far as we know) in Japan? Fugu of course!

Pic by New York Serious Eats

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 7% [?]

Internet has indeed replaced travel guidebooks. While before you had to carry with you as many guidebooks as the number of countries you were planning to visit, now you can replace that weight with quality books, and access more up to date and more varied travel info with a laptop or just finding an internet cafe.

Here are the top 10 Online resources currently available to Flashpackers.

1. Wikitravel
Wikipedia little sister specialised in Travel info.
If I had to decide in two minutes whether to go to a certain location or not, and could use only one website, I would just go to Wikitravel. Compiled by fellow travellers it might not have exhaustive info if you’re searching for a tiny location, but still you can find enough info on many off the beaten path destinations. The focus is definitely on how it is to travel to a certain place, and it’s easy to get the info you need as every article uses the same topics (Understand, Get in, Get Around, Do, See, Buy, Eat, Drink, Sleep, Stay Safe, etc). Being a wiki you can replace some info yourself, in case in the meanwhile that nice restaurant has shut down.

2. Tripadvisor
Reviews and info about hotels AND hostels. From big chains to boutique ones, to small family run ones if you want to be a Fair Flashpacker and support local communities. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 16% [?]

Low season often means less tourists around and cheaper prices, allowing the Flashpacker to pay good accommodations at sometimes even half price, and overall to have a better lifestyle spending a lot less. Low season often means also that it’s easier to get to know ans chat to the residents, who won’t be overwhelmed by hordes of tourists.

Good news is that low seasons vary throughout the year from destination to destination. And low season in many tropical places doesn’t mean no sunshine or miserable weather. In many locations in South East Asia for example, the rainy or wet season is not at all monsoon season, it simply involves having a refreshing one-hour thunderstorm in late afternoon.

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 10% [?]