The Tux in the Backpack

A while ago TimesOnline published a list of Europe Top 10 Boutique Hostels. The list is based on ratings on HostelBookers.com.

Few ratings may have changed meanwhile, but here’s the list as of last June:

Lisbon Lounge, Lisbon

Red Nest Hostel, Valencia

Miss Sophie’s Hostel, Prague

Mandragora Hostel, Budapest

Mleczarnia Hostel, Wroclaw

Greg Tom Hostel, Krakow

La Controra Flashpackers Hostel, Naples

Langholmen Hostel, Stockholm

St Christopher’s, Berlin

Centric Point Hostel, Barcelona

Mleczarnia Hostel, Wroclaw

The first thing to notice is that more and more hostels are catering for flashapackers. The one in Naples has the word “Flashpackers” even in the name. Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 31% [?]

As many new visitors are familiarising themselves with the concept of Flashpacking, and as the buzz keeps growing on the internet with more and more websites, stories and blogs, I’d like to provide a little list of the best Flashpackers blogs out there.

These are not blogs about Flashpacking, like the Tux In Backpack here, but rather the Flashpackers’ tales from around the world. They’ll save you time from searching online and separate the fresh and relevant stories from the wannabe Flashpackers, and most importantly they will give up a good idea of what it is like to be a Flashpacker around the world.

Here are then (in no particular order) 7 Great Flashpackers Blogs out there. Enjoy!

TheFlashpacker.com

Entertaining tales from various destinations, combined with excellent tips. Bennet The Flashpacker will observe what happens around him, investigate and study more about it, and finally share the learnings with the audience in excellent posts. The very last one about bedbugs is an example. Memorable the post on creating your own flash environment despite all kind of conditions around you, Luxe among the cockroaches, also reviewed here under Extreme Flashpacking Tips. Truly Flashpacking at its best: not simply money or gadgets, but style!

FlashpackingLife

If the Flashpacking phenomenon is getting so popular is also thanks to this excellent blog. Curtis was recently interviewed by CanadianPress, and the result was a huge attention to his travels and to the Flashpacking phenomenon. From that interview and original article sprung dozens of press articles, from Canadian press mainly. Curtis is also thinking of writing a book about Flashpacking. A true Flashpacking ambassador.

Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 16% [?]

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% [?]