5 Reasons to start backpacking

Not everyone was born to be a backpacker, no doubts on that, but it doesn't mean you can't become one. You just need to consider some advice from the 10 golden rules for a backpacker!

But what are the reasons convincing you to leave the usual tourist village for a low cost journey? Here we wrote down a few for you:

1. BACKPACKING IS CHEAP

In the crisis period, we tend to limit our whims and the first thing we cut off are summer holidays, especially if not having too many days off. We are often free to take a holiday only when the company closes temporarily for a summer break, forcing us to travel in August, one of the most expensive months of the year. In this situation it is obviously so much easier to decide not to travel at all. Instead, packing your backpack and hitting the road is a good way to travel around without spending a fortune.

As an example, hostels rates in Amsterdam start from 18,18 € per person per night... Do you think that's expensive?

2. THE SPIRIT OF ADVENTURE

Getting a little bit of adventure spirit in your life is a vital part of the backpacking philosophy. You can't plan every single minute of your journey, since life sometimes just happens. If your life is scheduled by things to do in a certain time range, backpacking can really help out. It's like having a break from the real life and forget about the Monday blues.

3. YOU CAN MEET NEW PEOPLE

Whether you wished for it or not, you will find yourself immersed by young and multicultural atmosphere. Hostels are full of backpackers who share rooms with boys and girls from all over the world. Being in contact with them you will have the opportunity to learn more about intercultural customs and traditions, which are probably very different from yours. This is a great way to become culturally more rich, don't you think?

4. YOU LEARN HOW TO CHOOSE

It sounds like a such a simple thing, but backpacking means you know how to do your backpack, leaving home all those items you don't really need. No pillows, no towels, not too much of make up and so on, being careful with clothes and leaving home all the super fashion dresses and heels; they are useless if you have to walk on a dirt road.

5. DO IT YOURSELF

In touristic villages and hotels you are pampered all over, breakfast in bed and so on, and in some way it's fine - after all you're on a well deserved holiday! However, for those who are still living in their parents' house, backpacking is a way of testing themselves and starting to take some responsibility. No one is going to cook for you, there will be no "all inclusive" holiday package; instead you have to do your own grocery shopping, control the money you spend etc. This is not something bad, but a chance to put yourself to a test and prove to yourself you can do it! You can definitely do it.

So.. are we all convinced about starting backpacking?

Photo Credits: Jo Christian Oterhals