Carry the World on your Shoulders

Travel and tourism has become sophisticated. Even when it's not, it is. Travelling independently from an organised tour group or the help of a travel agent requires a fair amount of time and planning, not to mention a fast Internet connection. Thank goodness for that 2 Year Working Visa in the UK bit because it was so popular that where ever you seem to be going, someone knows someone who knows someone they met in London who can put you up/show you around/show you in the right direction.

The world's gotten smaller and so have the backpacks. Who needs 'em with exclaim with reckless abandon and a book full of names of friends of friends to call just in case. Its great that so much more of the world is so accessible, its even better that even when you don't have a friend, you have someone else's friend to lean on.

But consider the backpack again. Filled with only the bare essentials, some paperwork in a waterproof file and a guidebook, maybe. These days you could maybe lose the guidebook and just download some travel guides to your mobile phone from www.hummba.com. Or wait until you reach your destination, hire a car and Tourism Radio to go with it. Either way, the beauty of the backpack is that it is so versatile, there are no rules and it's making a come back from the cliched "backpack around Europe" so popular in the 80's.

These days backpacking means one thing...travel light and make up the rules as you go along. An inability to travel like a backpacker with have you lugging a "wheelie bag" through cobbled stoned streets, if you're very lucky the wheels will break under the weight of your "essentials" and you'll then have to carry your 20 kilogram limit along uneven and even...unpaved streets of your destination.

The moral of the story is this...it's time to bring the backpack back. With some careful planning and a little adventurous spirit you can see the world on a smaller budget and a slightly more open mind. So pull it out (the backpack and your courage), dust it off and start travelling. For a list of backpacking classics visit www.travelindependent.info