Ode to the Backpacker

Let me take a break from telling you all about my whereabouts to talk a little bit about backpackers. You all know how much I love the backpacking culture and with last years travels and this years... I have attained some backpacking 'wisdom'. What good is wisdom if it is not shared right?

Backpackers Commandments

1. A backpacker MUST always travel with a backpack. None of this rolly bag bull. Stuff it in a backpack and lug it around mate.
2. Stay in hostels. Even if a hotel comes out cheaper - there is nothing like interacting and living in hostels whilst traveling.
3. Always respect your fellow backpackers. This includes never turning on the lights when you get in from a night out, NOT stealing from your fellow poor colleagues, cleaning up after yourself in the shared kitchens, and not taking long showers.
4. Tell all good and bad experiences. Learning where to go and what to do from backpackers is one of the best parts of traveling this way.
5. Share. We are all poor and we become like a little family. Make that spaghetti for two!
6. No high hells. Get over it gals, your backpacking - your aposta look like a bum.
7. Wander. Don't over plan. You want to sort of drift to places as you hear about them and stay longer where you enjoy to - and leave where you don't.
8. Talk to randoms. You will meet people from all over the world in hostels - just start up convo.
9. Pass it forward. Sometimes you stay with a friend of a friend of a friend in Berlin, or an aquantance in Melbourne... when the time comes, let a semi stranger stay in your home or make them dinner.
10. Do what you would not normally do at home. Maybe you can pick up work feeding llamas or start surfing eventhough you are normally a little afraid of the ocean and its habitants. This is the time when you are learning the most about yourself, so push those limits.