Ask an independent traveller

[Perfection]

So what kinda places do you like going to?

 

[White Elk]

It is, and I love it. Actually, I've just been yesterday to buy some train tickets, and there were tens, maybe hundreds of backpackers around me, in the station.

Man that would be so cool. To be surronded by like minded free spirits like that. I gotta reprioritize my dream to travel Europe afoot. You guys got my blood boiling for travel again. I dont think I could travel the US like I did again. But Europe is totally set up for it! And that spirit of shared experiance would be so cool. The freedom of travel and exploration is awesome!

I gotta hit the rack... all these memories come flooding back.
I suspect I'll have great dreams tonight. Thanks for this thread Gangor!

 

[Gangor]

When you travel Europe do you take time and travel the backcountry as well?
Is it true that you can take trains right to the trail heads?

To be honest, I haven't. What I have done is taken up invitations to stay with European people in their homes - what a great way to visit a country! Often you'll get to see unusual places, and meet ordinary people. Wonderful.

 

[Gangor]

So what kinda places do you like going to?

I really like Paris. Although that's partly coloured by intimate dinners in Montmartre with my girlfriend...

Also, I like unusual places - I liked Le Quesnoy, an old fortress town with historical significance for New Zealanders (we liberated it). Shame I was so tired at the time!

 

[Pasi Nurminen]

Not so much a question as it is a statement: backpacking is dead. There is no such thing as backpacking, only tourism on a much more stringent budget compared with other tourists. Many so called "independent travelers" are not really independent at all: they use tourist buses rather than local government buses, hang out solely with their own kind and avoid areas of towns outside the tourist districts, and walk around with their noses buried in their Lonely Planets (spit).

Not to be rude, but the whole "I'm not a tourist, I'm a traveler" attitude really pisses me off. Some "backpackers" I've met are by far the most closed minded people in the world.

 

[Gangor]

Not so much a question as it is a statement: backpacking is dead. There is no such thing as backpacking, only tourism on a much more stringent budget compared with other tourists. Many so called "independent travelers" are not really independent at all: they use tourist buses rather than local government buses, hang out solely with their own kind and avoid areas of towns outside the tourist districts, and walk around with their noses buried in their Lonely Planets (spit).

Not to be rude, but the whole "I'm not a tourist, I'm a traveler" attitude really pisses me off. Some "backpackers" I've met are by far the most closed minded people in the world.

Well, I don't own a lonely planet book, travel on regional transport where possible and often stay with locals. Do I qualify as a traveller?

 

[Pasi Nurminen]

Well, I don't own a lonely planet book, travel on regional transport where possible and often stay with locals. Do I qualify as a traveller?

No, you're a tourist.

 

[nivi]

No, you're a tourist.

Backpacking is low-budget tourism so what's you're point?

 

[Heretic_Cata]

Have you been / will you go to Romania ?

 

[Gangor]

Have you been / will you go to Romania ?

I'd love to. My girlfriend is half Romanian, and I'd like to learn about that side of her.

 

[Heretic_Cata]

I'd love to. My girlfriend is half Romanian, and I'd like to learn about that side of her.

Where is her romanian parent from ?

 

[Knight-Dragon]

Didn't see anyone posting about it - closed.

To reopen, pls PM one of the OT mods (in other words, not me ).