The unknown is not better known because we see it in Facebook, blog articles, youtube videos. Wanting to experience in your own flesh the experiences that social networks promote is the only way to satisfy the innate need and beautiful passion for traveling.
There are lots of ways of traveling. Each way adapts to the peculiarities of the individuals that make up the trip. You can travel by land, by air or by sea, for a short time or for a long time, as a family, as a couple or alone, with a comfortable budget or with a low budget, for pleasure or for work. Each trip is very particular and depends on the preferences of the people, the time and the place you are visiting. However, there is a form of travel that differs by its essence from the rest.
The backpacking movement is a way of traveling that has become very popular in recent years, although it is not a new modality at all. Traveling without time and without return tickets, has been in the last decade more than a style of travel, a form of protest against the lifestyles imposed by traditional societies, a way of liberation of the youngest , and not so young, to combine two engines that have always led people beyond their own limits: discover the world and discover themselves.
Besides all of this, backpacking is a quite sustainable style of travel and in times like ours where the subject of sustainability is on everyone’s lips, not on a whim but because of the need for urgency, learning how to travel in a more environmentally friendly way is how we can contribute our grain of sand to the cause.
- Transportation.
The way in which we move varies in each place, but it always implies an investment in energy and that is why it is fundamental that this energy is as clean as possible for the planet.
In Latin American countries such as Bolivia and PerĂş, transport is collective but not necessarily public. With this, I mean that they are not subsidized by the State and therefore, in order to profit, the local owners must fill their quota of passengers before leaving the terminal. This is why they rarely meet a specific schedule (only estimated) because they only leave if they are full or with a minimum capacity satisfied.
Although all of this seems negative, environmentally speaking it means you do not see, as it happens in other countries, buses circulating empty or with less than 50% of their capacity. So if you want to be a faithful backpacker, be patient and do not run with time, walk with the rhythm of each town or city you visit.
Hitchhiking for the most daring on the road, or the use of applications such as “Carpoolear” in Argentina where passengers and drivers organize themselves to share the cost of a trip, not only makes the trip more economical but also the carbon footprint of the traveler is reduced by half compared to private transportation.
Another transport that has become popular among backpackers is the bike. People are increasingly seen on the road traveling with saddlebags, helmet and on two wheels. It is an excellent way to combine health, travel, and care for the environment.
The most controversial ingredient of this recipe is time, but if you are in a “backpacker plan” the magic happens when you adapt to local circumstances rather than wanting to impose your preferences on them.
- Accommodation and other ways of residency.
Where to spend the night is the most recurring decision that it is made during a backpacking trip, because even when you travel well informed and taking into account options and recommendations of other travelers, the most common is that you end up deciding once you arrive and discover those particularities that you feel better with.
In general, the accommodations used by backpackers lack a broad and specifically studied marketing for its promotion. Rather than that, they are lodgings known in the community network by word of mouth which is the oldest method of promotion, and one of the most effective. Therefore, these places end up gaining their fame for its warmth of attention, simplicity and basic prices, without the need to inflate the final product with garbage. And by garbage, I refer to garbage not only in a figurative sense but also a material and tangible way.
These establishments rarely comply with the protocolary standards of the hotel industry, but either way, end up being more environmentally friendly. It is not necessary to work in the field of tourism to note certain mandatory guidelines in hotels, most of the time completely unnecessary. An example is this obsessive tendency to individualize all items of personal hygiene. Perfect little soaps, shampoo, rinse cream, disposable wipes, all in their plastic wrap. The backpacker always carries their own personal hygiene items and uses them until the end of their useful life.
One outstanding alternative for backpackers is to stay in the home of locals who host travelers with the sole intention of sharing talks and enjoyable experiences because those locals are the most authentic “local guides” of their own cities. These people are the ones who integrate you to their culture or to the rhythm of their cities, instructing you on how to use public transport, where to walk or in which local activities to participate without the need to feed a foreign industry. Culture is definitely the ambassador of local sustainability.
If you are not a traveler yet, then start like me, by hosting foreign travelers using social networks like Couchsurfing, for example. This is not only the best way to travel, by hearing their stories, exchanging information and experiences without moving from home, but also the best way to be a real local guide.
Camping is another way of connecting with the places we visit and inviting ourselves to play the role of temporary owners of those spaces with the respect they deserve and without leaving dirty tracks on our way, learning how a fireworks, how to bathe in a river without leaving toxic waste, how to ration what is consumed, how to take advantage of the sun’s schedules, how to live without sound pollution and listen to the sounds of nature.
Last but not least, there are the famous volunteer jobs, the accommodation swap in exchange for a couple of hours of work. Many of these places that receive travelers are connected with activities of permaculture, bioconstruction or sustainable activities that instruct travelers to connect more with earth, a knowledge that later spreads to others along the way. In some cases, there is also social volunteer work that serves to connect also with the realities of different societies and the need to work with their deepest bumps.
- Food.
Everyone has to eat. But what if we could consume our food in a more sustainable way?
Backpacker´s food is cheaper because we generaly consume local food and the dishes are made with local products of low impact, that is to say, seasonal fruits and vegetables, generally organic and healthier. Without a doubt, culture is fostered through food, and if there is one thing that backpackers want, it is to be as connected as possible to the place, to the people, to the environment in a way that the regular tourist does not reach because of lack of time and because it has other interests.
Food that is left over is not wasted. Always, always, always, as a rule, you save that little bit for later on the road. Also, there is always someone to share that rest with you, an occasional traveling companion or a stray dog ​​that ends up being the unconditional companion during those days of stay.
- Clothing, utensils and other accessories.
There is something that is seriously affecting our world: the excessive patterns of massive consumption of things that we do not need most of the time. This means that the levels of production continue to grow and therefore the resources and available energy that we should use in much more basic activities, continue to be exploited on unnecessary things. What is worst, most of the time the imposed need for replacement, variation, and renewal of those things implies that they end up in the trash even before they cease to be functional for us.
Backpacker only consumes what they can carry with their own body. The few things that he really possesses are those that go into his backpack, and that will be used long after the end of their useful life or will be recycled to give them new use in other circumstances. If these things do not have more use for their own benefit, they will be carried until they meet someone who can give them the use they still deserve. This situation that seems to be one in a million is actually the rule because the magic of matching the right people is undoubtedly the most common thing when life becomes so simple.
Consciousness and other sources of wisdom.
Something that I also learned along the way is that you don´t have to be a backpacker to travel like one or to live like one. I only share my experience to awaken others to good habits that I learned by traveling in such a particular way, because I gave myself the time and the opportunity to prove that it can be done.
We only know the true nature of a place when we leave ourselves outside the center of all the attention and are able to understand ourselves as part of a larger whole. Consciousness awakens when you can accept without judging that there are other different realities you are passing by as a visitor, but always, always, always, you can leave your grain of sand.