Why does /trv/ hate backpackers so much? What's the

>>1204276
They are like vegans of /trv/. Always have that i'm better than you because i backpack attitude despite being a hobo.

>>1204276
We don't hate backpackers, we hate RealTravellers™, which are not necessarily the same

>>1204276

Useless degenerates shitting up the world. What more is there to say?

what constitutes as a backpacker?

im new to /trv/ I just recently left my country for the first time in my life and it was pretty cool and want to do it again.

how do i not be a filthy backpacker?

>>1204295
Do you act like this >>1204277

If not you're fine

>>1204276
>Why does /trv/ hate backpackers so much?
Backpacking across X is a huge fucking meme and pretty stupid overall. You can visit somewhere and still get the "~real expirence~", without having to brag and be a bum.
>What's the problem with them?
>>1204277 , nailed it

>>1204276

There's nothing wrong with backpacking. If you're on a budget or want a hostel-heavy experience, then you'll probably fit into the "backpacker" category by default. I've certainly done my fair share, even though I'd prefer to have more spending money and absolutely hate staying in dorms.

Of course, acting like you're better than anybody else because you're slumming around is a bad attitude to have. I don't think elitism is specific to backpackers, but I have met many who think they're something they aren't. For instance, a lot of white, Western backpackers will only hang out with other white Westerners, but think they're having a genuinely authentic and local experience because they haggle over twenty-cent places of food.

I remember meeting a fellow in India. He was British but his family was wealthy and owned a great deal of land in Cyprus. The way he dressed and acted gave the impression he didn't have a penny in the bank. Some nights he'd smoke charras from a bowl and paint pictures of Hindu gods like Lord Shiva and Ram on the common room walls.

One night I woke up to go outside and have a cigarette. Lo and behold, he was sitting there and having a conversation with another visitor. The British Cypriot had launched himself on a tirade about how he couldn't stand Indian people because they were cunning thieves who had no respect for women. While I won't deny that India has its problems, I also know that you run into those kinds of folks when you just stay in hostels and move from one tourist ghetto to the next.

Really, he was just a typical, snobby backpacker who thought he knew a place inside and out because he'd spent a month getting high, exploring his spirituality, and hardly leaving the hostel.

i would imagine it's a mix of

1) 4chan contrarianism

2) 4chan's lack of ability to socialise and feeling out of place in heavily social environments like hostels, probably reminds them of school.

Hmm... I guess what we are trying to say is that most backpackers travel abroad with this fantasy in their head that they are going to be amongst locals getting this genuine cultural experience when in reality they are in a hostel with a ton of their fellow westerners, hardly interacting with the locals, but traveling instead to one sight and then another not getting the proper "genuine experience," just the touristy one.

None of this is wrong. Its the attitude behind them that think they're something special in a foreign country when they're not.

Travel how you wish, just don't act like you're special.

/trv/ hating backpacking is like /o/ hating miatas.

>>1204276
Packing light and staying in budget accommodations can be a fun and inexpensive way to travel, just as riding a bike can be a fun and inexpensive way of getting around your neighborhood. In both instances, however, the loudest and most dedicated elements of the culture are fucking insufferable in their elitism and general libtardedness.

test

>>1205313
I can sign this.

Backpackers have 180'd from nice but cheap westerners going local and trying out the way of life to crazy drunk yelling rich people who think they're above all the locals and cash on everything possible.

I don't like alot of people in general. You'd never find me in a hostel. What I hate the most though are the pretentious rich kids who think they know everything because they visited some shitty temple or those we actually don't know anything at all and just mindlessly party and are unable to appreciate local cultures.

>>1204276
Backpacking implies youth.
If you are over 30, you generally hate the young, cause stupidity.
So they are seldom hated just because of what kind of luggage they use.

>>1205743
So much this. You don't have to go to some bumfuck town in the middle of nowhere, but at least try the local delicacies.

>>1204276
Where my /middleage/ fám at tho?

I've been (shit)posting on /trv/ for 8 or 9 years and back in the day it was 90% backpacking threads or Japan threads. I suspect it's still very much the same posters now, but now we're older, working full time, have more disposable income, married, cars and houses for some of us, and travel has become that well planned out week you save up all year for.

We look back at all the dumb shit we did and how immature/lacking perspective we were when we were freewheeling, and realise that escapism isn't the answer. We accept the realities and responsibilities in life, we are cozy in our cages. We look at the backpackers like kids who haven't figured their shit out yet but think they know everything. Some of us even have kids backpacking age.

>Tl;dr
It's because we're old.

>>1204559
Yeah, this is it. And they seem a whole lot more visible than the standard 1-week-vacation tourists because they tend to do everything the cheapest way possible.

I just backpacked around the world for a year, but during the last half I stopped telling people I was a backpacker and stopped staying in hostels. It was more expensive but it was pretty necessary to really get to know the locals and the local culture.

>>1206376

This is pretty true.

I guess everyone can do things differently, but I find hostels are only good for meeting other young travelers. When I was in India for the seventh time, I stayed in a hostel; I'd never stayed in hostels in India before. My seventh visit was the one where I made the fewest local friends.

If not in hostels, where do you sleep that's cheap and, as some people here have hinted to, brings you in contact with locals more so than other white westerners?
Couchsurfing?
A tent?
A car?
I don't understand. Hotels seem out of the question due to their cost. Maybe in some really poor country can a western university student afford a hotel every night but not for extended traveling.

>>1207287

Stay wherever you'd like.

I normally go with budget hotels when I'm in Latin America or South Asia. Oftentimes an air-conditioned room costs only slightly more than a six-bed dorm.

There's nothing inherently wrong or restricting about staying in hostels. I think all people are saying is there's a common misconception perpetuated by backpackers themselves that hostels somehow provide a more "gritty" and "authentic" view of local life. In reality, hostellers tend to socialize largely and exclusively with their travel companions and fellow guests.

If you stay in a hostel and get out and meet lots of folks in the city, good for you.

How do you define a "backpacker" anyway?
Someone that stays at hostels?
Someone that carries his stuff in a backpack instead of a suitcase?
I don't get it. Perhaps you're trying to say you hate "travelling hippies" ?

>>1207459
I dont visit /trv/ much but im saving up this year to go to SEA next year hopefully.

I gotta read up a bit more on stuff here, but i was basically gonna be a "backpacker". Stay in hostels, travel light, etc.
>In reality, hostellers tend to socialize largely and exclusively with their travel companions and fellow guests.
>If you stay in a hostel and get out and meet lots of folks in the city, good for you.

I like the idea of trying to socialize with the locals, but if theres a language barrier i think that would be hard to do anyways, no?
How do i go about this?

I also don't necessarly see making friends with travelers from other countries as a bad thing...although obviously i see what you guys mean if thats all you do.

>>1207534

There's nothing wrong with it.

All that's being criticized is the perception that backpackers are inherently more likely to have "authentic" experiences. Most of the times I went to India, I stayed in budget hotels. Since I didn't have a readily available network of people to hang out with, I was always eager to socialize at bars, on the street, and in buses. I met tons of folks just from roaming all about New Delhi and Mumbai and Kolkata.

Of course, you can do all that if you stay in a hostel. I just think the readily available social atmosphere of the hostel tends to stop people from taking risks.

I was in Bogota, Colombia, back in August of 2015. I was in a bad mood one night and sitting in a public plaza, smoking a cigarette and drinking alcohol from a plastic bottle in a paper bag. A group of young guys and girls sat down next to me. We kept watching each other's booze when somebody needed to get a cigarette and eventually began talking. They didn't speak a whole lot of English but took me out to a university neighborhood to go salsa dancing. I had a lot of things like that happen to me because I was willing to take some sensible risks.

Tinder is also decent for meeting folks - honestly. You don't have to use it as just a hookup app. If I'm single, I'll go on Tinder and just see where I end up. I've made some good platonic friends from there as well as had romantic partners.

As has been stated, there is nothing inherently wrong with backpacking. The "real traveler" meme comes from the pretentious, "better than you " attitude that a large segment of the backpacker crowd possesses.

It's the same thing seen in vegans, atheists, and crossfittters. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't be surprised to find a vegan, atheist, crossfitter, backpacker that trains in Muy Thai.

>>1207535
Cool thanks. i'll probably do budget hotels every now and then and hostels sometimes.

I see what you guys mean with the backpackers though. Some people ive met that have traveled have told me locals in SEA sometimes have a bad perception of travelers because they all just wanna party, do drugs and be assholes.

I've traveled mostly in the US and i see what you mean too; a lot of the time i put myself out there and try to take risks ive had cool experiences.
Glad that happened to you in Colombia, im from there although i grew up mostly in the states.

People are pretty friendly in SA, hopefully ill have good experiences in Asia too

File: Just+bee+yourself+_a3038d165d9eeb1dfe9271c56da44fdb.png (13KB, 914x1091px) Image search: [Google]

13KB, 914x1091px

>>1207541

I've been to a few dozen countries and lived a while in India. Colombia is probably one of my top countries. I didn't know what to expect when I went there and was blown away by how friendly the people were and how vibrant the cities were.

Whenever I travel, I just try to balance who I am with whichever place I'm visiting. Nobody is going to think you're a drug-addicted asshole or loser for staying in a hostel - it's just about how you present yourself and interact with strangers. Don't try too hard (i.e., wearing low-class local clothes in India because you think locals will respect you more - they'll just think you're mentally ill or legitimately stupid) or try too little (i.e., drinking in the hostel every day and yelling "I don't want any" whenever a brown person approaches).

Pic related.

>>1206225
>If you are over 30, you generally hate the young, cause stupidity.

This isn't true. If you are over 30 and hate all young, yeah, you're stupid. But if you just hate the annoying, vapid ones, it's totally understandable.