Backpacking challenges

What I hate about backpacking 

The first time I backpacked, I was 19 years old, going to Southeast Asia. It’s the most cliché story, but I loved it when I was that young. I thought everything about backpacking was thrilling and I promised myself that I’d never travel in another way. Flashforward 9 years and 6o countries later and you have a very tired backpacker. Although there’s still so many things I absolutely love about backpacking, there’s also a ton of stuff I now hate. Here’s what I hate about backpacking. 

Staying in dorms in hostels 

Although there’s a lot of pros about staying in hostels, there’s so many cons too, especially if you’ve kind of grown out of it. One of the most annoying, and obvious, things is the snoring. If you’re staying in a 12 bed dorm, you can be sure that at least one person will be snoring and that you’ll, yet again, be losing one night sleep because of it. Although you can buy earplugs, it’s sometimes so loud that nothing helps. Something that’s also annoying with staying in dorms is that you never know who you’ll be staying in the same room as. Some people start packing their bags in the middle of the night, turns on the lights (usually several times), comes back drunk and starts shouting, or is just loud in general. 

Partying every single day 

Some people travel for culture, some for food, and others for… boozing. Unfortunately, backpacking has been associated with partying every single day. You’ll notice this especially if you go to Southeast Asia for example, where every single thing turns into a party. Oh, you thought you were doing a language class? Well, it includes lots of alcohol too. It’s fun to party from time to time, but I hate the fact that backpacking has become an excuse for young people to go abroad, get drunk, sleep and do it all over again. And God forbid if you’re one of the people in the hostel who doesn’t want to party – then you’re ‘that’ weirdo. 

Always having to be present 

Sometimes you just want to be unsocial, and yes hostels might not be the best idea then but it’s also usually the cheapest alternative, but if you’re too unsocial then people will think there’s something wrong with you. But if you’ve traveled for months and just need a little break from everyone and everything, it can get really frustrating when you always feel like you need to be present. 

Gaining weight 

Let’s face it, we all gain a bit of weight when we backpack. It’s all the delicious food, the alcohol, the laying on the beach 24/7 and doing nothing. But I hate the fact that my body always changes when I backpack and that sometimes you can be really healthy and other times, you just have to adapt and will turn into a walrus within weeks. 

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