Why would you?

Why would you leave the comfort of a secure income, the family and friends you love, your comfortable bed and your own space, to live out of a backpack and share dorm rooms full of bunk beds with strangers in a non-English speaking countries?

Dorm room at Rockin' J's - Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica

For one, why turn down the opportunity to see the world, or at least a hell of a lot more of it, to discover some of its 'wonders' and truly live life before the mandatory morph into 'adults'... when you nurture a career, climb a ladder, think about a pension and 'settle down', official with the purchase of a house, whatever that is.

Once upon a time...

We started our travels in the United States which gave us, less travelled humans, a chance to ease into the nomadic way of life. Us being my boyfriend and I, after meeting at University five and a half years ago and trying out working life for a few years we decided that it was 'now or never', so we took our first steps as intrepid travellers and left the UK on 23rd April 2014.

We began in LA and first thing was first, we had to get to Las Vegas, so we booked the infamous Greyhound bus all the way to Give-Us-All-Of-Your-Money-Land in the heart of the Nevada Desert where we met up with our fellow travelling companions. Here is where we became owners of a motor vehicle called Sally. A place where we could stow our belongings and a space that far too quickly resembled my `once upon a time` bedroom at home.

From Vegas, and with the six of us tightly packed into our trusty automobile, we set off to discover the West of the US, stopping at the West´s best National Parks before cruising to the coast and back to LA. The combination of camping and Motel 6 stays softened the blow of the harshness of backpacking and opened our eyes to the truth of travelling, that you won`t be clean all of the time, and that wet wipes are in fact the best invention in the whole world.

Las Vegas, Nevada.

Say goodbye to Denny's!

But...the comfortable times and visits to Walmart had to come to an end, which takes us to the second chapter of our story and the start of our Latin American adventure. First stop - Peru, and our dive into the world of hostels, dorm rooms, smelly strangers and lugging The backpack EVERYWHERE. Like a family of tortoises with our only possessions strapped to our backs for the foreseen future we were officially Backpackers.

We were instantly thrown into a new world and a new pace of life, where bargaining is rife and your your broken Spanish is vital. You too are introduced very quickly to the sounds and ways of South America. The continuous tooting of horns are a mixture of warnings, hello`s and attempts at a sale, the distinction you soon learn and then ignore. Along with such harassment and sense of urgency, is the juxtaposition with the average Latin American's concept of 'time'. The general rule to note and remember is: if they say 10 minutes they mean an 1 hour, 10 hour bus journeys will surely take 13+, and so on. You do become used to these small inconveniences, the 12 hour buses will feel more like 6 and the destinations make it all worthwhile.

But these are mere trivialities; when you watch the sun rise over the ancient city of Machu Pichu, trek and ice climb to 5,700 metres up Huayna Potasi mountain in Bolivia, go horseriding through the foothills of the beautiful Selento countryside and rediscover the stunning Ciudad Perdida, 'The Lost City', you make note as to why exactly you bought that backpack.

Huayna Potasi Mountain - attemping the summit

Glam-elling it is not!

One thing to know is that travelling isn't glamorous. Unless you have endless funds that will help to maintain some level of luxury and cleanliness, but that is not the point! If you dream of travelling the world, being a backpacker and seeing life outside of your mundane 9 - 5 box without your creature comforts and western conveniences, you need to be prepared to be flexible, patient and always ready for a change of plan. But this is just one more reason why everyone should do it, and I will explain why...

For one you have a small selection of clothes that at the start of your travels wins the travel lottery, an important selection process must take place as these chosen items must do EVERYTHING - fit any and every situation, but be prepared... you will hate them, at roughly the 3rd month mark you will want to burn and destroy them all. But it is at this point that you discover 'Backpacker shopping' : the `lost and found`or`left behind` boxes at your hostels! Recycling at its finest!

If that sounds like fun, brilliant you are on the same page, but if it sounds unimaginable to live out of a small bag of clothes, more often than not, in need of laundering, you are missing the point. One day you will return to your cupboards of outfits, the masses of clothes you seriously can't live without and all of those things you just couldn't dream of throwing away over the years, (not one item of which you will remember after 5 months away).
Living humbly and minimally is something we all need to experience, it's liberating having only the things on your back, it simplifies life, leaving you to enjoy the meaningful experiences without the chaos of choice.

"You talk a lot of sh*t!"

Travelling also means you get sick, and it is not convenient. This is where the 'be ready for a change in plan' comes in. You won`t always be in a comfortable hostel where you can lie in bed and recover for a couple of days. It will hit you in the middle of that long-awaited trek or jungle adventure, and you will miss home, your cosy bed and a flush toilet that doesn't have to be shared with 50 other people. When you have to clamber in over-sized crocs across jagged rocks to the bucket toilet on the side of a mountain at an altitude of 4,300 metres, you will ask "Why?". But when you see the view of snow-capped mountains, the breathe-taking lightening storm in the distant clouds and a sunrise like no other, you will know exactly why. Because that is only but a fleeting moment in your entire lifetime, a story to tell and a soon forgotten memory, but if you could take a step back from the present moment of feeling truly shit and wanting home more than anything, and you could find some rationality, what would you really choose? I'd choose pooping on the side of a mountain any day. 

Those are the times that make it all worth while. When you are feeling your worst but you push through and reach your next destination, with the help of your ever-improving but still broken Spanish, it feels bloody brilliant! Those extra long, uncomfortably hot buses will take you to the most beautiful places and that nauseous two days at sea will take you to breath-taking Caribbean islands that you could only have dreamed of (or Googled). It's then that you will know that you would never have experienced the things you have done in the last 4 months if you had stayed on the couch at home. And you realise that it would have take you more than 10 years of annual holidays to visit all the places you have been and you would just be visiting and not truly living it.

San Blas Islands - Colombia to Panama

"No entiendo!?"

Still wondering why? Because when you are backpacking you will live among and experience new cultures, with new people; like-minded travellers who have also abandoned the couch and their so-called conventional life and chosen this nomadic existence that offers a freedom you have never known before. A life that can only humble, enlighten, teach and expand you. A life that threatens to upturn everything you know, and change how you see it all.

Life as a backpacker, as simple as it can be, is hard and it challenges you, your mind and your very human habits. You must adapt, evolve and develop new ways of coping, sharing and handling all situations. It is this expansion of ourselves, this slap in the face to what real life is like outside of our far-too-easy western bubble that offers the why.

So now you know why, my question for you is...when?

Iquitos Jungle - Amazon Trek

Colombia to Panama crossing on the Nacar II - Blue Sailing