There are many different ways to get out and about, to travel to new and interesting destinations, and to see the world at large.
Although the Covid-19 pandemic has certainly thrown a spanner into the works of many of our travel and vacation ambitions for the foreseeable future, there’s no reason why now shouldn’t be a good time to think about, and plan for, the next great travel adventure you want to embark on when things do go back to normal.
Backpacking trips come with certain unique benefits over other forms of travel, including the ability to be much more mobile in the sense of changing locations at a whim, while also enabling you to get a much more ‘hands on’ travel experience in general.
Nonetheless, backpacking trips do come with a number of specific downsides, as well.
Here are a few tips for having a better overall time on a backpacking trip.
Take advantage of luggage storage facilities
Whether you’ve just flown into a new country, or are spending a day out in a historic city, lugging around a massive backpack from museums, to natural landmarks, to cafés, can certainly put a damper on the experience overall and can leave you feeling pretty agitated.
Fortunately, all sorts of luggage storage facilities such as Radical Storage London now exist, and are often very conveniently situated, while simultaneously being affordable and easy-to-use.
Take advantage of these luggage storage services and take a few hours off having to lug your rucksack around with you everywhere you go.
Just be sure to keep your important documents on your person, and to ensure that the storage facility you are using is secure and ethically run.
Be health-conscious with the kinds of snacks you carry along with you
Of course, a vacation is a time for a bit of indulgence, and it would be silly to suggest that you shouldn’t enjoy some self-indulgent meals and snacks on your trip.
While backpacking, however, you will be burning a good deal of energy each day, and will tend to be quite physically active as a rule. For this reason, making sure that you eat enough of the right stuff on a regular basis is quite important.
But it’s also important to pay attention to healthy nutrition on your trip, at least for most of the time, just in order to ensure that you feel your best.
If the snacks you carry along with you on your backpacking trip are things like white bread and chocolate bars, you’ll almost certainly notice that your energy levels and mood will fluctuate dramatically, and that you end up a lot more irritable and exhausted than you would like.
Keep some healthy snacks with you as much as you can — like nuts and whole food, as well as high-fibre trail mix bars that may be beneficial for gut bacteria.
Don’t overfill your itinerary, but don’t go in completely blind either
When backpacking, it will typically take longer to get from place to place than it would with many different types of travel — specifically those that involve you driving around in your own vehicle.
For this reason, it’s important to strike the right balance with your itinerary. If you schedule in too many activities for yourself, you will be constantly rushed off your feet and will likely have very little, if any time to actually enjoy each attraction. Not only that, but you will also probably find yourself feeling stressed and anxious the entire time.
On the other hand, if you don’t have any plan for the places you want to see and the things you want to do, it can be much too easy to end up roaming around aimlessly, and missing out on all sorts of interesting experiences, altogether.
Don’t underestimate the importance of comfortable shoes
If you’re about to go on a backpacking trip, you better not buy the shoes you plan to do most of your walking in the night before leaving.
When you’re spending a significant number of hours each day on your feet, wearing comfortable shoes really matters — and the shoes have to be comfortable not just for an hour or two, but for a whole day at the time.
Although it may not be the first thing that pops into your head when planning your trip, the bottom line is that how comfortable your shoes are will have a major effect on your ability to enjoy the trip as a whole.
