Backpackers - How To Travel Better
hi. this video is about something very close to my heart. those of you who have followed me for a while will know that i spent my 20s traveling, mainly in Asia, South America and New Zealand. over my life, i have traveled to over 20 countries, I've lived in seven, and I've kind of, somewhat learned to communicate in three languages. a bit. not, not really. i get by. sometimes. depending on the situation. and conversation. travel was a huge part of my
life, it's something that i still enjoy immensely and i do think is beneficial. keep that in mind while you watch this video. being a backpacker was a part of my identity and so i sought more adventure and experience to build upon that identity. i made many friends
over the years, all over the world, some of whom might get upset with parts of this video! by the way, if you are a backpacker watching this and you start to get upset at any point during this video, please do stay till the end. i don't hate you, i am you. this video comes to you in collaboration with Bothered Boy who also gives his thoughts on travel and culture, so once you're done here, go and check out his video which is linked below. before we crack on with the video, are you subscribed? because I've been looking at my analytics, and on average, over half of you little lovelies aren't, so um...get that fixed. finally, quickly, just want to say that i have big plans for this channel, this year. 2022 is going to be my year of consistency! and i do see the irony in the first video of 2022 being week late.
in the year of consistency. but the point I'm trying to make is that making these videos is a lot of work. weeks, if not months, of preparation goes into each one. i do all my own research, writing, filming, editing, sound, lighting, promo, subtitling, uploading, all by myself. i basically work full-time hours making this channel and i can only continue to do that, and to improve, with your help. so please do share my videos anywhere that you think
they might be needed, and do consider becoming a monthly Patron in exchange for exclusive content and other perks. anyway, enough of that. this is Backpackers & The Fetishization of Travel. intro bit with the sexy music [PART 1 - TOURISM] i love a holiday. the smell of the sunscreen, the burn of the bits you missed, the taste of the chlorine, heaven! but the tourism industry is often under fire, for over-developing beautiful parts of the world, and imposing western norms onto cultures who don't want them. some have
even called tourism itself "neo-colonialism". I've seen it with my own eyes, going back to destinations after a few years, barely able to recognize the place, and tourists are... well they're hardly the most culturally sensitive of people, are they? problems with the tourism industry have been well-documented. there are lots. starting with the development of tourism infrastructure in beautiful places. not only does this drive-up prices for the locals, and take up
space that could be used maybe more productively than massive hotels which lay empty for several months of the year, but many of these businesses and companies are actually owned by westerners, with profits going to western shareholders. often, workers at these companies are paid little, treated poorly, or are even undocumented workers with no rights or legal protections at all. maybe local people would prefer that jobs were created in schools, hospitals, libraries, cultural and artistic institutions, community centers, instead of McDonald's, Irish pubs and mega hotels. tourism money also attracts all kinds of, um...business. tourism centers are also usually centers of organized crime. you find the dodgiest of drugs, unregulated and unsafe activities and of course,
human trafficking and exploitation. tourism money can breed the corruption of local law enforcement and officials, furthering the problem of organized crime, which in turn gives the entire country a bad reputation internationally. all-in-all, this has the effect of alienating local people from their own environments. and i mean alienated in the traditional Marxist sense, they are removed of autonomy over their modes of being, of communicating, shopping, working, playing, if all around them is designed to suit western sensibilities and tastes. therefore, we hear the word "neo-colonialism" within critical tourism literature. rightly so in many cases. colonialism is defined as, "the policy or practice of acquiring full or partial
political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically." are tourists taking control of governments? no. but the revenue from international tourism can and does sway political decisions. where infrastructure is built and in what way, how economies are run and to what end, all of this can be, and is, influenced by tourism. tourists
might only stay in a destination for a couple of weeks tops, but to the local populations, this never-ending incoming of holiday-makers can have the same effect of there being foreign settlers in your hometown. and exploiting economically? i mean, that's just obvious, isn't it? that's not even just a part of tourism, that's a draw! people like to go on holiday where their money goes further, and in order for that to happen, the destination must be less developed economically, and with a weak currency. the obvious and numerous problems with traditional tourism have led many to consider ways that they might improve their travel. [PART 2 BACKPACKERS] backpackers aren't like other tourists. no, genuinely, there are meaningful differences between the two! usually the word "tourist" is reserved for those who're on planned trips of a short duration, typically having booked everything in advance, and usually involving some kind of excursion or planned activity. backpackers, however, are known for their open-ended, or
much longer trips. the gap year is popular, but there are also long-timers who pick up work in countries to fund further travel. backpackers typically don't book travel and accommodation in advance. and prefer to use local trains and buses over specialist tour companies. backpackers are more likely to want to eat local food, where local people eat, rather than western cuisine served in hotel restaurants. and backpacker activities tend to be more about nature and adventure, rather than sightseeing and photo opportunities. this all sounds good and cool, actually, doesn't it? and in many ways, it is indeed, good and cool. in many ways, traveling
in this way is less harmful to the populations in the destinations you're visiting. BUUUT! this wouldn't even be a leftist video essay if it didn't ruin something fun! and if like me, you've spent any significant time among backpackers, you will know well the holier-than-thou attitude that so often accompanies the harem pant and prayer bead aesthetic. so let's knock them down a peg or two, because that's also fun! but first, like a proper essayist, some definitions. I'm going to loosely use the term "backpacker" in this, mainly for expediency. referring to
different kinds of western traveler to global south countries, including but not limited to, gap year takers, working holiday makers, full-time working travelers, and wellness and eco-tourists. basically, western travelers to global south countries that don't fall into the traditional "tourist" category. many of the examples I'll be using will be centered on Thailand and other South East Asian countries, as that is where my experience lies. so let's start with eco
and wellness tourists. this sector of tourism is massive business, from high-end spa getaways, to canoeing down a river to visit a hard to reach tribe, whatever the experience you want, there is a company offering it. now many problems particularly with wellness tourism lies in the pseudo-scientific goopness of it all, and i would like to do a video on that because it does deserve a full video, but for now i want to focus on the businesses themselves. this is also why I've lumped eco and wellness tourists together, you often, although not always get the same companies offering both. and if you go looking for one of these experience-based trips, some of the first that will show up in your search will typically be western, or at least internationally owned and operated. just like tour operators have always been. and so a lot of these companies who offer these so-called "authentic experiences" are run by people who aren't from, or live nowhere near the cultures you're experiencing. these types of tourism need
infrastructure in place too. however due to the need for authenticity, this infrastructure spreads further into countries, occupying more land, in more places. i stayed for a while on Koh Phangan, which is infamous for its monthly Full Moon Party, but it's also considered to be a spiritually special place for Thai Buddhists, as well as being a favorite of the much revered King Rama V.
during the 60s and 70s, western hippies who had been attracted to southern India for spiritual reasons included Koh Phangan among their favorite destinations. you'll occasionally meet one of these original hippie travelers to the island, for a good lecture about how rubbish it is now. these days, yoga and diving are the biggest draws for longer term backpackers to the island, who typically stay anywhere from one month, to as long as they can keep swindling tourist visas from the Malaysian immigration. western-owned yoga centers with western staff, catering to western clients, are everywhere. one of them, which you might even have heard of, was Agama Yoga, which has since
found itself at the center of multiple sexual abuse allegations, and was actually featured in a Netflix documentary about dodgy wellness stuff. and dodgy, it was. so besides the taking up of land and property and jobs by westerners in order to appropriate eastern traditions, like yoga, let's talk about the customers themselves, because here's the thing, most backpackers that you speak to would say that they respect the cultures of the people that they're visiting, and that becoming immersed in these cultures is a main reason for their trip. but in my experience, and from the perspective of local people I've both spoken to and read, the difference between tourists and backpackers isn't as big as the backpackers might like it to be. again, I'm leaning on my experiences of Thailand and southeast Asia, but like, they go other places too, so. part of backpacker culture is the rejection of modern western lifestyles. consumerism, rat races, rise and grind culture! rejecting that is all good, imo, just so we're clear. however often, and i believe unwittingly, this can lead,
this this rejection of western modern lifestyles, can lead to projection onto other cultures and poverty fetishization. the freedom that comes with living out of a backpack is amazing. truly, i did it for years, but it can lead to a couple of lines of thought that are less than helpful. firstly, there's an individualism there. i also want to do a video about #VanLife stuff because, you guessed it, i was that girl too.
but there is an individualism. you're a self-sustained, free spirit, flitting across the globe as you will! home is where your flip-flops are! without any need for roots or community. for a bit. backpackers will look around them at local communities, and they'll see simplicity and they'll admire that. and yes, in many places around the world, life is "simpler" as in,
people aren't trying to do a million things all at once. because they have community, and strong family ties, and they do grow food and exchange it for other things with their neighbors, whom they know, and trust, and yes, in many ways, living like that is simpler. but it is NOT a rejection of modernity, or of technology, or of having access to tools to improve lives, or of living with more than the bare minimum. it's collectivism which allows for simplicity. and we must not confuse "simplicity" with "ease". nor must we just assume that people wouldn't like access to a few more things, actually, maybe. rejecting modernity and technology is often,
in itself, a privilege. and it's not even true! you're not even really doing that, you're not independently traversing the globe, you are dependent on a great many things and people, and often, the longer you spend doing that, the more detached you can become from the reality of the places you're visiting, and from your home and the struggles there. the world becomes smaller to you, which can make you forget that to most people, it's still pretty big. when i shared this video i did with my Patrons, one of them pointed out that
American travelers will often chastise and besmirch other Americans who say, have never left their state, or who don't have a passport for example, while at the same time kind of fetishizing people in other places, who may never have even left their own province. usually, maybe for the same reasons as the American with no passport. there's a dissonance which comes with living a very privileged life as a backpacker, who is also trying to reject the very privilege which allowed for it. and it IS a HUGE privilege. i know some backpackers out there will be thinking, "well no, hang on, wait you one minute, you there! i actually work and travel! i get jobs as i go and pay my way that way. I'm not some rich kid, who just has thousands to spend!" and I'd say, "well, good for you for having the privilege of an abled body!" because let me tell you, once i started needing specialist care for a variety of symptoms, that "simple, self-sustained" lifestyle was suddenly much less available to me! and it's not just the fact that you don't need regular access to medical professionals that don't quite fit in a backpack, the ability to go anywhere, and find work, usually because you speak a language or have a skill which is desirable globally, that's a privilege! and you know, true tea time, most of the backpackers i met, even the ones who worked and traveled, they had a pretty decent safety net waiting for them at home. because it's a risk to just live off the fat of a backpack! you don't know when you're gonna have a flight cancelled, a passport lost, a wallet stolen, all your things flooded away, and it does happen that people get stranded, but most i would say are a phone call to relatives away from being rescued at any given time.
so we have that dissonance there, between what backpackers want to be, and what they are. [PART 3 - CULTURE] there's a conversation I've had countless times with countless backpackers. "Have you done India?" "I've not been there, no." "Oh you should! you should! i did it last year,
well i did Goa. Next year i hope to do the Himalayas, yeah, yeah, have you done Bhutan? No, you see i never meet anyone who's been there, so of course I'd love to go! at least before TV ruins the place! did you read that? yes, they recently got TV, and it's completely ruining the culture..." Seeing countries as like a thing to collect, a box to tick on a list, i have issues with this. and I'm not alone! remember this video comes by way
of collaboration with Bothered Boy who wrote about his experiences traveling in France. he talks about how misconceptions of a place often stem from a lack of authentic integration. how most people who say they have "done Paris" come away with misconceptions, because they haven't really "done Paris" at all. and also, just quickly, there's this idea that
like, once westerners have been to a place, once tourists have discovered a place, it's ruined, or spoiled, or not to be taken as a serious travel destination, and that's weird init? like, stop traveling if you think your presence ruins a place!? in all seriousness though, i spent almost a decade in Asia mainly in Hong Kong and Thailand, and i could never bring myself to say that i have "done" those places. done. just feels weird in the mouth. done. check. next. ew. hardly appreciative of the cultures on your bucket list, is it? but back to the point, right, there's this habit among western backpackers, which is to assume that rejecting western norms is, de facto, immersing into another culture.
one big example of that which immediately springs to mind is this. you know how in Asia and other places, it's customary to remove your shoes on entry to a building? in Thailand for example, it's very common to see a big pile of shoes and flip-flops outside businesses and some shops, well it might surprise you to learn that the point of doing that is to KEEP THE FLOOR CLEAN. so you might very well be rejecting western norms by stomping all o'or with no shoes on, but you're probably also rejecting local norms, as well as your hosts attempts to keep their spaces clean. speaking of cleanliness! okay, look, i don't want to spend a big chunk of this essay discussing the meaty farts and BO that western tourists are famous for, oh yeah! oh yeah! the main the MAIN stereotype that i heard from Thai people about western tourists, is that we stink! of rotting meat! they also find our personal habits, like our lack of bidets...a choice. again, i don't really want to spend time on this, but let's just say, that when you've got off an 11 hour flight, and you've hopped onto an overcrowded bus for 12 hours, and then onto a ferry for three hours on which you slept on the floor, well when you arrive onto the island in your patchwork pants, you're...you're a bit of an assault on local senses. just like tourists, backpackers might indulge in activities, which may or may not be legal, which may or may not be supplied by organized criminals, all things which local residents don't particularly love. again, I'm speaking about my experience in southeast Asia,
these countries tend to be quite conservative, like most people in Thailand aren't hippies. not saying there are no hippies in Thailand! i am not trying to erase my Thai hippie friends! you guys rock! but in the words of some of my more conservative Thai friends, backpackers and tourists are, same same, but different. again I'm not negating the differences, which are meaningful and multiple. some of those differences though, don't always cast a positive light on the backpackers, is my point. one of the main arguments for traditional tourism is that local populations benefit from the money that comes in from tourism, and and that is the case. most countries have a tourist board for a reason. tourists SPEND. they are there for two weeks, to relax, have fun, spend lots of money, and go home.
backpackers on the other hand are known to be thrifty. they are famous for haggling and trying to save money wherever possible. and...and yeah, we can't fail to mention this... silly music for silly people now luckily, i never witnessed that in real life, but it's very common for backpackers to make money with artisanal skills, busking, picking up odd jobs, often making money illegally, in countries where they do not have the right to work. now, am i being a massive hypocrite now? yes. definitely. just even as an anarcho-something-or-other, states telling people that they can't work to make money for food is not typically my jam. no it is not. however, while the world is so unequal, while
white westerners have disproportionate power, money, opportunities, a bit of self-awareness wouldn't go amiss. bit of consciousness of your place within the world in relation to others, wouldn't hurt. and there is another very important difference between backpackers and tourists which i haven't mentioned yet, and i really should not least because it's in the title of the video, and i haven't even mentioned it yet. [PART 4 - FETISHIZATION] one of the main complaints about traditional tourists is that they take no interest in the cultures of the people in the places that they're visiting. their holiday snaps
are of pools and beaches and cocktails which could have been taken anywhere in the world. they might go on an excursion to a cultural monument or something, but they're there to relax, not learn. but at the opposite end of the cultural appreciation spectrum, we have what i would be pretty comfortable calling "cultural fetishization". this can take several forms, and i can only really discuss a few here. so, travel influencers! becoming a travel influencer, or travel content creator of some kind is a very obvious way for backpackers to earn money to further that lifestyle. i kind of tried to start a bit of a travel blogging thing myself,
once. there's a pressure. there's a pressure to commodify and capitalize off your experiences, especially if you want to keep traveling. if you can become successful as a travel influencer, that's the easiest way to fund that lifestyle. and capitalism, init. no point in doing anything if not to make money from it. so making money off travel content is a natural progression for many a backpacker. but this is literally commodification of culture.
there are of course domestic travel influencers, but the most popular ones are people who go to many different countries, with many different cultures, and many different photo ops. and due to their audiences being western, probably north American, there is an incentive to shape the content to suit the audience's expectations, which in turn can further stereotypes or simply misrepresent. and travel infrastructure itself can do this too. thinking of another Thai example, if you spend long enough in Thailand, you'll meet lots of people who are either coming from, or going to Pai. Pai is a small town located in a mountain valley, right up in the north west of Thailand, close to the border with Myanmar. it's a good location from which to visit Thailand's Hill Tribes, as well as the many nature conservation projects up there.
people coming and going from Pai usually speak a lot about the "real Thailand". now, I'm not here to dismiss the Thainess of Pai. Pai is indeed a very Thai. but it's also a tourist destination. by now it is very much geared towards this kind of backpacker hippie traveler. unlike 99.9%
of northern Thai towns. despite being in constant search of the "real Thailand", backpackers rarely stop to have a look at mainland Surat Thani province & the city. even though, chances are, they pass through the city at some point on their way to the islands.
the capital of the province, an important port city with a long history, ancient natural hot springs, beautiful temples, river communities and jungle and caves to explore, excellent food and markets and shopping for days, it's close to wonderful natural parks and beautiful beaches and it's definitely real. i have been there. can confirm. it definitely exists. like i said, Pai is Thai, but it's not any more "real" than Surat Thani or Hat Yai or Surin. and I'm not even saying that you should all be backpacking around Surat Thani, either! I'm talking about attitude. how we approach and represent places, and importantly,
how we see ourselves within them. we don't get to decide which bits of a country are the real ones. I'll repeat it, we do not get to decide which bits of a country are the real ones! very often, backpackers will see their presence in a community as either a good thing, or a bad thing. and there's a lot of debate about this online in backpacker forums. they still use forums because technology, bad.
take those Hill Tribes in Thailand. there are hundreds of small communities in that region, different languages and customs, some of which are open and available to tourists, and some of which are not. people on one side of the debate look at tourism to this region as a kind of "people zoo". you are going to go and gawp at tribal communities for social clout. you're treating ancient and complex cultures as something to make your Insta feed more engaging or at least, something to brag about when you get home. people on the other side of the debate would say that the tribes that you can visit are open and in agreement to the idea, that they benefit from the revenue that comes in from tour operators and from selling their crafts, and that travelers are merely appreciating the culture with the permission of the tribes. both sides have some valid points here. like i said, there are hundreds of communities in that region,
some of whom don't accept tourists, are pretty hard to reach, and are basically ignored by the backpack trail. those who do participate technically do choose to, but there are questions to be answered about why those tribes in particular are so attractive to western backpackers. which came first, the tribe's willingness to participate with tourism, or tourists just turning up anyway? it's very probably the latter. in fact, it's definitely the latter. and sure, much of the revenue from travel to northwest Thailand does actually go to very good locally-owned projects of conservation and animal protection, some of which actually work to mitigate the harm done to animals by the tourist centers in the south. much of this revenue does go to these projects, but not all. but the main
point is still missed by this debate. it can never be up to western backpackers to decide what influence they've had on people. it can only ever be up to the local people themselves. [CONCLUSION] i genuinely believe that most of the differences between backpackers and tourists are things which mean good things for the local populations in the destinations. backpackers are way more likely to at least try local foods and customs, are not going to be overly put-off from infrastructure which isn't of western styles, in fact, they're rather going to appreciate the experience as a part of the adventure.
they're more likely to pick up at least some of the language, and seek out information on social etiquette, even if sometimes they fail. and all this is why i know that you backpackers out there, if you are still out there, you are genuinely interested in learning how you can improve your travel. point one is somewhat obviously, try to make sure that the infrastructure you're using, the hostels, the coach companies, the tour operators, the experience providers, the restaurants etc, are locally owned and operated, and not merely an illusion of authenticity. ask yourselves if domestic tourists, that's local people going on holiday within their own country, did they use the infrastructure you're using as well? consider that some kinds of work might be taking opportunities away from local people, particularly if you're targeting tourist revenue.
consider that you will never be the arbiter of how spoiled or real a place is. seriously, one more time for those at the back - NEVER. even if you stay for five, ten years in a place, you're still only getting a peak. a peak of a part of a place, that you are still viewing through western eyes. to be honest, most of my advice here has a very obvious theme. local residents need to have autonomy over the tourist infrastructure in their homes. if they are alienated by it, it is definitely having neo-colonial effects.
local people need to be at the center of it all. and unfortunately for the wanderlusters out there, that also means waiting to be invited in. and never, ever assuming anything about your presence within a space. and it means acknowledging that some places might want to limit the influence that tourism has on their country, and this might mean controlling which areas are designated as "tourist zones", and they might have very complex and good reasons for doing this. consider that they should be respected, because sometimes, it might be better to stick to the beaten track, than to beat new tracks over land that isn't yours.
thank you so much for watching this until the end! if you are a backpacker i hope i didn't upset you! i still sometimes miss life on the road and I'll always take the things i learned then with me for the rest of my life. despite the pitfalls, despite the loneliness, there's another video in that, i would never trade the experience in, not for anything. but my hope is that after watching this, you're a more considerate backpacker, with a more open mind than before. join me again for more videos on travel, tourism and capital in the future. subscribe and click the
bell icon to be notified of when i upload. thank you again for watching, come follow me on things, and i will see you next time! special thanks to my patrons, you absolute diamonds, you sparkling gems of goodness, you! you can join them by visiting the link below. thank you again! bye. bye. you
2022-02-07 10:24
