BECOMING A BACKPACKER around once again

Posted: 06/13/2011 | June 13th, 2011

Despite my low-budget hostel travels, it’s been a long time since I’ve truly felt like a backpacker.

Sure, I travel like one (most of the time). I stay in hostels. I eat cheap. I do backpacker-style tours. I hang out with other backpackers. however I haven’t felt like a backpacker in a long time.

In part, it’s since I don’t have to travel like a budget-conscious backpacker since I don’t have a finite budget plan for my trip.

I have a task as well as therefore can be a bit more free-spending with my money. I eat out at nicer locations more often. I don’t always stay in dorms. I take more tours. I sometimes stay in hotels. (When I travel on a budget, it is since I want to, since I don’t like high-end travel. I believe it’s a squander to spend money on a elegant space you only see for a few hours.)

And unlike the backpackers I hang out with in hostels, I have obligations as well as deadlines to concern about.

I have this website to run. I have stories to write. I have emails to respond to as well as concerns to answer. I can’t just get up as well as do nothing.

I commonly envy the other travelers I satisfy for their capability to be so carefree.

I guaranteed myself at the beginning of this year that I would spend less time working as well as more time traveling. I’ve curtailed a number of side projects, I hired a few people to assist me, as well as I outsourced more work. Yet, I still don’t feel totally worry-free.

At least not up until last week.

Losing my passport triggered me a great deal of problems, however it kept me stuck in Amsterdam, a city I always go to for a “vacation.” It’s a location I barely do any type of work.

And costs prolonged time there with the exact same people in the exact same hostel, I discovered to relax. I kept the computer closed as well as did extremely bit work. as well as the world didn’t end when I slowed down.

And though it took me a long time to “relax,” by the time I flew to Greece last week, I was feeling back to my old self. Back to the unburdened, carefree traveler. The one that went away in 2006 to travel, not work.

It felt great to just hang out as well as just be.

Often, blogging feels like a giant albatross around my neck. On the one hand, I truly like what I do, as well as I particularly like the emails I get from people telling me my site has assisted them travel or ended up being influenced to travel.

I like being able to share what I love. I like being able to assist others. I like satisfying people with this site.

(Case in point: I am currently in Ios with two visitors who occurred to be in Athens the exact same time as me.)

For all these reasons as well as more, I would never provide up this website or modification what I do.

But on the other hand, I sometimes dislike what I do. I don’t take press trips that much, I don’t go to many conferences, as well as I don’t do a great deal of “business networking stuff” since I just want to travel. I like to do my own thing. This website was developed in part to just assist me discover a method to travel more.

That’s truly all I want.

I do this since it’s something I can do from anywhere in the world.

Yet some days I just look at my computer as well as want to throw it out the window, nuke my site, as well as run off to the next stop on my travel list. I don’t want to concern about the publish that needs to be written, or the emails that requirement to be answered.

My life is a constant pull between these two emotions.

And it is commonly why I never tell people what I do. I’m not ashamed of it. however at the end of the day, I just want to be one more traveler.

I dislike the comments as well as concerns that include telling people what I do. We end up speaking about me as well as exactly how remarkable my task is for 15 minutes, as well as from then on, I’m the travel writer, not the traveler.

I’m extremely grateful for being able to have the life I lead. I am extremely fortunate. however I dislike speaking about myself as well as I dislike speaking about my “job.”

And sometimes I feel such as this “job” produces a wall between me as well as a carefree existence.

Which brings me back to Amsterdam.

In Amsterdam, my computer was closed. In Amsterdam, I was just the traveler for many days. I dodged the “what do you do back home?” concern as commonly as I could, however eventually, I just let it spill out.

However, I had the response in a method I hadn’t before. I stated what I did, I responded to a few questions, as well as then I just moved on. By not letting the conversation ended up being 20 minutes about exactly how remarkable a task I have, I was able to not develop it up.

After that, I was just a backpacker with a truly great blog.

I commonly state that the obligations that keep us from the road are illusory. when we put them down, they are gone. Your bills, job, car, as well as home are gonewhen you just push them out of the way.

In Amsterdam, I laid down my own burden. In my mind, I had this task that kept me from being a carefree traveler. It kept me from being the traveler I want to be — the one that just enjoys the moment, not concerns about email.

Yet it was all in my mind.

The only thing holding me back was me, not some illusory responsibility. By having my burden, I released it. I stopped letting it own me. I stop letting it hold me back.

And in doing so, I’ve once again ended up being the backpacker I always wished to be.

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