i am a flashpacker

 

Okay, so in my field I know what a "flashback" is, but not "flashpack". Looked  it up on the net and found this!

This isn’t about backpacking-lite. As much as their low-budget cousins, Flashpackers are looking for authentic and challenging experiences, and they’re quite happy to rough it with the best of them if that’s the best way to achieve that goal. But unlike your average gap-year student, they can afford to splash out on some luxury when the going gets tough — and just as importantly, they will spend what it takes to get the experience they’re after." For me, "when the going gets tough" means 3 days without a shower, and I'm not afraid to admit it.

A flashpacker is someone who wants the independent experience of backpacking, but has enough money to pay for more creature comforts. That sounds like me. I want the freedom of independent travel, especially traveling with one bag, but I also like my comforts. Unless it's part of the experience I'm going for (like camping), I want a nice bed and a shower with warm water and some pressure.

Some of the articles associate flashpacking with a lot of technological gear. While I like the idea of traveling with a small laptop and a digital camera, I'm not much into other tech gadgets. I don't want a phone or GPS system and the only time I use an mp3 player is on the plane. I love music, but sometimes headphones take away from my experience of traveling. Probably music but only in transit. And a book. I'd love something to read while traveling.

And apparently now, there are different types of flashpackers, including the gadget loving Geeky Flashpacker, that I found interesting. He's someone who reads books, gets to know history before setting foot on a place to enjoy the whole thing. A culture nut who also probably wanted to capture everything through a lens or a poem, or a song or an essay. Geeky.

That definitely sounds like me. What about you?

(reposted and edited from http://www.ramblingtraveler.com )