Tuesday, February 21, 2012

I Am So A FLASHPACKER! Are you?

FLASHPACKING… when I first heard my sister mentioning this, I went like “HUH?! What??” She gave this lengthy explanation & description. And since then on, I have been wanting to do an entry on this but laziness and lack of ideas (excuses as usual LILY!) supersedes everything (like EVERYTHING). But the last few days, I finally got an inspiration while I was in the bathroom on the throne (of all the places ahhahha….).


OK! Here’s the thing, I was so uncomfortable with the word, I mean.. who wouldn’t right?! Flashpacking, I kept visualizing man in overcoat flashing his thing way on his “traveling” trip across the continent…. WHAT??? YUK! What’s next best thing to do..? Ask Mr. Google…. Hehehhehe…. I got this from USA TODAY and I thought I should share it with you guys, link can be found HERE.

Basically most of us now travel with ton of tech gadget, me too and I ain’t gonna lie. All gadgets combined probably weight 1kg at least… You don’t believe me? Check out for yourself (this doesn’t apply for super duper light travelers), basic minimal will be digital camera (compact or DSLR), spare batteries + cable (we have to be selfish here, I need to make sure battery is sufficient or I lose pic moment), SD cards (we can’t travel with just 4 or 8 GB right), then there’s the notebook + cable (fine! we can always use those public PC at hostels/guesthouses, but not as convenient as our own), iPod + cable (you need to have an iPod, else you will be bored to death on loooooong journey), PSP/NDS (little game won’t hurt) and last but not least HANDPHONE + CABLE. Wouldn't this make up to minimum 1kg of your luggage weight?? Thus WE ALL do seem flashier then the average “backpacker” or what we perceive of a backpacker.


And the above is excluding the fact that people like me don’t travel with backpack and preferred to be a trolley dolly traveler with lower budget BUT more gadget AND prefer good place to unwind… wow! I guess I fit the bill right in – FLASHPACKER (minus the overcoat “flashiness” AHHAHAH). Am sure more of you are like me…. As we do want some comfort and staying in a hotel will be too costly.


I got to know that Hostelworld.com completed a survey back in 2006 (YUP! Flashpacker term in NOT NEW!) that by 2,561 visitors to its website found that 21% of them travel with a laptop, 54% with an MP3 player, 83% with a mobile phone and 86% with a digital camera. AH HAH!!!! SEEE…. I told you! I knew without knowing, truthfully! Hahahha….


Not only this, you’ll also notice that now, most hostels comes with dorm and twin sharing or even twin sharing ensuite/attach bathroom (normally I choose this as it’s more convenient for us ladies). Some even comes with pool, diners, parking etc etc (base on my experience in Australia, New Zealand,, Indonesia, Thailand to name a few).


Casablanca, Morocco Low Budget Hotel

Noah's Ark Backpacker; South Island, New Zealand 

City Backpackers; Brisbane, Australia

City Backapackers' facilities.

 City Backpackers' Pool

Romania's Prince Park Residence in Bucharest

Prince Park Residence comes with kitchenette & huge patio

Baan Lotus in Ayuthayya, Thailand comes with pond, pets, courtyard etc

Soooo…. Which one are you? Pure backpacker? Or Flashpacker like me?



20 comments:

Cawan said...

First tak?!

Cawan said...

hoyeahhh! terima kasih! jap nk bace..

ps:/ kenapa laaa aku pun dh ikut trend korang yg lain2 ni!!

Cawan said...

yeap, then backpacker definition tu kena jelas kan lagi..

travel without gadget/IT..? it not me kot.. at least hphone utk roaming, 1.2kg camera kt tengkuk, gps if require.. mp3/ipod kadang2, sbb ade isteri peneman borak..

kekadang ade yg bawak bahan bacaan kan? ZOO Magazine?

Unknown said...

Huh zoo magazine? bila plak ada zoo magazine??

Rasanya Chawanna a little bit of both kot, sb ari tu pegi NZ, haaaa amik ko, barang2 utk gadget saja dekat 2kg! DSLR 2 & battery2 nye + memory card + handphone & charger, + lappy & charger, lense dan etc..ish ish.., first time bawak lappy pegi travel, sb rasa perlu sgt nak transfer gambar2 NZ!! hahaha gila kiasu.. Mp3/ipod tu penah la bawak, tp tak gune pun, sb sembang ngn Cawan jek, tau2 'eh dah landing??' hahahhaha

So utk Japan ni, cuma bawak dslr 2 bijik + gps + handphone dan charger huhuhuhu..

Anash said...

trolly dolly for me indeed.
Walaupun tidak ada 1.5kg berat kamera..tidak memiliki Ipod mahupun mp3...ada hp pun reti guna sms / terima buat call / sesekali nengok fb (opsss..) ...tapi tetap suka beg trolly
(melainkan 1 malam stay..melampau la nak tarik beg roda..)

Anash said...

jab...
yess..
first before john, janggel dan masmz..
hahah..
cawan..tahniah dapat no 1...

flashpacking : new word for me too..
thanks for sharing

Lily Riani said...

cawan,

wow!!!!!! PIRST! Hadiah nye, next week i approve you gi japan ngan ur family. Hhahahha

zoo mag? biaq benor...

na,

masa i gi nz pun rasa cam semua gadget wajib bawak. ahhaha...

even jpn u rasa lesser but 2 dslr tuh berapa kilo dah... flash+back packer = bashpacker? fackpacker? flashback? backflash? HAHHAHAHHA

Lily Riani said...

kcc,

same here.... budak baru belajor... and definitely trolley dolly. the latest amazing race ada trolley dolly tau!? ehheeh... makna nye kite dua ada harapan ler...

just.HY said...

u tak pegi lunch ke lily? kekeke...

i mcm u kot. kdg2 jek jadik backpacker. to kamera, hp, charger adalah wajib. laptop bergantung kepada keadaan. nama je backpacker tu kdg2, tp brg2 yg bawak like baju, sume tu tak menunjukkan backpacker pun. kekeke.. gaya adalah penting ye,

Gil Ra Im said...

i'm a backpacker, but of course la kena bwk mobile phone/smartphone,camera, ipod, extra battery, extra sd card, extra blablabla. kalau takdak, like u said, abeslah pix moment i ;p

hehe

Biqque said...

saya hanya bawak camera. titik. takde phone, laptop, ipod, gps, magazine dan apa2 lagi. (baru2 ni sejak u kasi ipod, i bawak)

darat? tidakkkkkkk hahahaha!

masMZ KaKiJaLaN said...

hurmmmm.... doulu2 travel bawak henpon jer (tapi ada satu masa henpon hilang, majuk dekat setahun tak pakai tepon! n satu lagi, dalam hutan takde line, tak bawak jugak hp) dalam backpack saiz beg budak sekolah (kamera tumpang sape2, hahaha)....

sekarang, mao tak mao kena dua beg dan satu beg tu memang penuh dengan gadget! errrr macam larrr banyak sangat gadgetnya.... tapi dslr tu, nak kena ada charger, pastu gatal nak bawak lense bagai tiba2 2 kg tu memang dah sah kompom dah kot!

so gudbye backpacker... i am so flashpacker now, hahahaa

masMZ KaKiJaLaN said...

amboihhhh kak anash....

ai veri bz taw arini.... takpelarr kasik can! hahahahaha


Wallaa skrg ni Cawan jer asyik first!!! Hurmmmmmmm

Ely Hasrul said...

ala sweet nye cawan ckp 'sbb ade isteri peneman borak' tp yg xpaham skang dia dok sebok komen first tu ngapa??/ hahhahaha

i bwk henpon aje, kamera pon maleh nk pegang. jgn kan darat dh smpai ke tanah gambut dh nih hahahhaa

MasZuber said...

i buleh dua2 kot, tp byk keadaan, backpacker kut ;p

Ren said...

I bawak beg jinjit je hehehee

Hannah Pearson said...

I'm a backpacker - so much easier to go down stairs and walk around looking for the hostel... and gadgets? Just my phone, but even then, I like to turn it off for most of the day to escape it all :)

Lily Riani said...

danny,

agree. gaya mutu keunggulan... hahhaha

GRI,

kaaan.... else tak da proof of execution (POE) hehheh...

biq,

u memang minimalist.

Lily Riani said...

mas,

i thk we all cut in between kot kan kan kan. kata ler kaaaaaan.

ely,

romeo & juliet si chawanna tuh. ehheheh....

masZ,

gigih...!

Lily Riani said...

janggel...................!!!! beg manik ler.

hannah,

in this sense, i agree with you... convenience! sigh... i do envy backpacker.







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