Comments on: I Wanna Be a Flashpacker: When Backpackers Grow Up or Get Rich

By: Need a break? eTourism: whenever, wherever | Blogue Marketing Interactif

Need a break? eTourism: whenever, wherever | Blogue Marketing Interactif — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 16:06:06 +0000

[...] hippies or yuppies. In fact, a new term has been created to describe the hightech traveller: flashpacker. For accommodation places, this means that, on top of being visible on the net and offering a [...]

By: Josh

Josh — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 06:13:04 +0000

Labels, shmabels. I’m with Ant 100%.
If you can afford to leave, and yer there for the experience, yer a tourist and what’s wrong with that?

Cheap alone doesn’t mean authentic.

Because whether it’s today or 20 years ago, to locals in many countries, backpackers are rich, and treated as just another *variety* of tourist. With all the hostels, beer bars, travel agencies, coach trips and tour guides, an experience that caters to backpackers can be just as artificial as one catering to 5-star hotel patrons.

You can stay in a hostel or a 5-star Hotel. When you hit the street outside, it’s up to you where you go, who you talk to, whether you try to pick up the language, and what you see.

By: Timm

Timm — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:35:12 +0000

It’s just nice to have the opportunity to be a flashpacker. I love to have my laptop with me, travel first class in Asia and still get in contact with local people.

By: Craig Zabransky

Craig Zabransky — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 16:26:38 +0000

Yes, it is true I am a flashpacker. And one other advice I’d like to offer is when you find yourself out with true backpackers that is another time when you can do #6 Give something back.

Many times, I have treated younger or more budget conscious travelers to a round of beers, a meal, etc.. But I am just returning the favor from when I was only a backpacker myself and enjoyed such generosity.

stay adventurous,
Craig

By: Nicole

Nicole — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 11:06:58 +0000

Flashpacker describes my travel habits 100 percent, and this was before the term existed. Let’s see. My focus is always the human connection, so I try to blend in the moment I get to my destination by visiting all the mundane places where locals visit. I avoid all tourist hot spots, eat only locally prepared food and get to know business owners, and I make sure to stick to my low-calorie diet. I try to get at least two spa treatments per trip, and my mobile phone has a roaming service so it rings wherever I am in the world. I never shop for souvenirs because I have everything I need at home. I also plan my wardrobe ahead so I can look as if I “belong” rather than t-shirts. I get lots of concessions, people are nicer to me, and I get invitations to really cool events that don’t get advertised in the newspaper. On one trip, I ended up house-sitting for a new friend who was overseas! How’s that for flashpacking?

By: bangkok: the redux « beyond bagot

bangkok: the redux « beyond bagot — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 07:16:29 +0000

[...] on the road, we’ve been introduced to a term previously unknown to both of us: the “flashpacker“. Usually a little older with a decently paid job at home, this subset of independent [...]

By: Fair Flashpacking | The Tux in the Backpack

Fair Flashpacking | The Tux in the Backpack — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 17:51:40 +0000

[...] a comment on a Vagabondish article we discovered how some “unconscious” Flashpacker even felt bad in having more money [...]

By: traveljunkie

traveljunkie — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 11:03:47 +0000

just picked this up – a bit late but there you go.
you’ve just described boomerpackers.

By: Marco van de Kamp

Marco van de Kamp — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 20:01:54 +0000

Yep I became a flashpacker to.

10 years ago it was hard to find internet somewhere.

5 years ago it was hard to miss internet, it was everywhere

Now, can I live without my flashpacker stuff? I doubt it, a week or 2 yes but then I need to recover from my email overload for a week

By: Random Finds

Random Finds — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 10:34:47 +0000

[...] you a flashpacker? Wish you could be one? Want to know what the heck one is? Vagabondish [...]