Flashpacking: The “New Early-1970′s”
When we graduated from high school in the early 1970′s my friend, Steve Scott, worked his way across the Pacific on a real tramp steamer. He heard the outcome of the 1972 Summit Hockey series in Borneo and had no one with whom to share his joy because few people on the ship had ever heard of hockey – ice hockey. Then after a thorough tour of Australia and New Zealand he send me a card saying he was “. . . hitting the Hippe Trail with some blokes from Cairns.” In other words he was backpacking up through southeast and southern Asia.
Backpacking Through Europe, A Rite of Passage
The whole backpacking craze began with the television. With night after night of programming showing the exotic places on the globe there was no other generation before in history that was so well versed in geography. Ad to this the youth culture that was beginning to crop up in universities across the country and suddenly we had millions of people in motion.
Steve’s brother, Lee, went the other way. He and our friend, Dixie, flew to London and bought a used VW van – yup, the famous VeeDub. This certain spot was where travelers bought and sold transportation right out on the plaza. Then they drove it around Europe for a year before selling it at the same spot in London where they bought it in the first place. As they traveled they picked up backpackers and stayed in youth hostels. Armed with only a bread knife they picked pumpkins for money for gas and took donations for rides.
Flaskpacking
Almost 40 years later there is a new breed of wanders called the “Flashpacker.” Like their fathers, or grandfathers, these guys and gals like to travel to exotic places taking new trails through places like North Africa and through China (China was not open when we were kids.) They have the yearning, the guts, no itinerary and the adventurous spirit – and they have the money. Because unlike their predecessors the flashpacker travels in style on what is known as the “Banana Pancake Trail.”
Flashpackers are the streamlines version of Steve Scott. They have light boots and a small pack that contains a laptop computer, cell phone, MP3 player and digital camera. Although they don’t stay in fancy hotels they do not rough it. And after a hard hike to see some ancient ruins they don’t mind a long night of partying at the local watering hole.
Working Their Way Around the World
And while Steve Scott hauled freight and lugged bananas for his passage across the ocean and a few bob for the trail the modern flashpackers have a better game. Many of them work right from their local cafes, designing websites, blogging and writing travel articles while eating bananas. As for grandma’s birthday? They never miss it. They talk to Granny on Skype.
And flashpackers will have a great time in Nova Scotia because there are hundreds of WiFi spots and not too many dead spaces for cell reception. And there is plenty of sun (most of the time) for their portable solar cells to charge their laptop batteries
So take your hat off to the flashpackers. They have a party-on-the-go!
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