What's with white people and backpacking?

[MJinZ]

Backpacking through South America. Now that takes some balls.

These people are freaking nuts to go wandering around South America. Direct them to the nearest illegal South American immigrant and changing minds won't be a problem.

 

[purbeast0]

Because I'm enough of a square as is... I whined about how silly my best friend was for doing this to an acquaintance and they looked at me like I was an alien - "What are you talking about, that sounds like the best time ever!"

well maybe you are just a boring person?

 

[darkxshade]

de white devil did not get where they are today by staying put.

 

[vi edit]

Interesting observations.. I think I'm confusing race and class - my parents were highly educated but were very, very working class. Maybe that's why I don't get it at all. I mean, I'm panicking about being unemployed for a month - to willingly give up a career during your crucial sub-30 years seems foolish to me, even if you're just out of college (get an internship! build that resume!). But that's more to do with the way I was raised, and less to do with race and culture.

Yeh my parents would have given me a $20 bill and dropkicked me to the curb and said "Good luck!" if I wanted to go frolicking across Europe for 6 months instead of looking for a job once I got out of college.

I'm not saying it's the right attitude...but a lot of kids really need a major freaking reality check. And the parents need to stop enabling.

 

[slackerinabox]

well maybe you are just a boring person?

Hah, maybe. Or maybe you're just white and I offended you?

Trust me, I know how to party. I wasted much time partying and not taking life seriously. But I wasted time with no pretense - I knew then that I was a lush and now live with the guilt of that (however minor the guilt is). I feel like life keeps ticking away, and spending six months roaming around seems like a huge waste of that valuable time, especially when the pretenses of "blogging my unique and wonderful experiences" comes into the mix..

 

[Leros]

Some people just don't like camping. I find that being out in nature, even if its rainy crappy and miserable, makes me feel more "alive".

 

[hanoverphist]

We're ready at a moments notice to move out of our homes if a black person moves in next door.

Wish i could do that. Sounds like fun.

for some reason these got linked in my brain and made me laff.


as for the back packing thing, ive never had an urge to do it at all. i will travel to spain and visit a town that i share a surname with, but thats about it i think. my cousin has almost made a career out of back packing, hes been in all kinds of different countries for weeks at a time just wandering around. hes not wealthy by any means either, just enjoys the travel he said.

 

[TheVrolok]

It's fun. You roam around. You drink. You sleep with people who have interesting accents.

This. I don't see a downside?

 

[Slew Foot]

Its a way for yuppie liberal suburban white kids to say they're cultured and world traveled without actually having to see anything thats really all different from their normal way of life.

 

[vi edit]

Some people just don't like camping. I find that being out in nature, even if its rainy crappy and miserable, makes me feel more "alive".

This isn't about camping. It's more like an opened ended multi month field trip.

 

[slackerinabox]

Yeh my parents would have given me a $20 bill and dropkicked me to the curb and said "Good luck!" if I wanted to go frolicking across Europe for 6 months instead of looking for a job once I got out of college.

I'm not saying it's the right attitude...but a lot of kids really need a major freaking reality check. And the parents need to stop enabling.

To be fair, my friends did pay their way, but I see where you're coming from. In fact, it makes a lot of sense now - mommy and daddy give you a budget for your post college trip. You can spend that for a nice week long vacation, or rough it for as long as possible, keeping money for booze and women (and giving you an adventure, while others need to find jobs). Nevermind the fact that you're basically homeless

 

[darkxshade]

To be fair, my friends did pay their way, but I see where you're coming from. In fact, it makes a lot of sense now - mommy and daddy give you a budget for your post college trip. You can spend that for a nice week long vacation, or rough it for as long as possible, keeping money for booze and women (and giving you an adventure, while others need to find jobs). Nevermind the fact that you're basically homeless

I've never done it but I can see the appeal... some people like to go on vacations and see things they want to see. Others have the explorer mentality and deride joy from being "lost" and discovering locales on their own.

 

[purbeast0]

Hah, maybe. Or maybe you're just white and I offended you?

Trust me, I know how to party. I wasted much time partying and not taking life seriously. But I wasted time with no pretense - I knew then that I was a lush and now live with the guilt of that (however minor the guilt is). I feel like life keeps ticking away, and spending six months roaming around seems like a huge waste of that valuable time, especially when the pretenses of "blogging my unique and wonderful experiences" comes into the mix..

well i am white but it doesn't offend me in the least, because in reality, it is true heh. i only know white americans who have done this as well.

 

[Albatross]

why was the first person on Everest a white man?
the Indians,the Chinese were there for thousands of years,why weren`t they just a bit curious?

 

[Patt]

I spent about 7.5 months backpacking in Europe shortly after I dropped out of university ... wouldn't call any of the places I stayed as 'shady situations', though as always when you're travelling, things happen. I hit about 15 countries in that time, and worked a bit here and there, and even briefly, managed to fall in love.

I don't think it is a 'white thing' ... but definitely being wealthy might help. My grandmother willed be $5000 specifically for travel when she died, and I had about $1500 of my own cash to start with. Managed to not breach that dollar limit, but I did definitely rough it a lot. Carried a tent, and camped out in random spots, hitch-hiked, and took the cheapest train fares I could find most of the time. Even borrowed a bike from someone I hitched with and rode it around Luxembourg for a few days. Granted, I didn't hit too many of the ginormous cities ... mostly spent my time in more off-the-beaten-track. Cities I didn't hit: Paris, London, Barcelona, Amsterdam (well, for more than 2 hours on a train switch), Zurich, Oslo, Stockholm. Cities I did hit: Prague (brilliant, though I was mugged there), Berlin, Copenhagen, Vienna, Luxembourg, Antwerp, and a host of smaller places.

I think more than 'finding our roots' ... I didn't really even make it to Scotland/England where the most of my roots are ... people are looking for independence, and learning to rely on themselves and their own judgments. Also lets us see how other people live, and experience the freedom of just being for a while. No schedule, no patterns, just experiences.

I highly recommend it to anyone who'll listen ... I definitely came back a changed person, wiser and with a bit of a different view of how life back home actually is.

edit: I did almost no drinking, and didn't sleep around, so my money stretched a bit further than some.

double edit: this was before email was particularly popular, and so I wasn't there to blog, and neither would I now. I spent months out of contact with EVERYONE ... stressful to my parents, but essential to my journey.

 

[Leros]

This isn't about camping. It's more like an opened ended multi month field trip.

Oh, that kind of backpacking. Well nevermind then.

 

[TheVrolok]

well i am white but it doesn't offend me in the least, because in reality, it is true heh. i only know white americans who have done this as well.

I was partying in Ft. Myers, FL last August and I met two non-white Swedish girls who were doing it in the United States.

 

[sygyzy]

This will explain it all - http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2009/01/11/120-taking-a-year-off/http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2009/01/11/120-taking-a-year-off/

 

[slackerinabox]

I spent about 7.5 months backpacking in Europe shortly after I dropped out of university ... wouldn't call any of the places I stayed as 'shady situations', though as always when you're travelling, things happen. I hit about 15 countries in that time, and worked a bit here and there, and even briefly, managed to fall in love.

I don't think it is a 'white thing' ... but definitely being wealthy might help. My grandmother willed be $5000 specifically for travel when she died, and I had about $1500 of my own cash to start with. Managed to not breach that dollar limit, but I did definitely rough it a lot. Carried a tent, and camped out in random spots, hitch-hiked, and took the cheapest train fares I could find most of the time. Even borrowed a bike from someone I hitched with and rode it around Luxembourg for a few days. Granted, I didn't hit too many of the ginormous cities ... mostly spent my time in more off-the-beaten-track. Cities I didn't hit: Paris, London, Barcelona, Amsterdam (well, for more than 2 hours on a train switch), Zurich, Oslo, Stockholm. Cities I did hit: Prague (brilliant, though I was mugged there), Berlin, Copenhagen, Vienna, Luxembourg, Antwerp, and a host of smaller places.

I think more than 'finding our roots' ... I didn't really even make it to Scotland/England where the most of my roots are ... people are looking for independence, and learning to rely on themselves and their own judgments. Also lets us see how other people live, and experience the freedom of just being for a while. No schedule, no patterns, just experiences.

I highly recommend it to anyone who'll listen ... I definitely came back a changed person, wiser and with a bit of a different view of how life back home actually is.

Wouldn't being homeless be similar? See, I find it a little condescending - the notion that you need to live in a tent, hitch hike, and borrow bikes to find yourself. Maybe that's were my Eastern roots come in - to find yourself you must only look inward.

 

[slackerinabox]

why was the first person on Everest a white man?
the Indians,the Chinese were there for thousands of years,why weren`t they just a bit curious?

Funny - Charlie Murphy made a joke about that - "Why do white people need to climb mountains? I know what's on the top of mountains already!"

 

[vi edit]

Wouldn't being homeless be similar? See, I find it a little condescending - the notion that you need to live in a tent, hitch hike, and borrow bikes to find yourself. Maybe that's were my Eastern roots come in - to find yourself you must only look inward.

It's probably not the right way to word it...but homeless is a state of mind/ability. Not reality. If you have a ticket home and can be sleeping in your parents house within 24 hours you aren't homeless.

 

[Schadenfroh]

We enjoy visiting Hostels in Eastern Europe.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

its cause white people be trippin

 

[slackerinabox]

It's probably not the right way to word it...but homeless is a state of mind/ability. Not reality. If you have a ticket home and can be sleeping in your parents house within 24 hours you aren't homeless.

Indeed, like the wonderful Pulp song "Common People." I didn't mean to belittle homelessness, but the whole faux-roughing thing (domestic or international) belittles true poverty to me, which is kinda ironic to me. I mean, posting a blog about not being able to afford a meal so you did dishes and swept up for a Spanish couple?! That shit's hilarious, since you're posting that from your iPhone. Not you, but you know what I mean

 

[AreaCode707]

These people are freaking nuts to go wandering around South America. Direct them to the nearest illegal South American immigrant and changing minds won't be a problem.

Um, not all South American countries are run by gun-toting loonies. My friend spent most of his time in various cities and tourist sites, stayed at hostels, had dinner with some locals and traveled with other backpackers from around the world. Sounded like he had a great time. Not for me but I see the appeal.