/out/ - Outdoors » Thread #2709906

[19 / 1 / 1]

3MiB, 384x384, shiba-inu-dancing-dog.gif

Anonymous Mon 18 Mar 2024 20:42:10 No.2709906 View View Reply Original Report

Quoted By: >>2709908 >>2709918 >>2709919 >>2710049 >>2712695 >>2713013 >>2713034 >>2713052

how much research is required to go on a backpacking trip? Can I just pack up some clothes and a tent and fuck off to another country for a few weeks and see what I can do? Any of you done this?

I planned my first hiking trip / vacation in New Mexico recently and want more /out/ but in another country. Don't get me wrong, I still want to experience the local food and culture, I'm not trying to get stranded in the wild here, but do I need to research and prepare for lodging the entire time or should I just wing it and stealth camp and shit?

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 18 Mar 2024 20:45:20 No.2709908 Report

Quoted By:

>>2709906
It took me quite a bit of time to organize everything for that New Mexico trip, rental cars, lodging, things to do between excursions and hikes. I can only imagine that being 10x more complicated planning for another country and I'd rather just go on a whim if its not a total recipe for disaster.

Let's assume I'm going somewhere where people speak english generally at least somewhat, and whether its legal or not might have suitable camping areas between cities / towns / villages

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 18 Mar 2024 21:10:02 No.2709918 Report

Quoted By: >>2709923

>>2709906
Where do you want to go specifically? I guess it highly depends. Like, "backpacking in the UK" and "backpacking in Afghanistan" are going to be two vastly different experiences.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 18 Mar 2024 21:11:58 No.2709919 Report

Quoted By: >>2709923

>>2709906
Are you intelligent? Do you have money? Do you know how to get shit organized around you? Have you ever been abroad?

Tell us what were your biggest challenges and pain points of your previous trips.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 18 Mar 2024 21:38:45 No.2709923 Report

Quoted By: >>2709935 >>2710047

>>2709918
Spain and France are two first world places I've always wanted to visit, but I'm also interested in more rural places like Thailand, Nepal, Peru, really anywhere far away and unfamiliar to an American.

>>2709919
no to all of those. Week long trip to new mexico went well but it being so over-planned and including so much driving made it not feel particularly relaxing at all, plus its still in the US so it was rather expensive. I am capable of saving money but am not at all 'wealthy'

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 18 Mar 2024 22:34:00 No.2709935 Report

Quoted By: >>2709936

>>2709923
Paris was the only city where I slept in a hostel because I absolutely couldn't afford a hotel room.

I highly recommend poorer countries in the eastern part of EU. It's going to be cheaper, and when you come back it's going to sound very cool "All of you losers go to France, I've been to a poor country!". Within EU, even poor countries are very safe, so you can go to creepy-ass places, take a lot of eerie photos of run-down buildings, and show to your friends "loooook I've been to all these very hipster places".

But yes, Spain and France and nice first-time choices, both countries have all the existing infrastructure you might need.

Regarding preparation... I think you should get an idea of:
1. What you want to see
2. How you want to travel

Renting a car might be a huge PITA, and there are stories of Americans getting lots of fines because they don't understand local traffic laws. Instead, I recommend trying out public transport, especially railway. With this in mind, I recommend doing research on how it works in general, don't be like "www.mostexpensivebusesforamericans.eu" but look up what bus/rail companies there are, how they operate, etc. The point is, get yourself used to the system before even using it. I understand that using public transport might feel like a downgrade, but on holiday it's kind of part of the adventure, and in Europe is really not bad, especially in more civilized areas, it's just a bit disorganized and sometimes info isn't available in English. And if there's no public transport, you can always take a cab once in a while.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 18 Mar 2024 22:35:02 No.2709936 Report

Quoted By: >>2711881

>>2709935
There are some rail stations that literally stop at the beginning of hiking trails, so you can sleep, take a train, hike, take a train back, sleep.

Once you get the grasp of the transport system, you can do a more "yolo" approach. Unless you're travelling to a popular destination, which you probably don't want anyway, there should always be some room available in some reasonable hotel and a way to GTFO. Don't take too much luggage, you can buy most shit locally. Just mind different outlet voltage (don't burn your laptop charger) and that some places have very restrictive shopping hours (like no shopping on Sunday) and make sure you have internet on your phone.

Try looking up cultural events that happen in different places, you might want to run into some of them.

Oh, Decathlon. It's a shop with sports equipment, which lies perfectly in the "cheap yet good" valley. You can buy a cheap tent there and dump it after your trip.

What I'm trying to say is that you want to gather as much knowledge as you can, and then do yolo approach, because then you will feel confident in your ability not to royally fuck up and you won't need five hours to figure out how to get to the other side of the city. I always do yolo but I also have some experience, but again, you can only gain experience by actually doing shit, so yeah. Europe in general is travelling on easy mode, minus the language barrier.

BTW I always cringe when I see someone trying to pay with dollars. Just don't do this.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 19 Mar 2024 07:18:52 No.2710047 Report

Quoted By: >>2710049

>>2709923
How much research is '''required''' to go on a backpacking trip? Pretty much none.
When I was 17 I spent a year backpacking from London to Bangkok and my research before I left essentially went no further than googling "best season to visit X" and trying to line up the countries I was visiting in approximately the right order. I had a bunch of pirated Lonely Planet guides and the like on my laptop and I'd plan things out for whatever country I was visiting next when I had downtime on a train or sitting around a hostel bar or whatever. The only times my trip was more structured was when I had my girlfriend or some mates coming out to join me for a bit.
These days I tend to do more research before my trips but it's definitely not required.

Be aware though, backpacking in Asia and South America (and to some extent in Europe too) has different connotations to backpacking in the US. Someone says they're backpacking in California or Washington and you assume they're going hiking, sleeping a tent, etc. Someone says they're backpacking pretty much anywhere else in the world and the assumption will be that they're travelling by bus/train, staying in hostels/tea houses, etc (at least for a solid portion, if not all, of the trip).
Hiking between refugios in the Alps, going teahouse trekking in Nepal or cycling through Vietnam are still /out/ but they're a different sort of /out/ to backcountry backpacking in the US.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 19 Mar 2024 07:42:23 No.2710049 Report

Quoted By:

>>2710047
>>2709906
>should I just wing it and stealth camp and shit?
That can work in Europe but you're not going to have much luck stealth camping through most of Asia; too densely populated, the population distribution (and distribution of what you'd want to see as a visitor) isn't well-suited to it, and locals won't be very supportive of some "rich Westerner" setting up camp like a hobo rather than contributing to their economy. It's a bad look when the average wage is $500/month and a room in a guesthouse would only cost you $10/night.
An exception would be Mongolia and the 'Stans. Those countries do have some proper wilderness that you could camp in without trouble but you'll need a vehicle.
>do I need to research and prepare for lodging the entire time
Also no. Maybe in particular areas or if you're travelling in peak seasons.
Often enough I'll find myself booking accommodation the night before I arrive in a town or I'll just arrive in a village and start knocking on guesthouse doors. It's a trade-off, you might not be able to get a bed in the top-rated guesthouse but you're not tied to some preexisting timetable so you can adjust your plans freely if you hear of something cool happening in the next village over.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 20 Mar 2024 12:16:02 No.2710411 Report

Quoted By:

How about you start with the research straightaway and stop waisting time on researching the research?

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 24 Mar 2024 09:18:18 No.2711881 Report

Quoted By:

>>2709936
Decathlon is awesome. I'm an American living in EU and went to one for the first time the other day and gf had to haul me out of the store

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 24 Mar 2024 22:23:52 No.2712154 Report

Quoted By: >>2712158

You need to have plans for food, water, shelter, and transportation or you will not have these things and will need to improvise. Depending on where you are, needing to improvise your basic needs will put you into danger. All else can be spontaneous.

Anonymous

Anonymous Sun 24 Mar 2024 22:36:57 No.2712158 Report

Quoted By: >>2713096

>>2712154
Oh, and you should know how you're going to poop. Very important.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 26 Mar 2024 01:28:13 No.2712695 Report

Quoted By:

>>2709906
If we're talking about an outdoors trip, it can take time to put together and refine your kit (including things like first aid, cook system, electronics, etc.). Should also think about travel insurance if going into the wilderness abroad and look into whether any camping permits are required if using national parks or similar

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 27 Mar 2024 04:23:50 No.2713013 Report

Quoted By:

>>2709906
Just do a 1 night one and try it out. You'll learn from the mistakes and what you forgot

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 27 Mar 2024 05:28:06 No.2713034 Report

Quoted By:

>>2709906
>Can I just pack up some clothes and a tent and fuck off to another country for a few weeks and see what I can do?
At a minimum you'll have to know the entry requirements for that country.

>Any of you done this?
Not a different country, but I just filled my backpack one day and hitch hiked across Canada and back.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 27 Mar 2024 07:38:34 No.2713048 Report

Quoted By:

A thread on /out/ is all you need

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 27 Mar 2024 08:15:10 No.2713052 Report

Quoted By:

>>2709906
that dog is such a little ho

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 27 Mar 2024 13:53:19 No.2713096 Report

Quoted By:

>>2712158
For me, its with my butt

Capcode	All Only User Posts Only Verified Posts Only Moderator Posts Only Manager Posts Only Admin Posts Only Developer Posts Only Founder Posts
Show Posts	All Only With Images Only Without Images Only Spoiler Images Only Non-Spoiler Images
Deleted Posts	All Only Deleted Posts Only Non-Deleted Posts
Ghost Posts	All Only Ghost Posts Only Non-Ghost Posts
Post Type	All Only Sticky Threads Only Opening Posts Only Reply Posts
Results	All Grouped By Threads
Order	Latest Posts First Oldest Posts First

On these archives

Your latest searches