We will reference groups of people using numbers from here on, group 1, group 2, etc
1 – Rough travelers 2 -Backpackers 3 -Tourists 4 -Random 5-Guilty ones 6 -Confused ones
Table of contents:
1_ Brief description
2_ Examples
3_ Nationalities
4_ Transportation
5_ Duration
6_ Budget
7_ Accommodation
8_ Age range
9_ Clothes
10_ Diet
11_ Percentages
12_ Couch requests
13_ Behavior as guests
14_ Numbers
15_ Employment
16_ Social behavior
17_ Activities
18_ Notes
1_ Description:
1_ People who travel in a difficult or very low budget, sometimes because they have very little money and sometimes for the thrill of it or because it’s more fun/interesting/challenging.ult or very low budget, sometimes because they have very little money and sometimes for the thrill of it or because it’s more fun/interesting/challenging.
2_ Young travelers who travel with an over-sized backpack, hence called backpackers
3_ Mid age travelers who enjoy a more up class and comfortable holiday
4_ “That guy”
5_ People who, either because of their environment or upbringing, feel some kind of remorse for being traveling instead of working/studying in their home country. (They will usually justify their trip with the excuse of being working on a book, doing some kind of research, working on their thesis or something their families and friends back home would approve of.)
6_ People who are traveling because of unforeseen circumstances, or are not sure why they have to travel.
2_Examples:
1_ Dimitri, who crossed Africa overland by bicycle just for the heck of it
2_ Jennifer, who took a few months off in between uni and work to backpack around Europe for a few months or doing a year-long working holiday in Australia.
3_ Tom, who has 1-week holiday a year, last week he went to Paris and this year he’s going to Bangkok.
4_ Arthur is traveling because he had a dream, in his dream someone told him he should walk barefoot along Karakoram highway with a shovel, and his metal detector looking for precious stones, or Florian who came by unicycle from the Gobi desert birdwatching along the way and he wants to show you his bird sketches (which are pretty bad).
5_ Richard went to Germany for a month to “test the waters” and see if it would be a good place for him to settle down in the future.
6_ Yaniv just finished high school and his parents said he has to take a year off and see the world before he goes off to the military service…
3_ Nationalities
1_ Mostly Russians and European
2_ Any, ok maybe not Russians.
3_ North Americans, Europeans, Middle Eastern, Indian, Australians.
4_ Europeans, especially eastern Europeans.
5_ Mostly North Americans, occasionally Japan, Korea, Singapore, HK.
6_ Mostly Israelis.
4_ Transportation
1_ Mostly hitchhiking and cycling, they may walk occasionally but it’s not natural to them, it’s more like “hey look at me, I’m walking from one country to another”
2_ Low budget airlines, buses, trains, they may hitchhike sometimes but it’s not natural for them, it’s more like “hey look at me, I’m hitchhiking, I’m so brave”
3_ Airplanes, taxis, they may use public transport occasionally but it’s not natural to them, it’s more like “hey look at me, I’m taking the bus in a foreign country, I’m so brave”
4_ Usually walking and very seldom some unusual transport like horse, skateboard, tuc-tuc, rickshaw, and sometimes they travel with their pets, somehow.
5_ Airplane, bus, train.
6_ Taxi, bus, train, flights.
5_ Duration
1_ 6 months +
2_ Anything from 1 month to 1 year.
3_ Anything from 2 days to one month
4_ 3 months +
5_ Anything from 2 weeks to 6 months.
6_ 2 months to 1 year.
6_ Budget (in USD)
1_ Anything from 0 to 2.000.
2_ Anything from 1.000 to 10.000
3_ 10.000+
4_ Could be anything, really.
5_ 3.000+
6_ 2.000+
7_ Accommodation: (as I have encountered all of them through Couchsurfing, either by hosting them, being hosted, sharing hosts or at a public gathering, it’s implicit they all use Couchsurfing in some way or another. I’m sure they are people who don’t use Couchsurfing on their travels, diplomats or something, but this article is not about them, now these are other forms of accommodation they use besides Couchsurfing.
1_ Usually tent, outdoor sleeping, knocking on people’s doors, churches, temples or some form of squatting.
2_ backpacker hotels, obviously, I know some people call them hostels or guest houses but I don’t think there’s any difference.
3_ hotels
4_ as they are usually in unusual places at unusual times they often get invited into people’s houses and sleep there, but randomness is their forte, so they could be building a shelter out of recycled materials they found laying around, or you could find them in a cave as well, or inside the rubbish bin, anywhere.
5_ hotels, backpacker hotels.
6_ backpacker hotels.
8_ Age range
1_ 18-35
2_ 18-30
3_ 30+
4_ 20+
5_18-40
6_18-25
9_ Clothes
1_ Discarded clothes, rags
2_ second-hand clothes.
3_ the north face, Columbia things
4_ either very sloppy or very well dressed
5_ better than most
6_ same as group 2
10_ Diet
1_ dumpster diving, gathering, foraging, leftovers, canned beans and spaghetti
2_ discounted/reduce things from the big supermarkets, beer, fast food
3_ restaurants
4_ squirrels
5_ restaurants, fast food
6_ same as 5
end of part 1 (out of 3)