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Student Travel – Backpacking In Europe
For the fortunate few, life isn’t complete without a
backpacking trip through Europe. This right of passage is believed
to further the maturation process of college students, according to
sociologists. Of course, others have opined that copious amounts of
alcohol, sun and Amsterdam have something to do with it. Regardless
of your purpose, you still have to figure out what to take.
Backpack – Getting In Touch With Your Inner Mule
Obviously,
the first critical item is your backpack. While one doesn’t need to
buy the $10,000 Himalaya Turbo Pack, you should also avoid the $12
blue light special. So, how do you pick a happy middle ground?
The best method for picking a backpack involves three phone books.
Select/swipe/borrow three yellow page books from
neighbors/friends/enemies and hit your local sporting goods store.
With the books, head to the backpack apalozza section of the store
and pick out a few sturdy/cool/outrageous rigs. Stuff the phone
books in, adjust the straps and go for a walk. Now break out into a
run to simulate future dashes for trains/ ferries/ toilets and make
the sales people nervous. These steps should quickly reveal the
perfect pack.
Now, you may have read other publications
suggesting highly technical ways to select a backpack. Trust me,
until you have run for the last ferry from Italy to Greece, you have
no idea how to pick a pack. The three phone book test solves this
nicely.
What To Take
There are a few mantras that
every person should chant before packing for Europe. These chants
were developed originally by the little known, Oh-My-Back Monks of
Southeast Asia. The “OMB” Monks were known for traveling half way to
far off cities, turning around, returning home and then traveling
the full way to said cities. Religious experts opined as to the deep
metaphysical meaning of such trips. They were later embarrassed when
the monks revealed the back and forth nature of the trips was due to
forgetting something, often whether they had turned off the iron.
Nonetheless, such chants have become the guiding light of
experienced backpackers.
Let us slowly and clearly chant
together,
“I will pack only that which will not result in me
being hunched over like a Sherpa.”
“Remember, I can pick it
[(lower voice) toothpaste, book, soap] up over there.”
“I
will not stuff thy pack to the point of bursting, for thy damn
zippers always break/get snagged/refuse to work.”
“I will
learn humility through wearing incredibly wrinkled clothes and shall
not bring an iron.”
“I shall bring only one guide book, not
one for each country that I MIGHT see.”
“I accept that I will
come home wearing something I didn’t take and will have
lost/traded/burned much of what I did take.”
For female
travelers and, okay, the occasional male,
“I will not bring
high heels or a gaggle of make-up.”
Admittedly, chanting
these mantras will not bringing you immediate enlightenment. Fret,
not. You can always throw items away or send them home in a box to
your parents/friends/parole officer. For the resourceful backpacker,
it is not unheard of to send particularly smelly/discolored/toxic
clothing to an ex-girlfriend/ex-boyfriend/little brother. Follow
these practical guidelines and you will soon happily be speaking in
a loud voice to make foreigners understand you.
The Evidence
This is the hard part for most travelers to wrap their minds around.
You will forget those special moments of your trip when you met the
hunk Sven or babe Svenetta from Sweden and had a romantic
evening/danced the night away/got arrested in Ios/Ibiza/the airport.
Maybe not immediately, but you will eventually forget.
You
will also forget or lose the contact information of people you meet,
despite meticulously writing it down on the back of a
coaster/napkin/your hand in a bar/poetry reading/jail at three in
the morning. Surprisingly, said coaster/napkin/hand often survive
the night/day/weekend and get deposited in your already trashed
backpack. Of course, their presence is often forgotten when you
later put a Oktoberfest mug/wet towel/toothbrush in. The extra
padding at the bottom of your pack is specifically designed to deal
with the decomposing result. Still, the information is gone and so
is your future with Sven/Svenetta.
To properly record the
magical moments of your trip, you must take a diary or journal.
Don’t worry, you can burn it later before you get married/your
parents get nosey/you have kids. You want a journal in a
water/beer/sweat resistant case. Of course, I prefer a Nomad Travel
Journal, but just make sure you take something. When you have some
extra time in the bus/train/jail cell, you can record how you got
there and the people you met.
Trust me, when you,
Sven/Svenetta and your nine children are sitting on the porch 10
years later, you will greatly enjoy reading your journal. Of course,
that assumes you didn’t burn it.
About the Author
Rick Chapo is with
Nomad Journals - Preserve the experience with writing journals for
traveling, hiking, rock climbing, fly fishing, bird watching and more.
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