It’s time to pull back the curtain and expose some of my backpacking experiences that don’t fit into the cheerful aesthetic that composes my Instagram profile.
I hesitated to post this for fear of appearing ungrateful, but the truth is that solo budget backpacking is a mixed bag. Behind the sunshine and rainbows, there are real difficulties:
• I have struggled with maintaining the energy required to make new friends every day for eight months.
• I have struggled with navigating the backpacking culture of alcohol, drugs, and sex; my teenage dedication to student government grossly underprepared me for this. Some days I am full of shame.
• I have struggled with loneliness; there can be multiple days where I don’t engage with a fluent English speaker.
• I have struggled with rejection.
• I have struggled with restlessness and a craving to create, build, or work on something, anything.
• I have struggled with my identity, and who I am when not anchored to a purpose.
• I have struggled with bartering for everything from transportation to fruit. I stopped buying fruit.
• I have struggled with adapting to an entirely foreign diet. I am constantly battling acne breakouts, weight gain, and traveler’s diarrhea.
• I stress about money.
• I stress about my knee not healing, and maybe needing surgery.
• I stress about not having traveler’s insurance.
• I stress about what I am going to do when this is over - I’m getting rejected from waitressing jobs and I have a crisp college degree.
I am ready to come home; but “home” right now is a pop-up camper outside my parent’s new house in Minnesota.
The purpose of putting my trip on social media and building a blog was never to brag or become a model or get rich. By sharing my experience of ditching stable job opportunities to travel the world, I hoped to inspire people to challenge the status quo and educate on how to make travel like this accessible.
Backpacking isn’t a nonstop vacation, but I don’t regret this move for a minute. In fact, it’s been a dream come true. I encourage you to backpack somewhere if possible - raw experiences and all. It’s more accessible than you think!
Repost from my Instagram, @deenawhitwam
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