What is a "backpacker"?

What is a backpacker? It means that you carry a backpack by yourself (or a small group of several people), plan your own itinerary, and take care of your own transportation, food and accommodation along the way, and you may even have to eat and sleep in the open. Put on your backpack and do everything yourself, no one is responsible for you. Traveling with a group is very different. Although you are going out to enjoy the mountains and rivers, you almost don’t have to worry about anything when you go with a group. You only need to know your destination before departure. After paying the money, the tour guide will basically cover the entire trip. You can enjoy nanny-style service, and you can complain if you feel unhappy when you come back. There is definitely an economic difference between the two, but I don't think this is the main problem. The most fundamental reason is that there is a huge difference in the processes between the two. It is only in the past twenty years that the Chinese people have solved the problem of food and clothing. The development of tourism is roughly in sync with economic development. The backpacker travel method has not been popular for a long time. The earliest backpackers were considered by most people to be alternative and asking for trouble. In recent years, they have begun to become a so-called fashion. However, with the intervention of fashion elements, backpackers His spirit also began to be slowly eroded. What backpackers advocate is to spend the least money, go the farthest way, and see the scenery that is difficult for others to see. The means of implementation is self-help, which is an experience that runs through the entire journey. At the beginning, you only know a rough destination and you need to find information, plan the route, purchase equipment, and estimate the travel time by yourself. Calculate the little money you have, how much you will spend tomorrow, and so on. When backpackers travel, they don’t just go somewhere to see the scenery. The journey itself is an important experience. Trains, cars, donkey carts, hotels and cart shops, clear mountains and green waters, solitary smoke in the desert, prosperous cities in the wilderness, ancient roads to the west wind highway, drunken singing and dining in the open air, etc., etc., the pain and joy of travel are all about knowing the warmth and coldness. Unable to buy tickets, unable to stay in a hotel, the road ahead collapses, the route and itinerary are temporarily changed, or a flash flood occurs and you are forced to live in a small town during the journey, eating cold buns and drinking cold water may all be an important part of the trip. "Moving the boat to Yanzhu, the guests are worried about the new arrival at dusk. The sky is low in the wilderness and the trees are low, and the moon is clear in the river and people are close by." This poem reflects the thoughts of many travelers. Maybe the destination you want to go to is a wild place and requires a certain amount of physical fitness and necessary equipment. It may not be safe or too lonely for you alone, so you want to find a few like-minded friends to go with you. In an era when the Internet was not widely available, you might not have many friends around you who were willing to go through the hardships with you, so you searched for travel companions all over the world. There were message boards at stations and hotels, notice boards at outdoor stores, and other places where backpackers were looking for you. Small notes or graffiti from traveling companions. It’s really hard to find a few traveling companions. Only later did I think of posting news online. Unexpectedly, backpacking has become fashionable today. Someone raised their arms online and there were many people who responded. Although there are more people, the spirit of backpacking is still there. Becoming more and more indifferent. The above-mentioned various experiences cannot be brought about by a large group of people flocking to a certain scenic spot and taking a photo of "XX was here". What it requires is to experience it with your heart, to measure it with your own feet, and to observe it with your eyes. It is an experience of body and mind, and it cannot be understood by following the tour guide's flags.

Traveling in large groups may be possible