There are always two sides to a situation, one can be good while the other can come with its cons. It’s the same with backpacking across the country as it is an adventurous journey and comes with its own set of downfalls. Local backpackers, who travel across India, share their experiences. “I managed to travel quite a bit last year because of personal and professional reasons. I was on the road with a backpack for 86 days. I started from Bengaluru, then Delhi, Manali, Spiti, Nako, Tabo and eventually down to Chandigarh. Off to Dharamshala for 10 days and then to Nepal for a month,” says Jaseem Abid, a software engineer from the city.
Backpacking is a regular passion for Jaseem but he says the drawbacks for him would be, “86 days without seeing anyone you know or love can get hard and lonely.” For Chirag Singal, a sports facilitator, backpacking becomes a guilt trip which comes from putting a load on the strangers on the road to help him. He says, “Most of the time, the idea is to spend less and a cycle trip for over a month could cost only Rs 4000. When I ask any stranger for help, they oblige, because they think that I might not have a place to stay so they offer me food and shelter for my trip. A lot of backpackers end up lying in order to cut costs.”
Another factor which is a setback for backpacking would be the one-upmanship amongst the travelling community these days. “Everyone wants to up the game by bragging about how less they spent in a trip. If a Leh trip costs one guy Rs 15000 another traveller try and do it for 1/3th of the amount,” Chirag concludes.
A psychology teacher, Suman Doogar, who backpacks every two months shares her experiences and says, “One of the drawbacks of backpacking is limited resources as I travel with the bare minimum. Another drawback is that you leave the planning to fate, erratic bus/time schedules, limited food options, unavailability of hotels etc. I was once stranded in Uttar Pradesh while coming back from Lansdowne and did not get a bus to Delhi, it was night and few men on bikes started circling around me. I was so scared that day, I can’t even explain.”
We talked to a backpacking expert who has travelled all across the world. Divya Sharma reveals, “I'm generally a light traveller. I carry one mid-sized suitcase and a carry-on. I haven't had any major negative experiences except in Budapest I had scrapped my knee and it got infected. I ended up looking for a hospital/doctor that too without knowing the language. It was a struggle, and I lost a whole day dealing with it. But the trip overall was fun!”
