When backpacking around the world you can sometimes forget what is ‘Normal’ in life. You spend so much time out on adventures, laying on beaches and having the time of your life it is easy to forget that there is another world out there… called home life or ‘normal’ life. In the short time that I have been traveling I have noticed lots of differences between the backpacker life and my normal life back home.
Backpacker Life Vs Normal Life
Friends
When traveling the amount of people you meet on a daily basis is overwhelming. Every day I am making new friends and new memories. Each night I end up partying with someone from a different country in a different and exciting place. This is very different from my life back home where I have one main group of friends who I spend all my time with. Although this lifestyle is very good for my social side it also has its downsides because although I constantly make new friends I am constantly saying goodbye as people regularly move on to new locations to continue their trips.
Daily Routine
Traveling is very, very spontaneous and over the past month I have found myself doing something crazy and different every time I have a day off. Back home in ‘normal’ life I fell into a routine where I found myself doing the same thing week in, week out (this is one of the main reasons I actually came traveling). The backpacker life is a lot more exciting and adventurous, there is always something different to try. In Cairns, where I live and work at the moment, there are so many activities which I am yet to try. Recently I even bought myself a bike so I can spend my days off exploring the local area. This is one of the only things that brings some normality to traveling as everyone uses bikes back home in Holland where I’m from.
Room Share
Back home I have my own room, own bathroom, own double bed and could not have imagined sharing it with anyone else. When traveling you move from dorm to dorm sharing with different people every night. This element of traveling was one of the hardest to adapt to as I have been used to a quiet lonely night sleep for the last 10 years (last time I shared a room was with my brothers and sisters when I was little). Although room sharing was something I had to adapt to I now really enjoy it, the social benefits are great. It will be very strange to go home and have my own room again.
Lifestyle
One thing more than anything else that stands out as being different between the two lives is the overall lifestyle. Everyone is so laid back when traveling as everyone is out to have a good time and enjoy the country that they are in. Back home everyone tends to be wrapped up in their work lives and may not have the carefree lifestyle I have experienced over here in Australia.
Although I love my friends and family back home at the moment I am really enjoying myself traveling and could not imagine going back home to ‘normal’ life. I have 4 months left to live it up in Cairns and I will make sure that I enjoy every moment that I have before going back to live in Holland and getting back into my usual routine. At the moment in the backpacker life v normal life category, the backpacker life is definitely winning!