Have we seen the last of the Intrepid Traveller?

It’s a sad fact that some visitors to Australia never get out of Sydney. They find a job, some permanent accommodation and some mates they knew from back home and waste a year getting pissed in the same pub every weekend.

Then there are those who embark on a hostel tour of Australia. All they see of each place is their dorm, the communal kitchen and the local watering hole. They spend their time watching the soccer and The Simpsons. They get their photo taken in front of the Opera House, walk around the city shopping all day and then they go email their mums about how cheap ugg boots are in Australia.

Aussies are guilty of it too. It’s common knowledge that the suburb of Shepard’s Bush in London is populated by Australians, who love nothing better than spending time at the Down Under pub getting boozed on overpriced VB with their fellow Antipodeans.
It is now possible to visit the other side of the world without really venturing outside your comfort zone. Your only cultural experience could be hearing, « Would you like fries with that? » in a different accent. The question is, if that’s your agenda, what’s the point in even getting a passport? And is this type of traveller becoming the norm?

28-year-old Ivy from Ireland has seen her fair share of these folk. « Yeah, I’ve met a few people like that, » she says. « They make friends with other people from their country or are just travelling with old friends and they don’t seem interested in doing anything except getting pissed and laid. Some British and Irish backpackers are an embarrassment! I think there are some people who like the idea of travelling more than the reality. They go on package tours and take photos of certain landmarks so they can cross it off their list. See the sights without gaining any new or exciting experiences. Maybe they’re just not very worldly people. »

Becky from England tends to agree. At 23, she finds it is often the younger backpackers who are guilty of this narrow-minded take on travelling. « I stay in hostels as little as possible, » she says. « I find that some of them are a bit like an American frat party – 18-year-olds out on the piss doing beer bongs. A lot of the time I think teenagers on their first overseas trip aren’t interested in the same experience as older travellers might be. »
Becky believes that the ease of travel nowadays has made people slack and that the lazy backpacker is a product of a tourism industry that takes all the adventure out of globetrotting.