“Trust me, it’s paradise. This is where the hungry come to feed. For mine is a generation that circles the globe and searches for something we haven't tried before. So never refuse an invitation, never resist the unfamiliar, never fail to be polite and never outstay the welcome. Just keep your mind open and suck in the experience. And if it hurts, you know what? It's probably worth it.”
The Beach

There was a time when backpacking meant taking some chances, escaping to some faraway, unknown land and experiencing all that the locals had to offer. Foreigners would leave behind the comforts of home and throw themselves into whatever situations and culture they found in their new destination. It was a time of learning, experiencing and mainly, a time of living. They would call home occasionally, mail postcards sporadically and understand that they were truly on their own.

Coming from the same generation that has witnessed their independent cultures die at home in the wake of mass media, propaganda and pop culture, today’s backpackers are of a different breed. They now expect the comforts of home, albeit with some exotic twists, but nothing that makes them too uncomfortable or homesick. They expect people to speak their language, buses to run on their schedule and locals to treat them with respect.

Hostels were once a source of budget accommodation. Simply a bed in a dorm room and a shared bathroom down the hall, sure some were better than others but they all shared the common attribute of simplicity. Today, backpackers expect a hostel to come fully equipped with both private and shared rooms, full kitchen, bar, internet connection and concierge service. They also expect it to be cheap.

Backpacks used to contain the bare minimum, nothing more than a change of clothes, jacket and beach towel. Toss in a camera, sunscreen, hat, and mitts and you were ready to visit nearly any climate at all. If you were to inspect a backpack from today’s traveler, you would find many more amenities. First, they would surely have lots of clothing, suitable for hiking, swimming, clubbing, dinning or pub hoping. Then would come the toiletries; perfumes, colognes, shaving cream, moisturizers, deodorants, nail clippers, nose hair clippers, sun block, after sun lotion and surely something more. Further along, you would find the electronics, normally consisting of Ipod, cell phone, and digital camera, although more and more commonly you will find a laptop.

They want to drink in Irish pubs, eat typical foods and listen to modern music. They follow their coarse guide or maybe even an “Off the Beaten Path” guide in order to visit the same places as everyone else. They respond to variation as a major inconvenience and they really expect to be treated as royalty.

The minds are no longer open to experience the unexpected or the unknown, as most people travel all the way around the world just to do the same things they do at home. Internet café’s prosper in all tourist destinations, as nobody wants to stay disconnected for too long. Thanks to modern technology, a backpacker can now chat face to face with the friends and family they left behind and spend hours complaining about the subtle differences and nuances between here and home.

Thankfully, they will soon have nothing to complain about anyways, as everyone is slowly becoming equal, becoming unique versions of the same person. Backpackers have gone from pioneer to compatriot, the same way as a patriot has become a comrade.