Gentlemen, have you ever gone backpacking - or just overall traveling -, and realized, “Oh shit… this isn’t what I thought it would be.”? Or have you thought to yourself, “I thought I’d be 100% happy when I went on this trip, and it turns out I’m still feeling kind of depressed.”?

The unfortunate reality is that, no matter where you go, your problems will probably go there with you.

Backpacking or traveling across the world is awesome, don’t get me wrong, and I encourage everyone to do it at some point in their life, if not for the rest of their life.

Still, it’s hard to bypass the fact that travel, as with any experience in life, has its ups and downs, and it’s never going to be a fairy tale. No one gets resilient by having it easy - backpacking involves a lot of uncertainty, running out of money or resources (even if you plan out your budget in advance, anything could happen… people’s cards sometimes get blocked and then you have to deal with the credit card companies from halfway across the world, and sometimes they won’t even let you do that - you have to show yourself in person to them in order to unblock your card, etc.), canceled flights or transportation, getting lost physically (and sometimes emotionally), rough terrain (depending on where you’re traveling), and many, many other problems that could potentially come up.

So without further ado, let’s jump into six backpacking myths that a lot of backpackers believe in before they set off on their first travels, and what to actually expect when you’re going backpacking across the world.

Your Problems Do Not Go Away The Moment You Leave On Your Trip
Unpleasant Things Will Happen
People Are Not Always Friendly
You Will Likely Get Lost And / Or Think Your F****d In One Way Or Another At Some Point On Your Trip
Something Of Yours Will Probably Get Stolen At Some Point On Your Trip
You Will Feel Exhausted A Lot Of The Time

1. Your Problems Do Not Go Away The Moment You Leave On Your Trip

I remember when I went backpacking for my first - and so far only - time back in April 2019.

At the time, I thought I was going away to escape my problems - I felt lost, I hated the job I was working (even though I will admit it provided me the money I needed to go backpacking for three months), and I honestly just didn’t feel like myself.

It was the first time in almost nineteen years that I wasn’t in school (I had just graduated from university the previous summer), and I didn’t know what to do with my life.

Being a film school graduate, and having wanted to start a career as a film director (G-d I was naive), I had all these expectations about how my life was going to turn out, and when it didn’t, I thought, “Well why not go backpacking for three months, and see what I learn about myself?”

It was one of the best decisions I ever made, and I don’t for one second even remotely regret it. To this day, I want to do the same thing again, and am just waiting for the opportunity to do so (more on this mentality in the bonus tip at the very end).

That said, backpacking - fun, exciting, adventurous, and freeing as it was - was no cakewalk, and I learned a lot, not just about the world, but myself as well, and not all of it was fun.

Also, my problems did not disappear just because I dropped everything to go travel the world for three months. Whatever I was dealing with still haunted me, and I spent the majority of my trip soul searching, and trying to find the answers to my problems back home.

This didn’t ruin my trip by any means - I loved it! I just confronted the reality that going away didn’t mean that I wouldn’t have to deal with those problems at some point once I got back home. In many ways, I’m still dealing with some of those problems - that’s how long it took me to get to a better place.

So don’t expect that backpacking or traveling is going to fix everything you’re dealing with - it won’t, but it will provide you with a lot of the tools necessary to deal with your problems in a more experienced, wise, and mature way.

Speaking of dealing with things in a mature manner, one of the realities you must confront before heading off on your backpacking trip is that…

2. Unpleasant Things Will Happen

Gentlemen, you won’t just be dealing with problems you left behind back home - you’ll be dealing with new problems caused by your travels.

Anyone here read The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson? In that book, he addresses the importance of realizing that no matter what you do in life, problems will always arise and be present, and that we’re basically choosing our problems based on the pain that we decide we want to experience in our lives (since choosing pleasure would inadvertently only cause us more pain, whether we realize it or not).

Basically, Manson tells us to stop being entitled to thinking we deserve to have it great all the time. Life sucks sometimes, and we all have to experience a certain amount of suffering in order to grow up and become better people.

Such is the case with backpacking. Assuming that you actually like backpacking and you believe it’s something worth suffering for, you’ll find that a lot of your trip will revolve around accidents, missed opportunities, rejections (yes rejections will happen throughout your journey, in some way, shape, or form), and perhaps even some moments where you wonder why you’re going through all of this.

But it’s in those moments where your values will become clear to you, and you might realize that just because you don’t like what you’re going through right now doesn’t mean that it’s not important for you to experience it.

Throughout my travels, I got stranded in the desert, locked out of my hostel, rejected by airport clerks and transit workers at certain countries (cough cough Poland), I had times when I forgot money or had to pay by cash even though I only had debit / credit cards on me and I had no idea what the hell I was going to do. Bottom line is, gentlemen, I learned from all of these mistakes, and I don't think there was a single time when I wanted to go back home throughout all of it.

So just to give you an idea, unpleasant things will happen, regardless of where you’re at in the world, and part of learning how to be resilient is to learn how to handle those experiences without judgment. Make the most of it, and move on. It all happens to make us better.

That takes me to…

3. People Are Not Always Friendly

In some places they genuinely are, like in Portugal, Spain, Italy (for the most part), Switzerland. Heck, even Germany was pretty okay. France was so-so.

But in other parts of the world, you’ll meet some downright a**holes who don’t give a f*ck about who you are, and will do downright anything to be mean to you, regardless of how good of a person you are. Stay the f*ck away from those people.

Regardless, what I’m trying to say is that you’re not always going to be loved, liked, or respected, and it goes without saying that that’s not only in backpacking, but in life.

It doesn’t make you any lesser, and it certainly does not mean that you don’t have to go out and keep trying. What makes backpacking worth it is the search for people who you genuinely vibe and connect with. It’s what makes it so much fun!

And yes, plenty of times you’ll be on your own, like I was when I was on my travels, and honestly, those were some of the best moments I had.

So yeah… tell people to f*ck off, and move on. You’re better off without them.

4. You Will Likely Get Lost And / Or Think Your F****d In One Way Or Another At Some Point On Your Trip

I got trapped in the desert on my way from Lisbon to Madrid. My backpack got stolen when I was traveling from Florence to Naples. At one point my debit card got blocked and I had to contact the bank from halfway across the world. I also got dropped off by an Uber in the middle of nowhere (my own fault, by the way, I thought there was a train station there and there wasn’t), and had to find my way back to where it picked me up initially - thankfully the driver saw and turned back around to get me, but still!

This goes back to the whole idea of things not having to go smoothly in order for you to have a great time.

As I learned recently, setbacks are a natural and normal part of the human experience, and backpacking is no different. You’ll experience all sorts of disappointments and frustrations on a day-to-day basis, and it’s your job to say, “What’s great about this? How can I use this?” in order to find a silver lining and move the hell on.

It’s not about the destination, but about the journey - cliched as it sounds, and it’s true. So embrace the f*ck ups, learn from your mistakes, take responsibility for whatever you can control in the moment, and try to do better. We’re all human, and none of us are ever going to have it easy or perfect. Backpacking is all about screwing up and then finding out how you can do better next time. Nothing is guaranteed, and you’ll learn from your experiences - that’s what resilience is all about.

5. Something Of Yours Will Probably Get Stolen At Some Point On Your Trip

Yeah, I mentioned that backpack. Thankfully, nothing too important was in there, except my $500 sunglasses, and my thyroid meds. The latter was especially painful, and that was the point where I actually genuinely thought I’d have to return home, because I couldn’t go several days let alone weeks without my medication. Thankfully, when I called my endocrinologist back home, her secretary - who was a really nice lady - turned out to be Italian, so she could speak to the pharmacist in Naples, and tell them what I needed.

But at some point throughout your trip, something of yours might get stolen. The longer you’re traveling, the more likely it’ll happen.

While this didn’t happen to me personally, I remember a roommate of mine at one of the hostels I stayed in in Paris, France had his laptop stolen after leaving it on his bed to take a shower. We had a third roommate who left that morning, and chances are he was the one who took it (although he came off as incredibly friendly… I still can’t believe he was the thief, but it seems to be the most logical explanation). We searched all morning and into the afternoon for his laptop, and no luck - he wound up leaving empty handed, even leaving me a letter because he thought that I may have been the one who took it. I felt sorry for him… and I still have that letter.

Yup… stealing is an issue when you’re traveling. You’re constantly on the lookout for pickpockets - hence why I always recommend you wear a fanny pack and keep all your valuables, like wallets and your cell phone and whatnot, inside of it throughout the day, because you never know who’s going to try and snatch ‘em away from you, especially in Paris, or throughout other touristy spots, like Rome.

But yeah… just try to prepare for this. You may walk away unscathed, but it will be a tough walk, and you’re always going to be thinking about it.

You want to know what else you might be thinking about? How tired you are. Which leads me to…

6. You Will Feel Exhausted A Lot Of The Time

This one I might be exaggerating a little bit, but you will feel jetlagged, and because you’re trying to see so much in such a short amount of time at each city / place that you visit, you will start to feel tired. The adventurous spirit will hopefully allow you to forget about all of this, but there are inevitably going to be times when you’re going to want to stay in bed all day and sleep. And that’s perfectly normal.

It’s just not what you want to be doing because how often do you get to travel to Europe - or wherever in the world you want to go to - and see all of these gorgeous places? Not so much. So yeah, definitely expect to feel tired, and have some strategies in place to a) either get some sleep while you’re on the train, at your hostel, or at a park somewhere) or b) overcome your exhaustion and remind yourself that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and that you’re not going to get a chance to see all of these places again (at least not until you go backpacking for the second or third time in the future). As Marcus Aurelius says in Meditations:

At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: “I have to go to work — as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I was born for — the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?”

So you were born to feel “nice”? Instead of doing things and experiencing them? Don’t you see the plants, the birds, the ants and spiders and bees going about their individual tasks, putting the world in order, as best they can? And you’re not willing to do your job as a human being? Why aren’t you running to do what your nature demands?

You get what I’m trying to say.

***BONUS TIP: There Is No Perfect Time To Go Backpacking

Nomadic Matt recently made an Instagram post about this, and it’s true. The longer you wait to go backpacking, the more time you’re putting off to live out your dream. Not to say that you can’t go backpacking when you’re older, just that - inevitably - life piles on, and you’re never going to find that one, perfect moment to just leave everything behind and go.

Backpacking will always require risks, and as I mentioned earlier, your problems will not disappear just because you left your home to travel the world. So don’t let that stop you from going out and living your dream if that’s what you want to do. Obviously make sure you plan out your itinerary and all your needs and budgets at least a few months in advance, and if backpacking is what you’re waiting to go out and do, then start living and go out and do it. We only have a certain amount of time on this earth; none of us know how long, so why not make the most of it?

That about does it for me this time. If you want to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter-X, feel free to do so. We’d love to have your support.

Feel free to comment on this post, either down below or on our social channels, and tell us a little bit about your backpacking or travel journey, and how it’s taught you to become a more resilient human being. Also, we’d love to hear some of your hard-earned, grating truths about backpacking and world travel and we’d love to just learn from you in general.

Until next time, have a great week, and keep on traveling, learning, and growing.

Six Backpacking & Travel Myths Debunked: Difficult Truths That Nobody Ever Tells You About Travel That Are Important To Hear

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