Top 10 Tips for Backpackers

Lots of my friends are starting to get into the backpacking culture and one of them suggested I start a backpacker tip of the day on my blog. I think that may be overkill, but instead i've decided to create my top 10 list of tips (the kind you only learn from backpacking a few months) for backpackers:

1) Don't travel with any white clothing. No white shirts, underwear, nothing. It gets dirty much faster than colors, it's a bitch to clean, and ends up turning pink when you accidentally wash it with a color. Once exception: if you're going to Rio de Janeiro for New Years.

2) Travel with a Cocoon. It's a very light, silk, sack you can sleep in when you end up in a hostel that ain't up to your standards of cleanliness. Buy one at your local camping store.

3) Travel with a role of Duct tape. You can fix anything with Duct tape.

4) Travel with Imodium. If you plan to backpack on any other continent other than your own, bring this stuff....it's worth it's weight in gold.

5) Don't bring shaving cream. The water in different parts of the world is different, and your shaving cream/gel is made to foam with the water back home....absolutely useless and takes up lots of space/weight in your pack.

6) Only take three pairs of underwear, max!!. Face it, if you're traveling for a while you're gonna have to do laundry (by hand in the sink). Once you get over this, you realize you don't need a week's worth of underwear and socks. Spend 5 minutes doing laundry every night and you have clean underwear everyday and a much lighter pack. Make sure to buy high-tech hiking underwear...dries in 2 hrs!!!

7) Hide some cash somewhere other than your wallet.

8) Don't travel with your girlfriend, best friend, sibling or any person from back home. Ok, that's a little harsh, but don't do it for too long cause you'll miss out on meeting new people...that's half the fun of backpacking!

9) Use a website like HospitalityClub or meet locals and get free accommodation. I know partying with Americans/Canadians/Australians/English/Irish is fun...but how about a little fun with the locals too?

10) If you're Canadian, don't put that silly flag patch on your pack...looks cool for the first week and then you realize you're a nerd. If you're American, buy a Canadian flag patch and put it on your bag.