Dreaming of Backpacking

I remember running along a dirt trail through the forest wearing my mountain gear and a backpack. My eyes kept looking forward and I knew that I needed to get somewhere and get there quickly. As I turned the corner, I found myself on a busy cobble stone street in Europe. I could see the street vendors and hear the small cars honking their horns as they passed by. I looked up to see a building that seemed recognizable to me and proceeded to walk through the main doors. It felt peaceful, like I was home. That’s when I woke up. This isn’t the first time during the pandemic that I have dreamt of backpacking in a foreign, yet somehow familiar, place and I foresee that as long as travel restrictions continue to be this way, my travels will be limited to my dreams.

It was later that day that I wandered into my basement and into the storage room. When I walked in, I saw my suitcase crammed on the top shelf, piled under my travel gear. I use it when I have to do business travel or when I share luggage space with my partner on our weekend trips. When I looked at my suitcase, I noticed the nicks and scratches from its use, but I don’t recall where they happened. Just above that grey case is my 72 litre backpack; a 16 year old base model Mountain Equipment Co-Op forest green pack that has joined me on backpacking mountain excursions and multi week trips around the world. When I slid it off the shelf to take a look at it, the plastic buckles and straps grazed the adjacent items and the sound it made transported me back to lifting my backpack off a luggage carousel in Lima, Peru. The feelings of that trip rushed back quickly as I was flooded with memories of everything from planning to take this solo trip to South America to arriving at midnight to see large crowds at the airport. I had planned that trip so I could take a four day, 40km hike to visit Machu Picchu and explore the Inca ruins high in the Andes. I looked over at my suitcase and couldn’t imagine what that trip would have looked like if I had brought it instead of my backpack. Maneuvering through airports and on various forms of transportation wouldn’t have been more than a bit of an inconvenience, but the real headache would have occurred when walking the narrow, uneven streets, walking up multiple flights of stairs to my room, or simply on the trail to Machu Picchu. These are the challenges that can add up to cause a person some unnecessary stress when they go on vacation. Any time that I plan a trip, I want to be the most efficient and make the time in another country count. To do that, it all started with my backpack.

For my lifestyle, taking my backpack is a much more efficient way to travel. I usually have to be a bit more strategic about what I bring due to the lack of space in my pack and try to limit the weight I’d have to carry. I noticed that by traveling this way, I would make better packing decisions and it saved me time when loading and unloading my contents. When I had less to carry, I was able to move swiftly to trains and planes and get to where I needed to go without anything dragging behind me.

Safety was always a priority, no matter if I was visiting a modern country or somewhere a bit more rustic and rough around the edges. I would investigate the areas that I wanted to explore even before leaving home and check out the associated reviews while taking note of any questionable occurrences or insider tips. Fellow travellers to certain places have suggested we stay indoors after X time, walk in groups when visiting certain areas, keep an eye on personal belongings in crowds, don’t drink the water from there, etc. No matter where I went, I always had my eyes open and was aware of my surroundings. People asked me if I was scared the first time I backpacked on my own and the answer was no. I chose to go to countries that had similar cultural and social norms to mine, while doing extensive amounts of research into companies I would travel with, accommodations I would stay at and compiling information on where I was going to be so it could be left with my family back home. I wasn’t scared because I knew what to expect and was prepared.

My mind wandered while I held my pack and looked at the clips, compartments and karabiners attached to it. It reminded me of the numerous places that I have been able to explore. Within an instant, I recalled adventures on sandy beaches in the Caribbean, to Icelandic road trips, wine tours in Italy, diving excursions in the Galapagos, riding a camel in Jordan, and walking through lush green fields in Middle Earth. All of these experiences came with their own unique stories, some good and some bad. Yet, each one transported me back to a place that meant something to me. I learned a lot about myself and what I was capable of. Little did I know that when I took these trips, they would help me develop real world skills and would eventually be outlined on my resume as excelling at organizing and planning; negotiating; building my creativity; working with a budget and achieving a goal with a diverse group.

As I thought back at my education gained from my travels, I tossed my pack back on top of the shelf. My eyes turned to the floor as I saw a bit of sand fall from my last big trip to Egypt. Another memory pops into my head and I instantly remember sweating up a storm as three friends and I visited various pockets of the country. It really wasn’t just from the scorching temperature either; wearing a 15-20kg backpack is quite a workout. On this adventure, we had walked over 225 km, burning over 77,200 calories in that three week trip. It’s crazy to think that I probably won’t have walked that much or burned that many calories during the entire pandemic!

I turned to shut off the light and walk back up stairs, thinking of all of benefits that backpacking has brought to my life. It wasn’t just an activity for recently graduated students trying to avoid starting their careers - it was for people of all ages at various points in their lives. It was exciting. It was intimidating. It was a confidence booster. It was educating. It allowed me to disconnect from the daily grind of life and work. It revealed my priorities. It showed me my strength. It brought out unknown pieces of me and showed a passion that I didn’t know that I had until I tried it.

My dreams were telling me that I am starving for travel and I need to get back out there to learn more of the world and myself. I have many more years of backpacking to do and I am eager to get going, but not until we get this pandemic thing sorted out. So until then, I will continue to flash back to roaming our planet in my mind and through the collage of photos taken on each adventure. When this is all over, I will book a flight somewhere new and full of exciting possibilities. But until then, I will dream of backpacking.