How To Plan An Unforgettable Backpacking Trip For Beginners: A Complete Step By Step Guide
“Shouldn’t we book all of the hostels ahead of time for our backpacking trip?” asked my childhood friend (who is more akin to a sister) as we plotted and planned for our first international trip together to Nicaragua. “Oh no,” I replied. “That would be a mistake.”
Although she had been on a couple of international trips before — one with a travel agency and the other a well-defined road trip in Europe — we were about to go budget backpacking in Central America, an experience that would be new to her and all-too-familiar to me. Thanks to my previous budget travel experience I knew how to plan an unforgettable backpacking trip.
Rewinding back to our teen years, despite only having only been out of my home state of Ohio to go on a road-trip style family vacation to North Carolina or Florida, I somehow mustered up the courage at 17 to spend a year abroad in South America — Chile specifically — as an exchange student. When I returned home I was yearning to get back on the road but didn’t have any money. While I nurtured a broken foot (long story, you can read more about it in my extreme budget travel guide) I daydreamed about heading out west through the bone-dry deserts and lush redwoods, ultimately ending up in California.
To turn this dream into a reality I decided that I was going to bike across the United States with no money. I devised a plan to take a bike and work for everything I needed along the way. (You could say that it was less of a plan, more of an outline; I was 19 years old and full of ambition.) Despite all of the obstacles I faced along the way, (believe me, there were many) I accomplished my goal and made it from Virginia to California, with the help of a $300 Visa gift card from my mom, instead of starting off with $0 like I had imagined.
Traveling so freely, minimally, wildly and unattached taught me that 1) travel magic is real, and 2) there is an art to planning fantastic trips that many overlook in today’s digital world.
What Is Travel Magic?
Let’s start with travel magic. These two little world that each hold so much potential on their own are transformed when strung together. Travel magic is not some mystical, woo-woo concept that is too out there for the most conservative among us to grasp. No, I’m speaking to the surprisingly delightful things that we never could have planned on our own — it’s what happens when we leave open space for the unknown in our travel plans.
Travel magic leads to surprisingly delightful things that we never could have planned on our own — it’s what happens when we leave open space for the unknown in our travel plans.
Those who have experienced it know just what I’m talking about: when you’re eating noodles by yourself on a step in Amsterdam as the sun goes down and a group of complete strangers invite you out, showing you an amazing time; when when your travel companions ditch you in a big city and you end up at a bar alone, ultimately chatting with strangers before falling in love with a Frenchman; when you’re not sure where you’re staying for the night and the right person walks up and provides you with a free place to crash, only before taking you for an epic bike ride through the redwoods the next day.
All of these stories are real and have happened to me or someone I know, and that’s just the tip of the ever melting iceberg (thanks, climate change).
In all of these situations the unknown was transformed into the feeling of being in the right place at the right time, the mediocre into the most epic version of what could have happened. And that’s where the travel magic lies. But putting in the right ingredients and then stirring the pot gives you better chances of experiencing it: fluidity, flexibility, and openness are what it takes to experience greater exploration, deeper cultural understanding, and the formation of life-long attachments to a place or even a stranger turned friend. Even one of these moments can turn around a trip or make it your most memorable one yet.
And if you’re not off flying by the seat of your pants like I did when I was 19, you can still make it happen. It’s all about knowing how to plan your trip. As I get older I seek a bit more comfort in my travels than I did as I entered my 20’s, yet no comfort has been worth giving up that travel magic that I crave. Here’s how I’ve found balance between the two while planning my backpacking trips.
How To Plan A Backpacking Trip
Throughout my decade of travel I’ve started to feel as if a place calls to me more than me to it. I hear it mentioned multiple time by friends and strangers; pick up an old magazine out of the $.99 pile to collage and see a whole National Geographic spread about it; read a new novel that happens to be based in that same area. My interest is peaked and I know that that’s where I want to go next. Before we get into the nitty-gritty of planning a trip, here’s what you should do first:
1) Know your interests
Maybe it happens differently for you, but once you pick a place (or places) to go, an idea of what you want to experience is needed. For example, no matter where I am in the world, my itineraries will be centered around nature, outdoor adventure experiences, plant-based food and vegan culture, natural buildings, and alternative living. Knowing yourself and what you want to invest in most gives you an idea of what you’ll be planning your trip around and guides your research.
2) Research Travel Interests
Now it’s time to see what places in your chosen destination have to offer when it comes to your specific interests. Knowing these interests and researching accordingly has lead me to León, Nicaragua for volcano boarding; Baños, Ecuador for bridge jumping and thermal pools; and to London and beyond for plant-based food and castles, to name a few.
But don’t just refer to the internet for your research. Ask real people! They know things that the internet missed or never knew in the first place. Ask your friends who have been there before. Ask your co-workers if they know someone who has been there before. Talk about your travel plans at the gym, while buying veggies at the farmer’s market or hanging out at queer brunch. Real humans are your most valuable trip planning resources.
While you’re gathering all of the information that you can by word of mounth, you can even ask friends on social media and do some internet browsing. Posting in travel Facebook groups is also a great idea (here’s mine, the Unruly Travel & Living group that helps you find information, free places to stay, and more). Smaller travel blogs that have similar interests to your own are invaluable as they offer up key information on how to reach off-the-beaten-path places that haven’t yet made it into the algorithm.
As social media explodes and AI Grows, the internet can be used as a handy tool, but don’t let it become your prize machine in your tool belt.
As social media explodes and AI Grows, the internet can be used as a handy tool, but don’t let it become your prize machine in your tool belt. The actual people who live in a place or the travelers who have exploring it for a while hold the information that you’re looking for.
3) Book Your Flight
There are many ways to find more affordable flights, and I’ve outlined all of them in my budget travel guide. But for the quick version, Google Flights is what I use the most frequently for the best deals, alongside kiwi.com and cheapoair.com. When I’m not buying my flights outright with cash, I hack credit cards for free flights using their bonus mile programs. The more flexible your departure and return dates are, the cheaper the flights you’ll find.
4) Purchase Travel Insurance
A couple of years ago, I met the SafetyWing team in person at a travel event and realized how affordable their insurance was. As a young person flying by the seat of my pants I never used travel insurance. Ever. But now I won’t go to most places without it. You never know if you’re going to eat something funny or step off a curb wrong and land yourself in the hospital. One big hospital bill from another can ruin your whole trip (and financial life plan, for that matter) so it’s best to pay a little upfront for a lot of coverage later.
SafetyWing is user-friendly and can even be purchased while you’re on your trip. They’re constantly updating their coverage to include more backpacker-friendly actives that include higher risks. Even if you never use it, you can relax a little during your adventure knowing that you have that support if needed.
5) Leave Your Accommodations Open
And that leads us to our fifth and final planning step: DON’T book all of your accommodation ahead of time. I still like to see what there is in the area I’m going to, so I usually browse on HostelWorld or booking.com before my trip.
As a female traveler who often explores solo, of course I want to know where I’m headed when I step off the plane or arrive by bus late at night. There are safety factors to be considered. But planning the first place and possibly the second place is as far as I recommend going. Having your first placed book can give you ease and security, and having your second place booked because you know you want to head in that direction can be a great jumping-off point. Where you stay and who you meet while staying there dramatically alters your trip, so making the most out of your accommodation is key.
Please note: I also understand that some folks need to plan ahead because of a disability or who they’re traveling with, like older family members or young children. Different needs lead to different trips, and that’s okay. This planning tip is for those who do have the flexibility to leave their trips more open.
Leaving your accommodation open leaves your trip open. I have often found that once I touch down in a country and spend just one night at a hostel (a great place to stay if you’re on a small budget), people who are ending their trip have gone to all of the places I want to go to, and end up giving me fantastic suggestions for places to stay and companies to book tours with. They confirm if my research and pre-planning had me on the right route or show me if I need to alter my route and travel plans — something that’s hard (and stressful) to do if you already have your entire trip mapped out.
(With that being said, veering over to the more technical side, if you’re traveling during low tourist season places will be easier to book at last minute. But if you’re traveling during high season and know of a place that you absolutely want to stay, booking it in advance is worth it.)
When you are ready to book accommodations, my favorite sites to use are HostelWorld and booking.com.
Leave Your Schedule Open, Too
Along with leaving some of your accommodation unknown, leaving some of your schedule unknown as just as important. For example, if you know that you want to spend time in a specific city, set aside a few days in your schedule to hangout there. Book the most important activities first (GetYourGuide is an incredible place to do that!) But don’t plan your days down to the last detail. Sure, it’s fun to have things to look forward to: an awesome vegan restaurant that you found online, or a beautiful hike that a friend told you about.
6) Enjoy The Adventure
In addition to checking off things already on your bucket list, imagine that there are a few more things that you won’t know about until you get there, and you’ll find them along the way. With this mentality I was able to interview the desendents of Trude Sojka, and artist and Holocaust survivor, when I wandered into her small but powerful museum in Quito, Ecuador; stay in a natural building built by a Berber community leader in Morocco; and soak in the natural sulfur pools of Agua Blanca, a community in one of the oldest archeological sites in South America.
These experiences are ones that are hard to plan out in advance and are even more exciting to stumble upon in the moment. What incredible things will fill up the “unknown” spots left on your bucket list? Enjoy them as they come!
How To Plan The Ultimate Budget Backpacking Trip, And Beyond
With all of these nuggets of hard-earned knowledge I hope that you’re able to invite some travel magic into your next trip, wherever it may be. While budget backpacking offers incredible chances for deep community connection and life-changing travel experiences, there are so many ways to travel, and with each of them the opportunity to wonder at the world around us. Learning how to plan a trip is the first step to kick off an incredible, world-transforming journey.
