Whether you are young or old, going on a backpacking trip is a must do at least once in a lifetime. Being free from the restrictions of conventional travel, backpacking is mainly common among the youth, but there are older people who are adventurous enough to practice this method of travelling. Backpacking trips are less conventional and more spontaneous, but you need to be prepared and know what you are doing. So how can you get the information you need, about the do’s and don’ts when it comes to backpacking? Well the answer is a backpacking guide.

A backpacking guide is a manual that provides you information you need to know about backpacking. The information containing in a backpacking guide could differ from one to another, but in general, it could give you information such as the price of local motels, bus or train schedules, sights to see in your destination, etc.

One can get the idea that a backpacking guide goes against the whole epitome of backpacking; he or she could go on to reason that backpacking trips are supposed to be unplanned, spontaneous, and adventurous, rather than predetermined. This ideology couldn’t be further from the truth. A backpacking guide wouldn’t hinder your backpacking experience at all; in fact it would help you enjoy your travels even more. When you are going on a backpacking trip you would have little to no idea of your destination, if you do know a lot then it wouldn’t be that fun anyway. But you can’t just set off without knowing something about that place, you could tag along with someone who knows your destination well, but then it is highly likely that you will tend to experience your trip through his or her experiences, and not through your own observations. For instance, let’s say the person you are going with introduces you to certain locals, and you would get a first impression off them; and that would be your mindset of those people. Sometimes these will be accurate and sometimes they won’t, but you can’t know for sure because your experience was limited by that person. With a backpacking guide you wouldn’t have to worry about that. A backpacking guide only has the basic information you need and you are free to experience your traveling without hindrance.

You can buy a backpacking guide in a form of a book or from the internet. But when getting one be sure that it contains information that is up to date and accurate.