6 Lifestyle Changes That Happen After You Try Backpacking

While there are plenty of deeper and more meaningful things that happen when you travel, there are also minor ways that it changes you. Yes, sure, you’ve found yourself and you now have a new perspective in life. We get it.

But besides all the wonderful life changing travel reflections many has confessed, travel also could affect us in the littlest ways that sometimes happens to be unnoticeable. May it be subconsciously or voluntarily, travel, especially backpacking on a budget, is bound to make a few minor tweaks in your lifestyle. Little things they may be, but it might even make life more convenient for you in the long run.

1. You become more comfortable prancing around without makeup. 

Although I’ve never really been dependent on it, I do love makeup. I buy them, I play with them, and at the right occasion, I wear them. For a while I felt more confident stepping outside with make up on, because it really does enhance my face. I used to always have a carefully chosen set of cosmetics packed whenever I travel. But then came a day when I completely just stopped giving a ffff. First of all, makeup can get quite heavy.

It’s such a compromise on my baggage limit that it usually turns out to be a waste because I almost always never use it. Second of all, I travel to humid places that whatever little makeup and time I invested on would just melt away. And finally, you learn as you wander around that no one really cares.

Yeah ok I get it, it’s a personal boost of confidence. But come on, when you’re traveling, who really has the time to do a full contour? I can’t even commit to brushing my hair on a regular basis. So the less I wore it, the more I just got used to it, and the more I began to appreciate myself without wearing any at all. A few years ago, you won’t catch me posting photos of myself without any make up on (or at least I’m covered with big sunglasses if I’m bare faced).

Today, absolutely zero ffffs are given. Not because I feel flawless. I haven’t completely given up on makeup because I’m still a lady and I love them, but I’m just more comfortable without it now. #IWokeUpLikeThis

2. You learn how to compromise with shitty public bathrooms.

We all love the comfort of our own clean toilets (and I’m Asian, so I love my own bidet too). When I come home, I look forward to having access to my own bathroom more than I look forward to sleeping in my own bed. Traveling obviously does limit your choices when it comes to doing your business in so many ways. When you stay at hostels, you have to share communal bathrooms. But that’s not even the case, because at least hostels try to maintain the cleanliness.

It’s when you’re in a long journey or just out exploring in the middle of nowhere that nature just decides it needs to go. So whether you have to pay 20 baht for a dirty little stall with pee drops everywhere, or whether the only toilet present is the squatting kind right on the ground, you just go. Bowel systems simply just don’t have time nor tolerance for your picky ass bs. 

3. You become a pro at packing.

Packing will never be easy. As much as I’d like to think I don’t give a ffff, I still like to look cute. But when you have to unpack and repack practically every other night, you inevitably obtain pro skills that rookies just don’t have. You also learn the importance of packing light thus you begin to eliminate unnecessary materials when you do.

If before I had to ponder an entire week picking out clothes to pack, this time I could pack everything I need a couple of hours before departure. If before I had to second guess what I’ll be using or not, this time it’s like a quick instinctual reflex that would guide me. If before I had to stress about the check in baggage weight limit, today I could fit everything in a carry on. I think I deserve honorable bragging rights for that. 

4. You master the art of sleeping in inconvenient situations.

For a light sleeper like me, it’s been a challenge to even get used to sleeping in a hostel dorm. It’s already hard enough for me to knock out on a plane. Travel doesn’t change any sleeping problems, but it does build up your tolerance. In no time, I find myself mastering different positions sleeping in any form of moving vehicle while sitting down.

I managed how to squeeze in a little disco nap at airports, hotel lobbies, the floor, and pretty much wherever I can when I need to. Best of all, after some time, you start freaking out less at the sound of bugs crawling on the floor. Just kidding, that’s a lie. I’ve been in the Philippines for six years now and nope, not going to happen. 

5. You drink beer.

For those who don’t drink beer, you probably will start to. It’s simply the cheapest option to drink whether it’s happy hour or not. You don’t necessarily have to drink, but trust me, you will. But no matter how much you love your special cocktails and wine, or how much you’d like to avoid calories, the money you’ll save from sticking to $1 beers instead will go a long way. And that leads me to number 6.

6. You become frugal AF

Because duh. Every budget backpacker knows that every single penny counts. Perhaps it’s even the SEAsian spirit in me that I’ve been so used to haggling as much as possible. I’m really just trying to make it to as much places as I could. Back then you can’t make me walk more than a block with a luggage for shit. And on my first couple of years in the Philippines, I wouldn’t even commute using the public transportation.

These days that cab money can be a couple of drinks, maybe a cocktail if I wanted to splurge. A surf lesson. A boat ride to a secret island. From a third world princess to a legitimate budget traveler, I’ve taken big steps here, you guys. I didn’t even realize how bad it’s gotten until a friend called me out. “Wtf, we have to pay 20 pesos to sit in this hut even if we bought their food?” Sure that’s less than a quarter. But sometimes it’s the principles too, yeah?