Ten Facts You Might Not Have Known About… The Evolution Of Backpacking.
We live in something of a golden age for travel. There’s no doubting that it’s as easy as it’s ever been for many of us to explore the globe, hopping from country to country and continent to continent with nothing more to worry about than grabbing a few visas and how long our cash will hold out. With transport prices likely to rise and the planet looking in more and more trouble environmentally, there’s no telling how long such freedoms might be affordable. So how did we get here? Here are a few of the pivitol moments…
- 206BC: The Silk Road ‘Opens’. The first recorded use of The Silk Road dates back to around 2200 years ago, with many of the former trading routes still covered in depth by travelers today. The Silk Road was important because it linked the cultures of East Asia to Europe, bringing the world together and allowing cultural understanding to develop far further afield than previously, as well as opening up numerous important product trades. The Silk Road went on to form part of The Hippie Trail.
- Around 1660: The Grand Tour. An educational ‘right of passage’ in flourishing 17th century Europe, European nobility might have packed the kitchen sink, but their cultural and ‘educational’ tour of the continent focused on the cultural high points of the west, taking in Holland, Belgium, France, Italy, Switzerland and Germany. It often took months or even years, and involved plenty of servile characters assisting the travelers, but is arguably one of the earliest cases of travel for travel’s sake.
- 1806: Opening Of First Durable Public Transport System. Public transport could hardly be more essential to backpackers, and it didn’t appear on the scene until 1806, when a horse drawn railway connection between Swansea and Mumbles in South Wales was permanently established. Of course, it’s now possibly to travel reasonably affordably on public transport in almost all corners of the world, and without too much reliance on horses!
- 1912: The Opening Of The First ‘Youth Hostel’. Established by the German Youth movement in 1912, the first permanent youth hostel was a sign of things to come in terms of low-cost accommodation. Hostels used to include aspects such as ‘chores’ and had late night lock outs, but these days the rules have mellowed, and cheap hosteling has become the most common way to travel on a budget.
- Early 20th Century: First Reliable Commercial Flights. While airships ran commercial journeys in the US in the mid-19th century, their tendency to falter and crash made them unreliable options. The first standard commercial flight was run by Tony Jannus, flying from St Petersburg to Tampa in Florida, and lasted just 23 minutes, flying only 15 meters above Tampa Bay for much of the duration.
- 1967: Development Of The Internal Frame Backpack. An utterly essential part of the backpacker lifestyle, the backpack itself wasn’t developed in its current form until 1967, when an inventor called Greg Lowe moved the frame from the outside of the fabric to the inside, and established the current model. Of course, there have been dozens of other developments over the years, but this one established the backpack as we recognize it now.
- 1960s/ 1970s: The Hippie Trail The Hippie Trail, which took travelers from Europe, through Istanbul and onwards through The Middle East to India and Thailand went on to inform a great deal of self-sustained backpacker travel. While troubles in The Middle East make the original route extremely difficult now, its impact can still be seen in locations such as Delhi, Kathmandu and Istanbul, and many of its alternative cultures – albeit toned down – have lived on in backpacker culture ever since.
- 1971: First Budget Airline. Southwest’s ‘no frills’ model launched in 1971, and revolutionized the airline industry with a model that was soon copied all over the world. Their cheap service included the infamous ‘ten minute turn around’, an ‘always in use’ policy for their planes that’s still widely followed elsewhere.
- 1960s to present: Development Of The Gap Year/ Acceptable Career Gaps. The development of mainstream backpacking in modern society owes a lot to a 1960s British invention – The Gap Year. Whilst early gap years focused on career developing aims, it’s become more and more acceptable to simply take some ‘down time’, and have a few gaps in your life history simply for travel and life experience’s sake. The Gap Year takes on different forms in different countries – the Israeli Gap Year, for example, traditionally comes after military service – but given the young average age of backpackers, it’s formed a key component in pushing the culture forward.
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