What do backpackers do all day?

Back when I maintained this blog during a previous trip – and before I decided to start over from scratch – I posted an article on this subject after my mother posed the question “What do you all day?”

And for once in my life I really did not have an answer.  Two years later, and I still don’t.

It really is one of those puzzlers.

Yes I know we do plenty of things with our days – and my mother did ask me this question while visiting me in the Khao San area, so she really didn’t see the backpacker community at our best – but do we really ever have a “full” day?

For example, an average day for me in South East Asia consists of:

  • Get up early (An annoying personal trait of mine) & have a leisurely breakfast;
  • Visit a local sight or two, be they a museum, temple, market, beach and so on;
  • Collect laundry, or find a book store (not so much with my tablet & the Amazon kindle app now);
  • Make arrangements for the following day;
  • Go to a show, or a night market and so on;
  • Have a spot of dinner then meet folks for a few beers and usually what becomes a blurry night on the tiles;

Obviously if I am trekking for a few days or travelling between towns then it is all different, however even then what I do can be chosen from a much narrower selection. And island life can literally be shortened down to:

  • Get up late;
  • Sunbathe;
  • Drink;
  • Sleep;

I am probably boiling down what we do I understand that, but even adding in sending emails, checking pictures, waiting for transport, arguing with vendors, looking for a scam free way to get into x or y attraction, a typical backpackers day does not feel full.

So tell me, what do YOU do all day?

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