You can be both anyway. Backpacking is one of the concept of self-traveling while self-traveling is the essence of backpacking. Off course there are differences between them. Backpacking is a form of travel where travelers carry their backpack, explore the world or city, on their feet or by public transport, looking for staying in budget Bed and Breakfast, mixing and interacting with the local people, and with really tight budget.

On the other hand, Self-traveling is a generic form of travel. Some might refer this travel style as ‘Flashpacking‘ where travelers travel to a country or few cities by public transport, carry whatever luggage or backpack, explore the travel destination with flexible time, staying in whatever accommodation booked by themselves in advance, learning the local culture or not, doing whatever you like without any tour guide, all with your relatively limited budget.

However, both self-traveling and backpacking are self-guided. Both have the maximum freedom in terms of deciding when or where to go and when or where to be back. Most importantly, both are for budget travelers, like me.

Nevertheless, technology advancement has made both of them to overlap with each other in many instances. Both self-travelers and backpackers can now book their hostels or hotels online in advance. Backpacker can now be tech-savvy to search for whatever local information online that made interactions with local people became lesser. In simple terms, backpackers nowadays are merely referred to self-travelers traveling in their backpacks with the lowest budget. Recent trends of budget youth hotels and budget airlines tell us that more and more young travelers with limited budget nowadays are traveling by themselves, not with guided tour package.

Is backpacking still the best style of self-traveling? Again, it depends. Depending on the travel destinations that you are spending your holidays in. Backpacking still gives an image to public that they are budget travelers who need free guides in every aspects. When people see a backpacker, they will always offer a helping hand. Unless safety is a severe issue in that city, backpacking is always the best choice to safe money. For example if you are traveling to Europe where steep exchange rate is killing but safety and security are relatively good, the basic backpacking is definitely the opted style.

However, there are cases where backpacking might not be the best traveling style for certain holidays. Take ski vacation for example. It is very different from sightseeing tours and it is seasonal. Short ski breaks are best to have a flashpacking style instead of backpacking. You plan everything for your ski vacation but you don’t travel around often. The other option is Self-Drive-Traveling where you rent a car and drive yourself up the mountain from hostel downtown. Self-drive ski holidays is common for ski travelers in this case, not backpacking.

What about me? I’m a short term Self-traveler. I love to travel, I travel very often but I travel within a short period. I plan everything of my Europe tour myself but I have only 2 weeks to cover 4 countries. I’m a budget traveler carrying a huge backpack but not always stay in a B&B or guesthouse. I’m going to travel a lot by foot but I’m still going to buy a Rome Pass and London daily Travel Card. This is challenging. I’m striving to achieve a balance between comfort and economical travel experience. Good luck to me!

What is your travel style? – Travel Feeder, the ultimate travel photo blog.