What is a flashpacker you ask? Wait you aren’t familiar with the term flashpacker? How can you call yourself American! Only kidding of course. I honestly had never heard of the term myself- that is until I came across this article on CNN that peaked my interest.

Apparently a flashpacker is someone who can afford to stay in luxury hotels but instead chooses the alternative, cheaper accommodations such as staying at a hostel. According to the article the term flashpacker has the prefix flash- as in stylish, and packer- which is derivative from the term backpacker. There you go a stylish backpacker. The article also specifically states that you are typically over 30 to be considered a flashpacker, that I don’t agree with- because I actually could consider myself to be a flashpacker. Sure I could afford to stay at a nice hotel but I have sometimes chosen the hostel route in order to splurge  on other things while vacationing.

During a time of economic strife, being a flashpacker is a great solution for many who still want to enjoy a good vacation now and then. I seriously recommend staying in hostels to any and everyone I meet. Plus it’s easy to find yourself getting depressed these days and what better way to freshen your mood then to head somewhere new and forget your troubles for a few days! I bet you come back with a fresh perspective on life.

Check out this blog post I wrote on staying in hostels for newbies. It may help ease your fear and tension.

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Tags: CNN, economic, economy, flashpacker, hostels

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008 at 1:01 am and is filed under My Life, Travel News, Travel Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.