Everyone You’ll Meet in a Backpacking Lodge

Making the decision to backpack is the start of one of the greatest adventures of your life. Lodges are utopias of diversity, open-mindedness and acceptance, and you’ll make some of your best friends along the way. Whilst every backpacking lodge is unique, there always tends to be the same type of people staying. Before you set off on your travels, it’s a good idea to become familiar with these types so you know exactly how to deal with them when you’re abroad.

The guy who plays the guitar

Sitting on the back of a sofa and plucking strings to the tone of Wonderwall, you will find ‘the guy who plays the guitar’. He had to find a place for it on the plane; he kept it in his lap during the long and crowded bus journey, and even carried it for miles before arriving. It was all worth it for this guy, though, and now you’ll be able to listen to his acoustic cover songs all day, every day.

The amazing group of friends

You can usually hear them before you see them- they’re always laughing, telling each other great stories from the previous night, and making plans for tonight. They probably won’t invite anyone else to join their group for their adventures, but you can perhaps gain a laugh or two from their hilarious sounding drinking game.

The person who only brought two changes of clothes

Whilst very friendly and helpful, this person definitely has a distinct smell following them around the lodge. Amateur travellers pack a lot and pro travellers pack light, but this person decided to only bring two sets of clothes. Whilst you may not have the answers to life’s meaningful questions, you’ll always know when this person is anywhere nearby.

The happy couple

With their matching backpacks and happy smiles, the happy couple will be some of the cutest people you encounter on your travels. The only problem you may have with them, apart from their frequent bickering, is that they show little consideration for anyone else around them, shamelessly going ahead with their public displays of affection.

The girl who ‘knows everyone who works at the backpacking lodge’

This girl will be in the inner circle of every lodge she goes to, and basically works there. She’ll be able to direct you to the nearest bathroom, show you the correct places to put everything, and regularly help staff members with chores such as taking the rubbish out. You’ll easily be able to identify her when she calls the staff members by their first names.

The old guy trying to relive a second youth

Most people in a backpacking lodge fall into one of two groups: guys between the ages of 18 and 32 who want to party, and guys between the ages of 33 and 70, who use backpacking as a more accessible way to travel. Despite this, in every backpacking lodge, there will be one old guy who’ll pretend he’s younger and wants everyone to treat him as such. Whatever you think of this, he doesn’t really care because he’ll never see you again after two weeks.