Should I take a short backpacking trip or a long one?

by Emma

I'm in the process of sorting out my 1st backpacking trip and I'm planning on a year and just wondered if you'd recommend doing a little trip for a month or so before doing 'the big trip'? Just to get in the swing of it?

Answer: I think it depends on you, because both options have advantages. By taking a short backpacking trip first, you may help allay any fears or concerns you have - about your gear, your destination, feeling lonely, cost - all the little things we worry about before taking a trip. So in that sense, a dry run might be beneficial.

On the other hand, one of my joys in travel is the discovery of new places, new people - and you only get a chance to 'discover' once. If you've been there before, you won't experience the novelty twice (although there will be many other experiences you can have over and over again).

Where I think this might work is if you take a short trip close to home. Say you're from New York, you could backpack to the Canadian Maritime provinces for a month. It's another country, but similar enough to the US not to be too overwhelmingly different. If you're from Australia, you could visit New Zealand. This would help you try out your gear, get a sense of how much you need to enjoy your trip (in money, clothes, time...), and build confidence about being on your own without having to land in the middle of Borneo or Bolivia on your own for your first trip out.

The above applies if you're headed to somewhere radically different from your home country. On the other hand, if you're from the UK and plan to travel throughout Europe, where the culture is different but not radically so, I'd say, just go!

A year is a long time (even if it can fly past very quickly) but in the end it's a question of how comfortable and ready YOU feel.

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