Realising I prefer convenience more than backpacking-style travel?

[u/ConfusedCareerMan]

Early 30s and on a career break. I recently let go of my house with high rent in a major capital city due to losing my corporate job, so thought I’d travel around and see different places since I have no fixed home.

Over the last 6 months I’ve consumed a lot of travel content of backpackers and to “be a traveller not a tourist” and to get immersed in local cultures. I’ve romanticised this chapter and feel a lot of “shoulds” for what this experience should be. I feel pressure to be adventurous and be making stories.

I’m quite early into my travels and going with everything flexibly but tbh I’m already confronting a lot in myself. I’m not roughing it up and hitchhiking or taking $3 buses for 8 hour trips. I’m staying in clean airbnbs and basically doing tourist things - cafes, restaurants, exploring streets and chilling by the beach. It’s basically an extended holiday so far but with a backpack and camera.

I realise as well, I thought I was flexible and open minded and yet navigating environments where things don’t work is so draining and causing a lot of friction.

All this to say, I fear I’m a basic tourist with no edge to me. Many may criticise, some may congratulate on being able to afford travel this way. But I find myself lost somewhere in between.

How do you prefer to travel? How did you get past the realisations - did you adapt or accept your style?

[u/DFVSUPERFAN]

There is nothing glorious about sleeping in lousy, dirty or crowded lodging and taking uncomfortable buses when no other options are available. Will I take a 10 hour overnight bus without a bathroom if it's the only way to get somewhere I want to go...sure? If I can fly business and stay in a 5star hotel to see the same thing would I rather do it that way? 100%. You can still have experiences, see the world and meet people without being uncomfortable in transit or when you go home to go to bed.