June 21, 2006— There's a new type of backpacker roaming the globe — the flashpacker.
And no, it has nothing to do with how fast you pack your bag. Nor is it a streaker or a weird dude in a raincoat.
"Flashpacking is just backpacking, with an awful lot of tech gear going along for the ride," said Lee Gimpel, 29, a writer from Virginia who "flashpacked" around India for a few months and recorded his adventures at http://www.PassingThroughIndia.com.
"I sometimes felt that half of what I was carrying was tech stuff: digital camera and memory cards, USB memory drive, a laptop, cell phone, three battery chargers, a dozen rechargeable batteries, a power adaptor, blank CD-RWs and a handful of cables and cords," he said.
A survey completed earlier this year by 2,561 visitors to the Hostelworld.com Web site found that 21 percent of them travel with a laptop, 54 percent with an MP3 player, 83 percent with a mobile phone and 86 percent with a digital camera.
Cas Carter, manager of Tourism New Zealand, says the term "flashpacking" has been in use in New Zealand for three years, and that it refers both to backpackers carrying high-tech gear, and to the upscaling of hostels to accommodate them.
"We've just put in a brand new Internet cafe, we got Sky (satellite TV), we've got chip readers for photo cameras, we've got video cameras so you can watch a person on the other side of the world — these guys know how it all works and we've got to provide it," said Auckland Central Backpackers' manager Campbell Shepherd.
Many hostels around the world also now offer both dorm-style and private rooms — including Hostelling International in New York City at 103rd Street and Amsterdam Avenue. In addition, the Manhattan hostel offers Internet access and more than eight electric outlets in most rooms to accommodate everybody's gadgets — yet rates begin at just $29 a night for a bed, according to Louis Cutri, assistant general manager.
"Just because you can afford a cell phone and a laptop doesn't mean you can afford a $350-a-night room in Manhattan," he said.
Colm Hanratty, Dublin-based editor of Hostelworld.com, said the phrase "flashpacking" remains a novelty in the United Kingdom but the phenomenon is widespread. He noted that flashpackers seem to come in two distinct age groups — "the young type, still in college, who might have all the gadgets but not that much money, and someone in later life, late 20s and early 30s, who has more money to spend and carries an iPod and a digital camera."
