Middle-aged flash packers

what, who, why?

What is a middle-aged flashpacker? See below:

Hello! This is me, Jill, on the Bangkok train to Trang, Thailand.

You’ll notice some similarities to a back packer – a backpack (ok, it’s small), travelling on a train, beer. However, it’s the differences that make me a flashpacker. (The middle-aged bit is obvious, although a slight misnomer as I’m unlikely to live to 108). Please observe the luxury (!) of the 1st class compartment and also the enormous suitcase. Yes, I do like to take a lot of stuff with me, although my purchase of a kindle has meant I don’t need to bring so many books along. (Hurrah, more room for local artifacts, or as Steve calls them “tourist tat”.) You are very unlikely to see me grappling with a massive backpack (how do you ever get to the bottom of one of those things?) or sleeping in a hostel.

Now, I’m not saying we’re staying at the Four Seasons or flying business class. Think 2 star rather than no star, VIP bus rather than local. We are basically seeing the same things as our younger, backpacking cousins, but with a little more comfort. (And a bit less alcohol.)

Let me introduce you to Steve:

Instigator, planner, budget controller. Passport looker-afterer. Fixer. Carrier of numerous extension leads, and other mysterious man things which I have no interest in, but seem to come in handy. At times, annoying git who “advises” me to go to bed when I want to do something I probably shouldn’t and the voice of calm when I’m upset and asking him “why did you bring me to this s**t-hole?” (Thanks for re-assuring me Alison that there are other women in the world who say this.) Generally an excellent travelling companion, but occasionally needs to be told Genghis Khan was less controlling.

Well that’s us in a nutshell – middle-aged flashpackers with a big old bucket list between us that we are slowly working our way through. Life responsibilities mean that so far our longest trip has been 7 weeks but we are hoping as our sons are now pretty much independent, and elderly parents are more settled, we’ll be able to extend this time.

So far, we have made our way to Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Australia, parts of India, Nepal and of course our beloved Turkey.

More of a diary than a blog, I hope you enjoy coming along with us as we bumble along on our travel adventures.