According to Internet research on adults, more than sixty percent of people answered that they would go backpacking if they returned to their twenties. Backpacking is a privilege of university students. Through backpacking, they can learn independence. Therefore, nowadays, many students write about their backpacking experience on a job application. No more than one month is left until 2008 summer vacation. How about making plans for your summer backpacking trip with the Gazette?

Preparation
Essential: passport, visa, credit card, cash, backpack, small bag, clothes, hat, medical supplies, camera, and sun block
Optional: emergency rations (like gochujang), zip-lock bags, sandals, a calculator (for calculating exchange rates), and an umbrella


Directions and Tips for Backpackers
1. Don’t put your small things in the front pocket of your backpack. You have to put your passport and money into inside pockets or hang them around your neck
2. Don’t leave your valuables with others. Leave them at the hotel or with the hostel’s concierge.
3. Utilize other backpacker’s travel notes to get useful information before you leave.
4. Don’t take out a lot of money or valuables in front of people because it can cause crime.
5. Print discount coupons before you leave (bus discount coupon, duty free shop coupon, money exchange tax discount coupon).
6. Don’t go to lonely streets alone or walk alone at night.
7. Write daily diaries. It helps you to remember your experiences later.

2008 Backpacking Trends
1. Responsible Tourism
Responsible tourism is a kind of backpacking trip which respects one region’s economy, society, and culture without environmental disruption. People use native restaurants and hostels not international restaurants and resorts, for example, the Angkor Wat Eco-Tour, Vietnamese Cuisine Tour, French Yoga Tour, and Himalaya Climbing Tour.
2. Domestic Low Price Airfare
From this year, travelers can go abroad with domestic low price airlines. Hansung Air will fly short flights to Japan and China. Jeju Air also plans to provide flights abroad.
3. Travel Accessories
Travel is becoming a kind of design culture. Most travelers have characteristic passport cases. Design stationery companies are competing with each other to make better goods. Nowadays, passport cases, travel albums, luggage name tags, and sleep masks are popular.
4. City Tour Boom
City tour means enjoying shopping, eating delicious food, and experiencing different cultures in big cities like New York. New York is especially famous for the Sex and the City Tour.

In famous tourist attractions, we can easily hear the shameful words “Ugly Korean.” They are used to depict a person who doesn’t follow the nation’s rule and acts impolitely. For instance, in Vienna, Austria, news was published about Koreans’ illegal free ride on the subway and bus. We call that kind of person “Ugly Korean.” Many countries think that all Korean travelers are “Ugly Koreans” because of the minority who act impolitely. In Heidelberg, Germany, one youth hostel attached a warning phrase, “Koreans Not Welcome.” Their denial comes from their bad memory of Korean travelers; some Korean travelers held a beer party late at night, even though 10 o’clock is curfew time in the youth hostel.

To prevent becoming an “Ugly Korean,” keep this saying in mind: “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” You should respect different nations’ rules as a traveler. Don’t forget you are a Korean ambassador while you are abroad.


The Gazette thanks Hana Tour (www.hanatour.com) and Tour Sketch (www.toursk.com) for providing information for this article.