Obama 2008 For the Backpacker In Us All

Typical Backpacker in Thailand

It is pretty common knowledge by those who backpack that you can do an around the world journey for extremely cheap prices. You can get an around the world plane ticket for under 1500. USD. There are numerous constraints..ie: you must always travel forward, tickets are good for a certain time of year, for a certain number of stops, etc.. I know people who can backpack for months in India or South East Asia for a few dollars a day. Sometimes, less than 10.00 a day. Train travel and bus travel in these countries is very, very cheap. Youth Hostels are in every single Asian city I have ever been to. Food is very cheap in Asia too. Why do you think most backpackers look grungy but happy? Clue: Hostel, bus travel, cheap street food.

an aside

***Here is Christina and some new backpacker friends at Dharma Healing Center in Koh Samui. A very cheap detox experience. Places like this in the U.S.A would cost thousands a week. We fasted for 7 days and learned to do juicing on this day. For a fraction of the cost. This is an open kitchen at our friend Hillary's house.***

Also, millions of college age kids take 6 months to a year off, to backpack. My own daughter will be going to South America in February to travel. She is saving money now by living at home. Many of the kids we have met "out there" have been Israeli kids who typically take one year between college and work to travel abroad. These kids have no responsibilities or dependants and this really is a chance of a lifetime.

Now, I will get to the real meat of this post, the real reason I have chosen to discuss backpacker style travel. Are you ready? Brace yourselves... Here it comes...

To the wife of a cousin who questioned the validity of a college age Barak Obama "getting" his money for his backpack trip to Indonesia, India, Pakistan etc, and claimed that she or her children would never have been able to afford it while they were in college, I say .."WAKE UP!!" Have you been out in the world??? It really is full of people traveling on really, really tight budgets! What are you so afraid of Elaine? Just because someone had Pakistani roommates, or has been to India, does not make them the enemy within (her words, not mine). She went on to discuss reasons that are so far out in right field, they are not even worth my blog space by mentioning them here. She did mention however, she was really fearful of Obama though. I for one am fearful of people like her, people who are so afraid of the real world, that they question any motive a person has for stepping out of the box. Even if it is to educate oneself and meet other Children of God from other lands, or even to visit one's mother.

Oh my goodness, I had an Indonesian Maid for 3 years...(gasp!) Maybe you better not count my vote.