Can’t find authoritative, practical and concise information about backpacker travel? Relax, there are many other prospective first time backpackers like you and help is at hand.  A new book ‘Backpacker Basics: for your first international trip‘ has recently been published by Australian writer Shane Gladigau.

As you might be realising, travel information might be freely available on the Internet but, as Mr Gladigau explains, “I always prefer to read a physical book, than bits and pieces here, there and everywhere on the net.”

“Before heading off on my first overseas trip, I went looking for a handy information source to give me some insight into backpacking as a form of travel but nothing jumped off the bookshelf for me.”

This experience was the seed for an idea to write a book about backpacker travel - the what, where, how, why and who you might meet along the way.

The book has extensive content and practical advice about the things you might not at first consider like diet, relationships and when things go wrong.  Mr Gladigau takes you through the process from why you should go travelling right through to returning home and dealing with the fact the great experiences are over… until your next trip.

Travelling to Canada and working in backpacker hostels there and then back in Melbourne, Australia, has given Mr Gladigau a broader knowledge of the travelling life:

“4 years in the backpacking industry, definitely gave me a lot of ‘insider’ knowledge and fodder to create an interesting and informative book.  And I took a lot of notes before, during and after my first overseas experience.”

Backpacker Basics Top 5 Travel Tips:

1. Do your research and do it early!
2. Pack lightly.
3. Learn the basics of the country’s language.  It will make a HUGE difference if you at least try to speak in the native tongue.
4. Be bold, don’t be shy.  Independent travel will only be lonely if you want it to be.
5. Go travelling with an open mind, open eyes and keep a big smile on your face.

Thumbnail image courtesy of Chunyang’s photos on Flickr