BackpackerBanter.com

With my new adventure now underway I thought I’d share my updated packing list with you all. Having massively overpacked for Australia a few years ago, successfully completed my 25 litre backpack challenge in Thailand last September and then cramming in too much surf kit for Ecuador and Peru I realised I needed to do [...]

AeroGal Review   I wasn’t intending on flying anywhere during my trip to South America, I was intending to do the entire thing overland. But then again I wasn’t planning on the spontaneous travel splurge that was my trip to the Galapagos!   To get their involved a 1:40 flight – I had a couple [...]

After two and a half weeks of basically non-stop fiesta in Montañita (with a side of Spanish Classes), I needed to find a recovery zone that was quiet, completely devoid of crowds, and with some good surf to boot. Ayampe fit the bill perfectly, and the Picanteria El Paso was exactly the hostel I was [...]

2011 was an exciting year for my blogging – after setlling back into to life in the UK after a year in Australia and combined with my job at STA Travel I decided to focus my blogging in a more professional manner and relaunched it as backpackerbanter.com As part of this I immersed myself in [...]

Thailand is a beautiful and vast country – from sleepy beachside town to chaotic cityscapes  its a wonderful place to explore. And much like it’s landscape it has a great mix of ways to get yourself from A to B. I did my best to experience as many of these as I could, so I’ve [...]

This week I encountered a rather hefty shock in regards to my RTW budgeting. In fact a few rather hefty hits to the travel funds that I had slightly anticipated but had completely forgotten to factor in when running through my outgoings. So although this post is pretty boring in comparison to getting snogged by [...]

I'm an Apple geek – everyone knows that, and after my experiment in Morocco earlier this year to see if my iPhone could replace my SLR I've been shooting with my phone more than ever – and Thailand was no exception. I'm constantly amazed by the quality of the images it produces and with apps [...]

After coming back from my year in Australia I returned home to a rubbish economy, missing the backpacker bubble and with no job. I decided that instead of resigning myself to a menial job that would offer little in the way of stimulation and prospects I was going to turn my passions into money! Luckily [...]

Backpacking travel is a very unique and amazing experience. It’s something that distinctively changes your perception on the world, the need to explore and most significantly the way you interact with people as a whole. For me travel presents a great opportunity to meet a whole heap of new faces, faces whose backgrounds, viewpoints and [...]

Seeing as my 2 day trip to Edinburgh was very last minute, I wanted to find a bed as central as possible to make the most of the city as opposed to trekking back and forth to my bed! So when I came across Haggis Hostels – very aptly named for the city I was [...]

Thai airways On my recent trip to Thailand I ended up flying with Thai Airways for a number of reasons. Firstly I work at STA Travel so I have full access to a whole heap of flights, info, routings and prices – so it’s safe to say I’m pretty clued up on which airlines to [...]