My Flashpacker Essentials

What Is A Flashpacker?

As I began to plan this post, I realised that I haven’t mentioned the term ‘flashpacker’ on this website before so you guys might need an explanation. I then also realised that I don’t really know the true definition, if there even is one! Hostelbookers seem to define a flashpacker as those travellers who like their hostels to be a little bit more up-market, with wifi so that they can use all their techy gadgets! Whilst theflashpack.co.uk offers this great explanation…

The easiest way to spot a flashpacker is to look for the backpacker with the a new laptop and the dirty hiking boots. – click here to read more…

What The Hostel Girl Thinks…

So here’s my contribution to the definition debate. I pretty much agree with the Hostelbookers explanation; I would define flashpackers as travellers who enjoy a little bit of luxury sometimes…even if it’s just a good fluffy pillow! They might carry around a lot of electronics, but then these are days when working remotely from anywhere in the world can be possible! Thank god! I’d also say that perhaps flashpackers tend to enjoy budgeting in a fancy meal, or being able to dress up fancy once in a while, more than the average backpacker is able to do…let’s face it we all start out as backpackers on a very, very, strict budget.

So, in line with that I thought I’d share my techy travel essentials with you all. In the meantime, if you know of a better definition….let me know in the comments!

My Flashpacker Essentials: Technology

My Laptop

Unfortunately…trying to make a living on the road includes a lot of time spent in laptop club! It also means an extra weight in my carry-on that I’m not a fan of at all. If I was a much smarter flashpacker, I would have invested in a MacBook Air by now, but as it is I have the 13-Inch 4gb Macbook Pro and aside from the size and weight it is perfect in every other way. I am a mac addict as they’re the only computers we ever had in my home growing up….yes, even when they looked like this…

“MacII”. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0

via Wikimedia Commons

My Amazon USB Plug

This is one of the best plugs EVER. Almost all my essential techy bits and pieces now have USB leads to charge them, and with this plug I only really need to carry the one bulky plug, and use it to charge ALL my devices…woohoo! Whilst I clearly think it’s awesome, a bit of research turned up USB Plugs with more than one port so you can charge two things at once and I’ll probably invest in one of these very soon!

My Anker Portable Charger

Yuuup, another electronic charging essential! I am obsessed with this Anker Charger as it saves my bacon almost every day. Unfortunately, I don’t yet own a camera so I have to use my iPhone to take pictures… which as all iPhone owners will know absolutely drains the battery life! This little portable charger is so lightweight and slimline that it even fits in my evening clutch for those nights when I’m partying hard and taking too many photos! I have the high capacity 5600mAh model so it has around 2-3 full extra charges which means I don’t have to charge it every day either.

My Lightening To Micro-USB Adapter

Another lifesaver for the iPhone! I only carry one other wall charger which has a micro-usb tip and charges my Kindle, Ankor Portable Charger, and my back up pay as you go phone. So I got this little adapter straight from Apple for £5.99 and it means I can charge my iPhone from the micro-usb charger if needs be. Clearly…you can never be too prepeared!

My Lacie External Hardrive

I have a couple of hardrives, so if you want to see a bigger one I own and recommend which I use to backup my entire laptop then click here. Otherwise, when I take short trips I use the Lacie to backup all my blog data & photography and it is invaluable. If you work on the road, this model is currently on £50 on Amazon for 500gb… otherwise they also have larger models.

So there you have it…an almost comprehensive list of my travel tech essentials! I do actually have a couple more, but I’ve mentioned them before here. 

So, have you figured out your definition of a flashpacker yet and do I (or do you!) fit the bill?! 

Maybe we’ll never know…

Lots of love,