Backpacking, as a form of travel, is a popular pastime in the United States. However, Americans generally backpack noticeably less than other Westerners , leading to the common perception among backpackers that Americans are not well travelled . There is no authoritative explanation for this, and is indeed one of the most perplexing cultural aspects of international backpacking, considering that the United States of America has all the ingredients and similarities to other backpack-savvy nations necessary to make budget travel easily accessible to untold millions of young Americans. This includes such attributes as a majority Caucasian, English speaking, and broadly middle class populace, not to mention being the worlds 3rd most populated nation which in theory should make Americans very visible in the backpacking circuit when they are in fact not. In particular, African Americans and Hispanic Americans tend to backpack very rarely.

The widely spaced nature of American cities may lead to an inclination more towards road trips instead of backpacking. However, people also argue that most Canadian cities are similar in culture to the USA but its residents are far more likely to be seen backpacking, although even Canadians backpackers are not as numerous as the Germans, Aussies, or even the Swiss . In addition, Americans who have stay in hostels may experience anti-Americanism directed at them (see Criticism section below) . This criticism, along with a perceived notion that being labeled "American" is undesirable while travelling in general, is also widely attributed to the very large number of Canadian backpackers who purposefully have Canadian flags on their backpacks or clothing to avoid being mistaken for their USA counterparts who often have very similar accents. However, in many countries, the belief that Americans put Canadian flags on their backpacks or clothing to pass as Canadian has led to anti-Americanism being directed towards English-speaking Canadians. The Canadian Flag Patch is also known in some backpacking circles as "pickpocket bait" because they are seen as affluent yet naive travellers in unfamiliar surroundings. A growing number of Canadian (and American) backpackers are increasingly avoiding the 'patch-toting Canadian' phenomenon, particularly as more young travellers become aware of the fad and the questionable status behind it.
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Other arguments as to why Americans are seen less frequently while backpacking is that the American cultural psyche puts significant emphasis on work and career advancement for people in their twenties, that American employers are less flexible at providing long-term leaves of absence, a smaller amount of vacation weeks compared to most Europeans countries (many Americans receive no paid vacation time, especially those in their twenties), long-term financial obligations such as automobile payments or expensive student loans (which may be more irrelevant to countries where public transportation is used more frequently and Higher Education is much less expensive), and the fact that few Americans in their own country have contact with International backpackers as a possible means to encourage undertaking a trip themselves. Furthermore, the American tradition of moving to another city to go to college may sate the travel bug in American students to some extent, and the concept of a semester abroad for many US tertiary students is growing in popularity as well.

Many budget travellers have observed that a significant proportion of American backpackers are from a relatively small geographic area in the USA, most notably the "Blue" states of the Pacific Coast and New England . There is again no authoritative explanation for this, though a common argument within backpacker communities is that people with a more liberal mindset and background travel far more often than conservatives. (See Red state vs. blue state divide)

While not necessarily deriding Americans, a large number of backpackers say that the relatively small number of American backpackers is a good thing, as they consider backpacking to be one of the few major outlets of youth culture which is not heavily influenced or controlled by the USA .

See also

Tourism in the United States

Tourism in Canada

Tourism in Mexico

Backpacking

Backpacking

External links

http://www.ymca.com

http://www.hihostels.com