Travel Fashion – Backpacker Style Tips On The Road

Any long term traveller will know this – travel fashion isn’t really at the top of the grooming list when you’re traipsing all over the world and lugging your backpack all around the place.

Sure, it sounds glamourous, but for a lot of the time, it isn’t! I’d rather be the worst dressed traveller than the best dressed office worker!

Personally, I don’t mind looking a bit scruffy and a bit of a yob (Australian Slang for a loutish, uncouth person) just because I don’t want to look like I’m worth robbing (this really should be a tip sent out by the travel insurance companies)! I just don’t want to smell so bad that I have a 10 metre radius of nothing between me and the next person!

Function always win over form every time for me. Which probably makes me one of the daggiest looking travellers on the planet. I really don’t give a rat’s arse about what I look like, I just want to enjoy the moment, no matter how daggy I look.

However, with the rise of social media, me thinks that the use of this extremely visual way of communication has caused the rise of the totally impractical travel fashion shots – showing people in remote locations looking glamourous in all sorts of ‘clothes geared toward travel’.

Sure, the travel fashionistas will come up with some unrealistic imagery that makes it all seem so glamourous – you know, something along these lines.

I’m sure that while this attractive lady was looks great in this shot in her designer clothes and shoes, I don’t think she’ll be going without doing her hair and make up later that night at her five star hotel – instead of crashing in some smelly dorm room.

But we all know in reality, the vast majority of long term travellers are tight arse travellers. We’ll make sure the budget goes to anything travel related – and things like nice clothes are getting towards the bottom of priorities.

Plus, because we all want to keep our backpack weights as light as possible , we’ll limit the crap in our bags to what we really, really need. That is, the stuff we find the most comfortable and useful.

And that’s after we’ve thrown out the stuff we thought we needed and realised that we didn’t use it at all! 

But you know what?

There are definitely some travel fashion tips for backpackers that we can use to make us all look a little bit more well groomed when on the road.

Well, as groomed as you can be!

Here they are! Note, they’re not meant to be serious… 🙂

Travel Fashion – The Best Backpacker Style Tips… Maybe

1. A polar fleece can be used to keep yourself warm when its cold, but can also be rolled up and used as a pillow when you’re sleeping on the bus station floor waiting for the chicken truck to your next destination.
2. Hiking boots always win out for me when it comes to comfortable footwear. If some annoying nightclub bouncer says they don’t meet the ‘dress code’ when you try and enter some drinking establishment, tell him that ‘if it’s good enough for Bear Grylls, it’s good enough for me and you’.
3. Shirts. If you want to strike up a conversation with a bunch of randoms in a pub, don’t wear the same drab grey T-shirt that Mark Zuckerberg from Facebook has stored via the truckload in his walk in wardrobe. Wear a funny T-Shirt that stands out like dog balls so that people laugh when they read it, and then they’ll want to talk to you. Here’s in example – I had a T-shirt given to me by someone with two bears. One of them was singed after holding up a match to the other bear’s backside. The text said ‘Don’t Fart Near Open Flames’. You have no idea how many times this shirt has started up a chat! It’s worth it! Or check out the best travel clothes ever….
4. No one is going to know what kind of underwear you’re wearing unless your pick up someone who wants to take it off you. Just wear your least worn out, smelly, and most comfortable underwear without holes if you’re going on the prowl on a night out on the town.
5. Hair. If you’re a guy, just shave it off. Low maintenance, no worries. Especially if you have the right head shape that suits a close crop! If you’re a girl, I have no idea what you’d do. Maybe just create some dreadlocks for your year long trip? Actually, that’s probably not such a good idea because I know of women with dreadlocks who were offered a tonne of drugs thinking they had the same mindset of a hooch loving hippy.
6. Fingernails/toenails. Sounds obvious, but you really do need to bring a set of nail clippers with your just so don’t share your fungus with anyone else, or having someone share theirs with you!
7. Shaving. Nah, you don’t really need to shave your face that often. You’ll save on razor blades and shaving cream. Apparently beards are back in these days. And as an added bonus, you might find a tasty snack in there from a previous meal when you’re hungry.
8. Ironing. Finding an iron in a backpacker hostel can sometimes be harder than finding a toilet when you have travellers diarrhoea. Just steal or borrow someone else’s shirt from your hostel if it looks much less crinkly than yours!
9. Hey, we are a disposable society! Clothes are made cheap in some third world country so that the first world can enjoy some throw away fashion. Just buy a new set of clothes if you’re going out one night and then give it to someone else the next day who really needs it or want it!
10. And finally, keep it real. Take a few selfies of yourself looking like a disheveled daggy traveller and post them to Instagram to show the world what it actually looks like to travel long term! Especially if you’ve scored a new one by claiming your stolen phone on Backpacker Travel Insurance!

There you go!

What backpacker travel fashion tips can you think of that actually might work?

Share your thoughts with the world and let us know!