Has backpacking lost its allure?

Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations has been a daily affair for the past few weeks. Apart from the obvious food cravings derived from watching it, the show reaches deep inside and reignites that old spirit of travel once more.

I'll be the first to admit that my Vietnam trip was rather jaded. I loved and hated the place with equal measure because everything great came with a cost, and more often than not, I felt sorry for the people have to bear that cost.

But the one thing that stood out ever so jarringly was how I viewed things with the skepticism of an experienced traveler, which I am obviously not. Upon confirming my previously-formulated suspicion that backpacking has been so obviously integrated and taken over mainstream tour groups, it was sorta...heartbreaking.

Remembering the eagerness and enthusiasm of my maiden backpacking trip made everything pale in comparison. Yeah, the first time's always the best innit?

Perhaps being exposed to different cultures in Sydney has made me more worldly and hence less excitable about new things, because frankly it's hard to be excited when the very people you're trying to avoid are on the same bus as you.

See the Australian backpackers, zee Germans, zee French oui oui, drunk Americans and yes, Singaporeans. Add in some Koreans and Japanese, and bada bing bada boom we're back to square one. Whatever happened to the experience of savouring different cultures? All the people you see are all the people you regularly see. It doesn't do it for me anymore.

I loved Vietnam, don't get me wrong. But there were some days where I just felt incredibly homesick (i.e. Sydney) and out of it.

On the contrary, No Reservations does make me wanna go out once more. Maybe this Friday's tentative trip to the Blue Mountains might do me some good. Freezing your bollocks off in winter? Good stuff.

Go Turkey!!!