I am a Flashpacker

Me: "Can I take your iphone off the charger and use the outlet for my netbook?"
Friend: "Hold on, I'm syncing some new music I just bought. I want to take advantage of our guesthouse having wifi"

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to flashpacking. What exactly is flashpacking? It's a way of traveling for quarter-life crisis types and beyond. You've worked a few years. You've saved up some cash. Suddenly you have a chunk of free time to go see the world.

Many remember summers or semesters spent abroad as broke college students, backpacking around Europe and Southeast Asia. The crucial limitation on these travels was a dependence on parents or a finite savings account that forced one to carefully budget out dorm-style hostels, drink specials, and limited tour activities to the penny/ However, as a 29 year old who's just left the workforce, you've earned the luxury to stay in remotely liveable accomodations. You've not looking for a penthouse suite, but chances are, you'll spring for a private room at a hostel rather than the dorm style beds. You can now afford a variety of day tours and activities that are offered. You're old now; staying out til 4am and waking up at 8am for a day hike just doesnt seem to work anymore.

The other major change from the backpacking lifestyle is the introduction of somewhat comfortable travel. If it costs another $15 to upgrade from the 3rd class sleeper train to the 2nd class one, you'll take it. Southeast Asia has proven itself to be a flashpackers paradise with a bounty of low-cost airlines that allow for the ultimate flash-packer luxury: heavily discounted, last-minute airline tickets. While still slightly more expensive than an "18 hour bus ride + ferry", these airline companies have created an extremely comfortable way to quickly travel around. You also can avoid serious planning as you no longer have to follow a logical geographic plan, as you would traveling by bus or train.

The final, and most crucial characteristic of a flashpacker is an arsenal of technology. Hostels and guesthouses appear to be in tune to this trend, as majority of these places now have wifi in their lobbies and sometimes even rooms. On that budget flight, you'll find flashpackers listening to their ipods, viewing digital pictures, and uploading them to their netbooks. The travel journal / scrapbook that was so common as a collegiate backpacker is now replaced with the blog or the extra-long group email. When you meet other flashpackers, you instantly facebook friend them on your smartphone for which you've bought a local data SIM card.

The other crucial question for the flashpacker is that of luggage. We've all seen the oversized hiking backpacks, complete with Canadian flag patch and multitude of buckles and straps; the more buckles and straps one's bag has, the more intense a backpacker they are. I felt the standard large backpack was no longer my bag of choice. Instead.,I found a large suitcase type bag, with rolling wheels, but that has a strap compartment to convert itself into kind of a backpack. The flashpackers place in life is exactly that, not quite ready to travel the world with a Tumi suitcase, but no longer wanting to be associated at every juncture with the hippie backpacker. A friend asked a poignant question, "Is that a suitcase with straps, or a backpack with wheels?" That truly is the question.....

If you've recently found a good deal of free time and want to see the world, but aren't quite ready to sign up for a bus tour of 60 Japanese adults. If you've saved a little bit of money and are looking to travel cheaply, but don't want to be the "creepy, old dude" at the hostel. If you're somewhere between Under the Tuscan Sun and Eurotrip, fear not. Join the flashpacker movement.

My flashpacking tech list:

HP Netbook
Unlocked Blackberry with local SIM cards
iPod Nano (stolen, replaced with an "iPop" ripoff, bought in Bangkok)
Amazon Kindle
Casio Exilim digital camera