Backpackers Stories

Wren graduates college expecting to start her dream biology internship, only to find herself with an unexpected semester and nowhere to go. While searching for a distraction, she comes across her late sister Mackenzie's Thingsbook account, which contains a planned backpacking trip her sister never got to take. Determined not to let Mackenzie's dream go unfinished, Wren sets out to follow the route herself, one destination at a time.

At twenty-seven, Anne has become an expert at pretending she's fine. So she does the only logical thing: she books a one-way ticket to Australia. What starts as a backpacking adventure soon becomes so much more. In Melbourne, Anne finds a place that feels like home, builds a life she never expected, discovers a family she never knew she needed, and meets Carter-a firefighter whose biggest battle has never been the emergencies he faces at work, but the ones he keeps buried inside himself. As Anne slowly learns to embrace the person she's becoming, she and Carter discover that love doesn't always arrive at the right time. Because no matter how much you care about someone, some wounds can only be healed from within. But not every adventure lasts forever. When Anne returns to the Netherlands, she discovers that finding yourself is one thing... not losing yourself when you return to your old life might be the hardest part of all. 27, and Still Figuring It Out is a heartfelt coming-of-age story about found family, healing, love, loss, and discovering that life rarely goes according to plan-and maybe that's exactly the point. For anyone who's ever felt lost, started over, or wondered if everyone else received a manual for life except them. ⸻ Disclaimer: This story was originally written in Dutch and has been translated into English. While every effort has been made to preserve the original tone and emotion, some Dutch expressions, cultural references and subtle nuances may not translate exactly as intended. Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy Anne's journey.

In the spring of 2004 - after living in Tokyo, Japan, for over three years pursuing a career as a freelance musician - science fiction and fantasy author Domenico Italo Composto-Hart set off on a half-year backpacking journey through the lands of East and Southeast Asia, Siberia, Central Russia, the Baltic states, the Nordic countries, and Eastern and Western Europe. Traveling by foot, bus, train, and boat - and seeing the world through the analytical lens of anthropology, archaeology, and economics - Domenico documents, researches, and deciphers the developing nations he encounters as they rise through the turbulence of unregulated Western capitalism and globalization. Travels in the Land of Hunger is the author's reflective account of the dark, long-lasting impact of Western colonialism and imperialism, the Vietnam War, the Khmer Rouge regime, the 1997 Asian financial crisis, and the sex tourism and sex trafficking industries in Southeast and East Asia. It is also a narrative of finding exotic beauty, inspiration, inner strength, and unexpected love.

After spending the night in an italian jail for a crime he did not commit, a young man will be rescued from someone unexpected.

Sam takes a job as an Au Pair in Spain, she thinks it will be an adventure with traveling and enjoying what was there, she even started a blog dedicated to her experience. However her life was less than extraordinary, and it turns out her summer is too. The kids she is with are okay, but the older one couldn't care less about speaking English with her, and the younger one is destined on scaring the crap out of her every second he gets. Max wants an adventure before he finishes high school and becomes an adult. He has saved up all his money from his part time job, and now he is spending his summer backpacking Europe, by himself. When Max takes a pit-stop in Rascafria, a village in the mountains of Madrid, he finds Sam, at a pool, reading. He thinks nothing of it, until he sees the cover, it is in English. Two teens looking for an adventure find one with each other in the oddest place.

Filipino-Chinese heiress Maria Andrea Ty, Matty to her friends, has had enough of living a life that's been mapped out for her since her birth. In a bid to put off joining the family business, she goes on a two-month trip to Europe, bound and determined to survive on her own, relying only on her limited budget (excluding what she has in her trust fund, of course), the kindness of strangers, and her brand-new 65-liter backpack. Her journey takes her from London to Paris, Luxembourg to Germany, and finally, Austria to Amsterdam. Along the way, she discovers that alone doesn’t need to mean lonely, that getting lost isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and that, unlike the movie “Taken”, strangers aren’t always out to get you. When chance seats her beside a hot Aussie guy on an intercity train, she learns that, sometimes, the things you didn’t plan for turn out to be the ones that make all the difference. But as her flight back to reality looms closer, will she figure out a way to claim her life as hers? Or is this trip her one last taste of freedom before she assumes the position of dutiful daughter once and for all?

Three girls. One trip of a lifetime. Emily, Danielle and Alex meet in Thailand for the start of a round-the-world trip to remember. All three are looking for adventure, experience and most of all, a fresh start. If that includes new love... well, that's just a bonus! Except the past isn't so eager to leave them behind... and each one of them is going to have to face up to their demons in the closet if they're going to be able to move forward. A steamy, thrilling new adult romance, WANDERLOVE is for anyone who wished they could escape from the real world into a place of beauty, passion and more than a hint of danger... *This is definitely a work in progress, so any comments greatly appreciated!*

An memorable saga of applying for leave from office, for a month log backpacking trip of northeast India.

My idea of what a perfect love would be. A happy ending and a cheesy beginning. A girl in high school goes on the backpacking trip of her dreams. Will she find love along the way? Or will she be forever alone? To be real with you she isn't one who scores a lot of guys and when she does it just never clicks... who will be the one to really make her heart race?