Comments on: The Origin of Budget Travel – Was Gemelli Careri The Original Backpacker?

By: Jason

Jason — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 04:46:00 +0000

I’m not going to get into a debate with any History buff’s as I’m probably out of my depth, but Dave’s point above is what I was trying to portray. I believe there’s a difference between the two, not that there’s anything wrong with being a pioneer or explorer (some of these people I actually idolize).

By: Dave from The Longest Way Home

Dave from The Longest Way Home — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 03:24:00 +0000

Will have to side on Jason with this one too. Even today there are many “explorers”, which I take as being different to travelers or backpackers etc. That’s not taking anything away from Polo or any of todays explorers, but they are usually highly sponsored! Even if sponsorship is from the King of Spain

By: Jason

Jason — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 23:11:00 +0000

Hey Denis, I was wondering when someone was going to throw Marco Polo’s hat in the ring. I agree wholeheartedly, that Marco Polo was no doubt one of the greatest travelers of all time, but I personally put him in the basket of explorer or early pioneer with the likes of Cook, Columbus and many others.

This is why I posted my thoughts on Gemelli’s travels, because I feel his motive was not the same as that of an early explorer or pioneer, and that he was purely driven by the experience of traveling itself, with no real end motive.

His decision on leaving his career, and trying to stay on the road as long as possible, buy trading goods en-route is also akin to the modern day backpacker. Thanks for your comment mate, and I appreciate you taking the time to ready my babel.

By: Jason

Jason — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 22:59:00 +0000

Hey Shannon, As to whether Gemelli Careri was the original backpacker or not, will more than likely stay an open ended question for all eternity. There’s no doubt he was as you say ‘Location Independent’, and able to fund his travels through the buying and selling of goods, from one place to the next.

The way he put his career on hold, and drifted around the world with no purpose except for the engagement with the local people and taking in the sights, is exactly what the modern day backpacker lives for. Thanks for your comment Shannon.

By: Denis

Denis — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 17:57:00 +0000

Great article mate!! Really throws a spin on who can claim the elusive tag of the ‘original backpacker’. I still hold Marco Polo as a bit of a legend in the original backpacking circles, the dude travelled for 24 years, puts Caseri’s 5 year RTW trip in another basket.

Although its never about the amount of miles one covers, Marco Polo was as much of a slackpacker as he was backpacker, taking the long and slow road on a quest to really understand a place and its people. 24 years of backpacking. Solid nudge.

Throwing down the backpacking roots…

Nice post Jase

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 08:11:00 +0000

Intriguing! I had never heard of Careri, but it really does sound as if he was not only the first backpacker, but all of those fancy new terms like location independent too – his motivations, everything is so spot on with the sentiments expressed by us nomads today as well! So toughtful!

By: Jason

Jason — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 18:38:00 +0000

Hey Dave, I reckon it would be tough to do today, with the wonders of modern transport and the free flow of information over the net. I think we may have missed out time, but that time wouldn’t have been to long ago. I could have seen the hippies of the 60′s picking up certain gem stones native to a certain country on route and trading them a little further afield., but today it would be allot tougher, but still possible if you knew what you were looking at.

No doubt Gemelli’s travels were epic, and I could only begin to imagine the things he would have been dealing with, day in and day out. He certainly was a pioneer, that paved the way for all of us to follow, ever so slightly in his footsteps. Thanks for stopping by mate.

By: Jason

Jason — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 18:27:00 +0000

Hey Steve, Gemelli was certainly years ahead of his time, and from all accounts was quite the innovator as well. I haven’t read the book ‘A Sentimental Journey’ and I would dare say that someone such as yourself would be a little more read than I am. Thanks for you comment mate, and I will do a little research into Laurence Sterne’s book.

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 18:31:00 +0000

What an interesting story. I didn’t know anything about Gemelli Careri until this post so it was great to hear about this early of a backpacker. And what an innovative way to pay for your travels too.

Have you ever come across the book “A Sentimental Journey” by Laurence Sterne? It is about his travels through France and Italy in 1765. It is credited as being the first travel book written from a subjective point of view rather than the objective. The book also created a boom in travel writing that has pretty much continued ever since.

By: Dave from The Longest Way Home

Dave from The Longest Way Home — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 12:54:00 +0000

I was reading this over dinner, really enjoyed it. Great research. Great “Backpacker”. I read about someone similar to Gemelli’s before, another person who would buy and sell products as went. Similar route, might have been the same guy come to think of it.

I wonder how this could, and can if possible translate to today? Can a person actively trade goods to fund travel? I know of english teachers, webmasters etc. But these are skills not goods.

Again, travel back in those days was epic. No guide books, no nothing. Just a journal and luck. Language problems must have been huge. Put’s todays “backpacker” culture to shame. I wish there was a different name for people like Gemelli.