Backpaking lifestyle
continuing interest in de-marginalising this lifestyle choice. My travel experiences and
research journey thus not only affect how I continue to interpret lifestyle travel, but also
manifest in the present text as a more critical and less romanticised reading of this
phenomenon than I have held in the past.
As field sites, India and Thailand have reputations as attractive destinations for long-term
tourism (Cohen, 1982; Elsrud, 2001) with established backpacker enclaves that provide
contact points with lifestyle travellers. Enclaves in both countries supply infrastructure for
low-budget tourism and the consumption of hedonistic and/or spiritual experiences. Although
Cohen (2003) presupposes difficulty in accessing ‘contemporary drifters’, as they may
theoretically seek remote localities, the present research found lifestyle travellers interspersed
amongst other backpackers in enclavic settings
annaabi.ee 
