An article on About.com mentions the increasing use of high-tech gear among backpackers:
San Francisco's Adelaide Hostel owner Gerard O'Boyle told me this weekend that he estimates a full 50% of his guests are packing laptops these days; a 2005 Hostelworld.com survey put the laptop haulers at 21%, and we all know that cell phones and iPods are as common as ramen among international backpack travelers today. Some are calling these gadget-packing travelers flashpackers, but a true flashpacker has some flash in the money belt, too; a good flashpacker description might be he who rides a chicken bus with a laptop in his backpack and a high-limit credit card in his money belt. We could amplify that by adding that he's on the way to a private hostel room or even some hoity hotel digs, but he'll be treading the backpacker trail right alongside the shoestring travelers.
If O'Boyle's estimate is correct, then the percentage of backpackers carrying flashpacker gear is higher than the slice of Americans who have passports (which happens to be 27%). That means that laptop-lugging backpackers will shortly be the rule rather than the exception, and hostels like O'Boyle's Adelaide are poised to serve 'em -- the charming downtown San Francisco digs boasts five broadband lines coming in, accessible from every bunk in the place. And as O'Boyle told me, it should be free -- if a hostel's got the wifi for the desk, the joint may as well let it fly.
Read the full article, Backpackers, Bucks, and Budget Travel.
