The Little Backpacker

Welcome to The Little Backpacker

Hair Flicking in the Atherton Tablelands

I’m Jodie a twenty-something English girl who has a passion for photography and likes to dream. Ever since I took my first solo trip in 2010 and fell in love with travel I have dreamed of exploring the world every day. At first these dreams were well just dreams but these days I am working my hardest to make them come true. That first solo trip was 5 weeks volunteering in South Africa. It changed my life. The next trip was two months at Summer Camp in Michigan followed by five weeks travelling the States. This ticked off many bucket list items such as climbing a mountain, stroking a lion, visiting Cape Town, California, Niagara Falls and New York City but only fuelled the travel bug.

Since then the dreams have gotten bigger, and so I spent months in the UK saving for the next trip and experiencing a summer of London Olympics madness. The boyfriend and I then took off on a yearlong trip to Australia. We travelled the east coast. Driven on Fraser Island, snorkelled the Great Barrier Reef, jumped 14, 000ft from a plane and learnt to surf. Crazily we decided to spend three months picking oranges to complete our 88 days of regional work. These days we are living in Melbourne working hard to fund the next leg of our trip; three weeks in New Zealand and six weeks in South East Asia.

Some people may say I dream too much and they probably would be right. Every week I have a new idea of something I would like to do or some place I would like to go. Knowing it’s not practical I think of a new idea. I can’t seem to tie myself down to anything because I’m afraid it will mean not being able to explore this beautiful world or getting bored with day to day life. And this world was not made to be boring.

I dream of travelling South America for six months or making enough money online to fund my travels but I know for most this is not possible myself included. I’m here to show you it’s okay to dream big and how to start small on those travelling dreams. My blog is packed full of photography, advice and reviews. Tips on how to: volunteer, work at Camp America or survive a working holiday and much, much more. If you don’t know where to start then head here…

Interviews and Features

I did an interview for Bradley at Joureneys for Good for ‘The Ripple Effect’ investigation they are doing. Meet Jodie Young, World Traveler, Photographer, and Volunteer, Part One and Part Two.
My photo post about Monument Valley was featured on WordPress’ Freshly Pressed site, and my packing list is recommend by the Travel Fashion Girl.
I contribute to Top 5 Travel and Chris over at Backpacker Banter listed me on his list of ’10 Bloggers to follow in 2013′.