Ever wondered what it’s like to live inside an anime? 🇯🇵
Well… I kinda did. I got the chance to join a real Japanese school festival....... and it was exactly like the ones you see in anime: classrooms turned into cafés, students welcoming guests, decorations everywhere, and food made with a level of organization that only Japan could pull off.

In this episode, I share what it was really like to experience Japanese school life from the inside, not as a tourist, but as a guest.
No chaos, no stress, just creativity, teamwork and a surprisingly wholesome vibe.

💬 Show Notes

🏫 Inside a real Japanese school festival
🍱 How every class turns their idea into a mini project
🎌 The mix of culture, teamwork, and fun
💭 What surprised me most about Japanese school life
✈️ Why these local moments matter more than any tourist spot

🎧 New episodes every Tuesday on BackPackTrack
🌍 More stories on backpacktrack.net

So, you’re planning a trip to New Zealand? 🇳🇿
Great choice — but before you start packing your hiking boots and a year’s worth of instant noodles, listen to this episode.

I’m sharing everything I wish someone had told me before I went: how long you actually need, which island is worth your time, how chaotic the weather really gets, and why buying your own car is the single smartest thing you can do.

From surviving the Devil’s Staircase to freezing showers in rivers (yes, that happened), this is your unfiltered survival guide to Aotearoa — the land of sheep, volcanoes, and sunburns in the shade.

Because New Zealand will test your patience, your budget, and your ability to dry laundry in constant rain — but trust me, you’ll still fall in love with it.

• Real talk: how much time you really need

• North vs South Island differences

• Buy a car, don’t rent it 🚗

• CamperMate app = life saver

• Work & Travel visa mistake

• Weather chaos ☀️

We grow up being fed the fairytale: one career path, one soulmate, one “forever” friendship. But let’s be honest—that’s a trap. While traveling, I had one of my biggest realizations: nothing actually needs to last forever.
Life works better in chapters. Jobs, people, places—they come, they shape you, and sometimes they go. And that’s not failure, that’s freedom. The pressure to “hold on forever” dropped off my shoulders the moment I saw life as a series of chapters instead of one rigid storyline.

In this episode, I share how I got here, why it changed the way I see relationships, careers, and friendships, and how you can finally stop feeling guilty about moving on.

Spoiler: letting go isn’t the end. It’s just the page-turn. 📖✨

In this episode:

• 🌍 My biggest travel realization

• 💔 Why nothing has to be “forever”

• 📖 Life works better in chapters

• ⚡ How this mindset kills pressure

👉 More chaos, stories & travel thoughts on backpacktrack.net

Alright, let’s get straight to it: these are my go-to travel apps. The ones I actually use on the road, the ones that saved my ass more than once, and yes—the ones I keep recommending even though I sometimes curse at them. If you’re wondering which apps are worth the storage space on your phone, this episode is basically your cheat sheet🌍📱

In this episode, I share the apps that make traveling a little less chaotic (and sometimes more fun):

• Google Maps – still the king of not getting lost.
• Maps.me – offline maps for when you’re broke or have no signal.
• Polarsteps – a digital travel diary you’ll actually keep up with.
• Day One – perfect for documenting your travel chaos.
• Worldpackers & Workaway – free accommodation with a side of questionable jobs.
• GoSolo – because traveling alone doesn’t have to feel lonely.

👉 Listen in for the real talk on which apps are worth downloading—and which ones are just taking up memory.

Solo travelling ruined my life – and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. 🌍✈️

When I first booked that one-way ticket to New Zealand, I thought travel would magically solve all my problems. Instead, I got six weeks of loneliness, restless hostel-hopping, public transport disasters and way too much small talk. 🚌💤

But then something changed. A stranger sat down next to me in a hostel garden in Picton – and that conversation shifted my entire perspective. From there, solo travelling stopped being a burden and became the best thing that ever happened to me.

Since then, I’ve learned that travel doesn’t fix your problems – it magnifies them, forces you to face them, and pushes you to grow in ways you didn’t think were possible. And yes, it ruins your old life – because once you’ve experienced that freedom, you can’t go back to “normal” again.

This episode is about the highs, the lows, the breakdowns, and the breakthroughs that solo travelling brought into my life. Maybe it’ll ruin yours too 😉

In this episode:
✨ The shitty first 6 weeks in NZ
✨ Hostel small talk & loneliness
✨ The turning point
✨ Why I can’t go back to 9–5 life

Solo travelling won’t solve your problems – but it will change you. 🌍🎒

Ever tried working in a place where you barely understand a word? Spoiler: it’s chaotic, hilarious, and honestly one of the best confidence boosts you can get.In this episode I share my work experience in Japan — yes, I’m currently hustling in a sushi restaurant, armed with only basic Japanese and a lot of hand gestures. From ordering mix-ups to unintentional comedy, I explain why everyone should, at least once in their life, work in a country where you don’t fully understand the language.Because trust me: you’ll learn faster, laugh harder, and never forget it. 🍣😂📝 Show Notes🍣 My sushi restaurant survival guide💪 How working abroad makes you way more confident🎓 The fastest way to actually learn a language (hint: not Duolingo)😂 Everyday fails that somehow turn into wins🌍 Why everyone should try working somewhere they don’t fully understand the language✨ Honest, chaotic, and proof that lost-in-translation jobs are unforgettable.

🎒 Moral of the story: You don’t need perfect grammar to start your adventure. Sometimes, being lost in translation is exactly where the magic happens.

Everyone wants to know: “What’s the best country to start backpacking?” Easy answer? There isn’t one. Honest answer? Some countries will hug you like a banana pancake hostel breakfast, others will slap you in the face with a culture shock and a bus ride from hell.

In this episode I break down the fight: 🎒 Backpacker Disneyland (aka Australia & New Zealand), cheap chaos (Southeast Asia), and the wild cards (South America & Africa). We’ll talk Work & Travel “freedom” (translation: farm slavery), budgets that actually survive, and why Southeast Asia is basically backpacker kindergarten.

Spoiler: no matter where you start, you’ll lose a flip-flop, get food poisoning, and swear you’re “never drinking again.” Congratulations — you’re officially a backpacker.

Show Notes:

🎒 Work & Travel visas → freedom (or just farm slavery)
🌶 Culture shock → from “cute” to full stomach rebellion
💸 Money → where your budget survives (and where it dies)
🦘 Australia & NZ = backpacker Disneyland
🍌 Southeast Asia = cheap chaos & backpacker kindergarten
🌍 South America & Africa = raw adventure

Ever wondered how many fails you can collect in Sri Lanka before it counts as a full-time job? 🌴 Let’s just say… enough for a whole episode. Tune in for Tuk-Tuk traps, wrong turns, and the sacks that kept me humble.

Because sometimes solo travel isn’t about finding yourself… it’s about finding out how quickly your budget can disappear.

Suitcases look cute… until the first staircase or cobblestone turns them into a useless drama queen. 🎭 Meanwhile, my backpack? Sure, it ruined my posture, but at least it never quit on me.

In this episode I unpack (pun intended) the real fight of the century: 🎒 Backpack vs. 🧳 Suitcase. Spoiler: the suitcase never stood a chance. And while we’re at it, let’s talk about what you actually should pack — and why choosing the “right” backpack is way harder than anyone admits.

🎒 In this episode:

• Backpack vs. Suitcase → the fight nobody asked for, but you needed anyway 🥊

• Why suitcases are basically divas that only work on airport floors 🛬🧳

• Backpacks: they destroy your posture but save your dignity 💀✨

• What you actually need to pack (spoiler: not 5 pairs of jeans) 👖🚫

• The painful truth: choosing the right backpack is harder than expected 🎒

✨ By the end you’ll know why I’m firmly on Team Backpack, what goes inside mine, and why my bag weighs more than my life choices.

I packed last-minute.
I forgot things.
I suffered.

Here are 10 things you should actually plan before your next trip – so you don’t end up panicking at the airport!

In this episode I cover:

🧳 10 things you should plan before boarding a plane – even if you're a proud chaos traveler
🛂 Why “I’ll figure it out” doesn’t work at immigration (spoiler: they don’t vibe with spontaneity)
💉 13 vaccinations later and my arm is still not speaking to me
🔋 Why your power bank deserves more love than most humans
🧼 The truth about microfiber towels (scratchy but loyal)
💧 How a filtered water bottle might save your stomach — and your soul
🎫 And yes… that one technically legal but kinda sketchy trick involving a fake return flight 👀