Do it in Style

By Jessica Swavley

Flea-infested hostels and cutting coupons from The Rough Guide just doesn't cut it for today's travellers. Welcome to the age of the flashpacker.

The backpacker: adventurous, drunk, constantly scrambling cash for their next meal, travel gear stuffed (often unsuccessfully) into a backpack. The flashpacker: career climber, gadgets in tow, suitcase with ready-to-club clothes and shoes.

Forget crowded dorm-style rooms and beer can-riddled kitchens; there is a new way to travel the globe on a budget. Flashy backpackers, now known as "flashpackers", are the latest niche market in the hotel world. Compared to your average backpacker, these new travellers are more organised and financially better off. They book their travel well in advance and are more likely to be found on a wine tour of the Loire Valley than necking a goon bag.

Penny Brand, sales and marketing manager of Nomad World Hotels, says that flashpackers tend to be "professional types who have taken a gap year to travel and want a higher standard of accommodation." Brand says that, as "backpackers grow older, they have very fond memories of travelling and want to recapture the fun times … the return(ed) backpacker develops into the flashpacker."

Flashpackers want all the features and comfort of a hotel, but with the chance to interact with other patrons in common areas; one of the key elements in the backpacking experience.
Follow Cosmo's quick guide to see if you're a flashpacker or a backpacker…

Flashpackers … wouldn't dream of travelling sans GHD, straightening serum and hairdryer.
They say: Who knows who you might meet, right?

Backpackers … go the chop (or shave their hair entirely) before embarking on their big tour.
They say: It's one less thing to stress about, you know?

Flashpackers … pack a variety of shoes to choose from.
They say: Sure, thongs are okay for day-time tours, but you'll need heels, boots and cute ballet flats at night!

Backpackers … pound the pavement in comfortable sneakers and thongs.
They say: After all, watching the sun set in Machu Picchu isn't going to be any more spectacular if I'm wearing my French Sole flats, is it?

Flashpackers … study regional cuisine months before they travel.
They say: How could you visit New York without eating at Le Cirque?

Backpackers … eat along the way.
They say: When in New York, do as the New Yorkers do; eat hot dogs from street vendors!

Prices at a Nomad World Hotel start from around start from around $25 per person, per night. They also offer private rooms (with and without ensuite) from $65 per room, along with king rooms from $95 per room.