Interviews summary

The interviews

We went to Centralstationen to find Backpackers for our interviews. At first we had trouble to find people because everyone was quite busy and didn’t seem to have time for interviews. So we decided to split up in smaller groups of two persons and spread out. Niclas and Nicolas first met a german backpacker who had been backpacking for 2.5 weeks. He had previously visited Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Besides backpacking he studies music in Nürnberg. He described his backpacking-methods as spontaneous and he chooses his next destination randomly. He had brought a tent in which he slept, so he didn’t visit hostels. It was his first time in Stockholm. When asked about what he use to navigate around in Stockholm, he said that he uses Google Maps now and then (on free Wi-Fi hotspots).

Niclas and Nicolas then found a middle-aged couple from Switzerland. They seemed more experienced with backpacking. They had been traveling for 5 weeks on the current trip and didn’t currently have any jobs. The couple liked sightseeing and visiting places, and didn’t have any plans at the moment. Important tools and guides for them were sites like TripAdvisor and Facebook. Their tip to new backpackers is to use internet to find nice places to go to and also get a city card.

Sanna and Sara started talking to two young first-time backpackers from Germany. They were very tired and not very talkative. They told us they’ve been hiking around the Gothenburg area and been to several small towns. They’ve been out for two weeks and Stockholm was their last stop (hence fatigue). To guide themselves around they usually go to the tourist information or use the internet (when they have access to wifi).

Beside the backpackers sat a 44-year indian woman who was out traveling. She started talking to us about her travels. She had been traveling alot and been to all continents in the world. She worked at “All Indian Women's Conference”, a association that supports women’s rights in India. This was her first time in Stockholm. She were here to visit her sister who lived in Stockholm. As guiding tools she mainly used maps from tourist informations and asked local people around her if she had any questions. She liked our public transportation systems. Her tip to new backpackers is to talk to the local people.

Norbert also talked to a german backpacker. He was 25 years old. His goal was to go to Russia and he had only been traveling for a couple of days. He’d taken a walk through the town the day before with help of a map in a brochure from the hostel. He used the map because roaming was too expensive and he didn’t wanted to depend on Wi-Fi. His tips were: “plan ahead and look things up on the internet”, “use WikiTravels”, “don’t take too much stuff with you” and “ask around and talk to people after arriving to decide what’s worth doing, it’s easier for them to see what type of person you are than it is for a brochure”.

Then we went to City Backpackers, a hostel nearby Centralstationen, to hopefully find more backpackers. It turned out that it wasn’t a very good idea because it was nearly empty at the middle of the afternoon. Nicolas and Niclas found a asian girl though. She was a student out traveling without a travel plan, but wanted to do some shopping and sightseeing. She used her mobile phone as a way of orientation in Stockholm, and had also picked up some city maps from the tourist information.

Summary

Through our interviews, backpackers appear, as expected, as people who move a lot, and don’t plan to stay a long time in a city. The way they plan their trip varies a lot. In general they have the big steps (i.e. which big city to go next) figured out, but leave the local details to improvisation. They want to visit many places, spend some time in the nature, find great sights, meet people and are not too demanding on the place where they sleep or eat, since it’s only for a short time. Hence the stays in hostels, tents and so on.

When arriving to Stockholm, they are usually looking for a place where to sleep, where to buy food, good places to visit, nice sights and local attractions. Since they usually visit many countries and don’t stay in place, they don’t have computers, and rely on free Wi-Fi hotspots to access the internet. Mentioned websites and applications include TripAdvisor,  Google Maps, WikiTravel. Contacting the tourism information services, getting brochures, maps and asking the locals are a frequent way of gathering information.

Our state of the art analysis will focus on these tools:

• Trip Advisor
• Hostel World
• Google Maps
• Paper guides, brochures and maps
• Wiki Travel