About The Backpacking Coder – A look into my astounding journey of 25 countries.

Welcome to thebackpackingcoder.com. While writing an intro about The Backpacking Coder – I feel as awkward as I did when i wrote my tinder and shaadi.com bio’s; not necessarily in that order :D. This blog is probably one of the few good things to happen to me during COVID-19. Just before Corona hit I was on this hot streak of 7 trips in 7 months:

1. Aug 2019- Luxurious Maldives
2. Sep 2019- Vietnam Backpacking Trip
3. Oct 2019- Cambodia Backpacking trip
4. Nov 2019- My 3rd Euro trip (Germany, Hungary, Czech Republic & Slovakia)
5. Dec 2019- Spiti Valley
6. Jan 2020- Gokarna & Kumta
7. Feb 2020- Goa

And then all hell break loose. All the compulsive travellers out there, will understand my plight. The initial few weeks were fun and I actually enjoyed the time home.

But then I got bored

As the time passed by I realised more and more that either I need to travel or do something related to travelling. So I started planning trips right from Aug-2020 till Dec-2021. Yeah, I thought we would be getting rid of Corona by then, I underestimated corona little less than most world leaders did.

Anyways, go I started going through my TB’s worth of accumulated photographs, documents and some videos from my 10 years of travels. And then it stuck me, that I should be writing about these trips with the sole intention of keeping myself busy. I asked one of my friends to read the stuff I wrote and she kinda liked it and pushed me to write more and this blog was born out that necessity.

About Me – About The Backpacking Coder

I am Prathamesh Sawant, a full-time software engineer and a hobby photographer and traveller. I currently work in a startup based out of Mumbai and use almost all leaves and WFH days to travel. My dad was in the Army, so even though I was born in Mumbai I was brought up all over North India. So travelling has been ingrained in me ever since my childhood days (as with most Fauji Kids).

My first job was with Infosys in Chennai and that kick-started the 2nd phase of my life – The exploration of South India. So I spent a good 7-8 years of my travelling all over India, but specially South India. I have been lucky enough to travel to around 25-26 states and UT’s in India.

But, I am also one of the most unfortunate IT engineers, when it came to on-site (or work travel abroad). And it always bothered me. But one fine day 3 years back I decided it was time. It was time to travel and see the world albeit on my own money. Guess what? I loved every bit of it. That was when I decided I’ll do this more often and I’ll do it on my own.

During these 2 years, I travelled 25 countries without quitting my job (24 of them on my own money). The reason I called it astounding up top is even I never dreamed that I’ll be travelling 25 in my life, let alone 2 years. To everyone who is going to follow this blog, I just want to tell you this – I had a blank passport for 28 years of my life, but all it took was 2 years to fill half of it. So if you haven’t started on your travel journey, don’t be disappointed. Good things always take time. Bhagwaan ke ghar de he, andher nai – This was also the post for my 1st international check-in on Facebook.

About The Backpacking Coder Blog

The blog is meant to be my way to trying to help or enable people to plan their own trips without depending on anyone. When I started travelling 10 years back, we hardly had any blogs or you tube videos to guide us. It was more based on instinct than research. Over the last 10 years, I am done numerous solo, duo and group trips. I have done a mix of backpacking, hitchhiking (only once in Udaipur), family and some luxury trips as well.

I’ll also tell you about how I use my leaves more effectively, how I plan my travels, visa procedures for different countries and I’ll even share the exact expenses of all my trips as I believe in complete transparency.

There is a growing trend now, where people want to be called a traveller and not a tourist. I don’t associate myself to be either a traveller or a tourist. I am someone who is always happy travelling as a tourist or a traveller, doesn’t really matter to me.

Throughout the blog posts, I’ll try to give you some tips and advice to save money and how to best plan your itineraries. But this blog isn’t about the cheapest travel. And once you start reading my posts you will slowly understand why that’s the case. It’s just a matter of choice.

My guiding principle in life has been a quote I heard during my first mountain biking(cycling) trek with YHAI in Ladakh and it has stuck with me ever since.

Manzilein milengi bhatak kar hi sahi,

Gumrah to wo huye he jo gharse nikale hi nahi!!!

– Anonymous

About The Backpacking Coder – My journey in a video

Here’s a video of my International travel journey so far. If you are still reading, I thank you for your time and patience. Here’s to seeing the world, one country at a time…cheers 🍻