Dear Beg-packers, Stop Asking Strangers To Fund Your Vacations

Interesting how it completely escapes them that travelling is a luxury, a want — it is not a necessity. 

If you're reading this and wondering what the term beg-packer means, let me explain.

Beg-packers are usually westerners * coughs * white people * coughs * who are travelling in countries where things are cheaper and the currency rates are waaaay lower than in their home countries.

When these travellers run out of funds (I mean, that's what they say, hanya Tuhan sahaja tahu betul ke tak), they'd sit by the roadside with a cardboard asking people to "support their travels" by selling random photos, souvenirs, and postcards. I'd like to point out that begging and "working" on a tourist visa is illegal. 

And uh, I'm not talking about the ones who get robbed and resort to begging for a ticket back home. But my advice would be for you to head to your embassy and seek help instead of begging. 

They get away with it because we let them get away with it. Maybe it's because after centuries of being told that they are the greater race, some of us believe it, subconsciously.

So, no matter how unethical beg-packing is, many locals choose to feed their toxic lifestyle. I strongly doubt the same acceptance would be extended to African or Bangladeshi beg-packers.

Beg-packing, to me, goes beyond a bunch of lazy travellers begging for money. It has a lot to do with entitlement, privilege, and the assumption and faith that "friendly locals" will pay for their trip. And that, my friends, is white privilege in a nutshell.