Have any of you ever been backpacking? Whether for a week or longer.

After my contract finishes in August I am seriously considering - from my own from my savings. I have thought about a few routes, but it's hard to decide. But one I am thinking of recently has great historical precedent - Cape to Cairo. It's the route that Cecil Rhodes, one of the founders of the British Empire, wanted to build - and nearly did - a railway from-to.

That land route would cover South Africa-Botswana - Zimbabwe - Zambia - Tanzania - Kenya - Ethiopia - The Sudan - Egypt.

But of course there's other great routes too. The former French Indochina is very popular (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand) or the former British Raj (India, Pakistan, Burma, Bangladesh, Aden, Sri Lanka)... etc. There's so much to see and so much I want to open my mind to it is hard to decide. But I am tempted by the tides of history.

So has anyone considered backpacking/know anyone who has? I'm giving it a trial run at New Year in Sri Lanka (Ceylon).