ABSTRACT
This chapter examines some of the situated knowledges that exist within young budget travel. Utilizing a mobilities lens, the chapter moves away from an ‘economic’ valuing of these tourists towards a more nuanced perspective that involves understanding the movement and encounters of young budget travellers. In doing so, it questions current conceptions of such travel which often rely on particular (Western) ways of knowing the world. The chapter asks whether the methodological understandings of this type of travel really engages with the moral encounters that occur between young budget travellers, the many people that they connect with on their travel and perhaps most specifically, the researchers studying them. In doing so, the chapter raises more questions than it answers as it re-thinks the ‘why’ behind this type of travel in order to recognize the often privileged, power-laden relations inherent within much young budget travel.
