The Speaker

The speaker reflects back on her younger self and the excitement she felt as a backpacker traveling to far-flung places. For the speaker's younger self, backpacking was the way to live—a lifestyle that provided an identity through anonymity. Over the course of the poem, the speaker traces the way in which her travels opened her understanding of the world. Her sporadic moving around after "routine evictions" leads her to look at all of the souvenirs and objects she has accrued (24). She subsequently gives value to the memories these objects carry. Ultimately, the speaker realizes that it was the brief encounters with the people she met on her travels that means the most to her.

Other Backpackers

Though other backpackers are not directly portrayed in the poem, the speaker implies their presence beginning with the very first line: "Like many folk, when first I saddled a rucksack...