Backpacking is often seen as a style of travel that’s cheap, hard, and mainly suitable for the young. Travel + Leisure peels back myth from reality, exploring backpacking trips for all ages and budgets. If you want to walk all 2,650 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail, take a four-day hike up Peru’s Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, or bum around Southeast Asia for a month, just make sure you sit down well in advance and tease out all the details, from visas to bus routes. Read on for our tips, tricks, and guides to help you make that epic backpacking journey a reality.