One thing I noticed about the backpackers I saw all over Laos was that they were traveling just for the sake of traveling. It seemed that most I met were looking for the next party, the next place to drink and the others were just traveling for traveling sake. Why not volunteer locally? Why not create something, write a book, paint a picture? Its fun to travel and see things but I always feel there should be another level to it, should try to more than just travel for the sake of traveling.