THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED
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THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED
Presented with two paths, the adventurer will opt for the one less travelled. Revelling in the unusual, they reach their destination through means less mainstream, making new trails over land and sea.
THUMBS UP: Travel by hitchhiking
Unpredictable, exhilarating and uncomfortable- hitchhiking is an adventure in which the journey itself is the journey’ s end.
pros:
Very few means of travelling at a reasonable speed are as cost effective as hitchhiking.
Not only is the hitchhiker’ s expenditure virtually nil, so is their carbon footprint. By occupying an empty seat in a car as opposed to driving one, the hitcher can rest assured that the only carbon dioxide they’ re adding to the world is their own.
Beyond the environmental and economic benefits are the social ones. From the stoned baker to the Flamenco singing doctor, it is impossible to predict what strangers will be met along the way.
What is certain, however, is that they will not remain strangers for long. While human attention is constantly being fractured by the distractions of technology, for the driver this is an illadvised possibility. The car becomes an almost unique site for human interaction where an unparalleled opportunity for conversation is possible.
Matthew Ince, a 24-year-old British cider vendor and seasoned hitchhiker, says:“ I’ ve got to know some incredible characters on the road really well who I would probably never have crossed paths with any other way. It’ s one of the best ways to meet different people and see into their lives.” cons:
In the absence of dents or smashed windows, it is unfortunately impossible to anticipate someone’ s driving ability before being placed their mercy. There are the dangerously docile drivers who maintain the illegally slow pace of a yak and then there are the berserk racers who hurl crumpled energy drink cans as they overtake them.
Equally as unpredictable is the hitcher’ s accommodation. A comfortable night’ s sleep is a luxury relished on its infrequent and unplanned occasion. Paul Rowe, a 56-year-old Australian bar owner, reveals:“ I’ ve slept on piles of apples and fridges in the back of trucks and on even worse surfaces outside them.”
Indeed the only consistency to be found in the hitcher’ s itinerary is its regular punctuation with long, often solitary, waits at service stations. The prime sites to solicit lifts, these characterless and bleak institutions represent a necessary and monotonous evil for anyone travelling by thumb.
tips:
- Opportunities to shower, iron and look in the mirror range from sporadic to non-existent, it is essential to keep up appearances. Drivers are less inclined to pick up dirty vagabonds if only for the sake of their car’ s upholstery. Wearing bright colours can also help, a technique that the‘ Moscow school of hitchhiking’ swear by.- While hitchhiking is legal in most countries, many have laws restricting where hitchers are permitted to solicit lifts. In the UK the practice is forbidden on motorways just as it is on the interstate highways of the USA and on the German autobahn.- For those less willing to leave their fate to chance, websites exist through which hitchers can find drivers with empty seats such as PickUpPal. com.- Lastly, a map and a keen sense of direction are both very important for the avoidance of large detours. This is only applicable, of course, to those who have a destination in mind.
// Carla Hobbs bob elderberry
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