Walk/Hitch Around the World..

Hello People..
OK, I think that this might be a bit of a long shot, but here goes.....
I am a well experienced traveller who has been nursing a dream for a while....
I would LOVE to do one of the following....
I want to walk out of the door and just keep going and, basically walk around the world! I live in Europe, so this would probably mean heading towards Turkey and East from there...
The other idea I have is to walk to the end of the road and hitch and go whereever each lift takes me, leaving it up to Serendipity to see where I end up...
I have one problem stopping me from doing either. I'm female....
I may be slightly crazy, but I'm not stupid...haa
This not a pipe dream or wishfull thinking; I am deadly serious about either idea, so, if there is any other crazy soul out there who is willing and able to undertake this trip, then please pm me.
My backpack is waiting.....
THX.....

Yes it is a crazy pipe dream but, hey, of such dreams the greatest memories are born. If It were me, I'd just go without waiting for someone to join me. We spend our lives getting frustrated over waiting for others. However, consider on-the-road finances, travel insurance, health issues before setting out.

Keep us updated with your adventures!

Dave

Hiya...
I'd love to just go, but hitching/walking solo when your female isn't really an option tbh. In certain countries, no probs, but for the most part, it's just too risky. I do agree though that you are just better setting off solo, as I have done often. I'd have never have mde it anywhere if I hadn't..haa
This trip is slightly crazy...but no pipe dream! I'll keep you posted Dave.....

Great idea, go for it; slightly nutty but what the hell - you gotta try and if it goes pear shaped.. so what.
I tried it once - hitching got as far as the South of France ran out of lifts and money it was August 1967 before the bloody hippys ruined it for us, I ended up starving, eating raw turnips, and getting deported.

Ever since I have used trains, buses, donkies, and tuk tuks, far more civilised - along with cheap hotels and guest houses, with a helping of street food in between. The important thing is the people you meet along the way the help that is offered by complete strangers will stay with you forever. Go for it, and do it alone it will be far better, if on the other hand, you want a companion make sure it is female, young, and a fantastic looker; get them to thumb for a lift whilst you hide in the bushes, and maybe just maybe you will get further than the South of France.

I agree with the first post don't wait for somebody to start off with you'll meet people on the road and join up with them for a time. The first step is always the hardest. But, you do need to consider your security and for that reason (for me anyways) I would rule out hitch hiking. Which makes me out as a hypercrite because I have done a lot of hitch hiking on trips from many years ago. I didn't go by myself though and I consider myself lucky that nothing bad happened.

I think you'd be safer walking but only during daylight hours and avoid remote areas. I would also not stick hard and fast to walking only, I would be flexible enough to get on buses or trains if that mode of transport was called for. Enjoy yourself and stay safe.

Well, I'm going to head off in the next few weeks...If I can't find anyone to hitch/walk with, then I'll head somewhere else for the time being 'til I can find someone. I'm sure I will at some point...
I once had a crazy notion to buy a horse in Chile and travel by horse. I mentioned this to another traveller on a bus and...low and behold....we ended up doing just that, buying horses and heading off through Chile. It was one of the best experiences of my life and I'd do it again in a heartbeat....
So strange things do happen..haaa

ethicalnomad, wow, womyn after my own heart. where have you gotten to?! i am soon starting out on my first solo bike trip. i keep saying to myself, others have done this,And repeated doing it. i am looking frwd to it but also in trepidation. i am inspired by the likes of you. i do want to hear more of your journeys. you sound like you already have just jumped out into spontaneous adventure. good for you! find any travel mates yet?

Thanks for the encouragement folks...Ive sent a couple of pm's..

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...JJD...cracking post!!

Right thats it you got me hooked; couple of conditions before I dust the cobwebs off my backpack. We try and get further than the south of france, you thumb the lift I hide in the bushes, I get the top bunk, we have a beer every day, if we get stopped by the police leave the talking too me, If we are stuck for a lift for more than two days we nick a car, you put up with my moaning when it goes pear shaped, and finally... we end up in Thailand.

What a great idea just do it because you will regret it if you dont, respect;

Had a similar idea once and left from London through France getting odd jobs in a casino and vineyard but in Germany the snow started, so I worked a few weeks and bought a cheap kombi van from a butcher and so had a dry place to sleep - turtle fashion. Drove it and picked up travellers right through Europe, Turkey ,Syria and Jordan then across the Mandelbaum Gate into Israel and worked on a kibbutz till the 6 day war brought a forced evacuation. Ferried to Turkey and worked my way on foot to Morocco for a few months then hitched back to London and took a boat back to Oz.
So...it will be harder now ,but leave the option open of buying a cheap car along the way,working sometimes, ....and go for it!!

Great dream! But the reality is different. Some places, you will be fine, most, you won't be safe. I couldn't imagine hitching across Mexico...or most of S. America. Just too dangerous...especially so for a solo woman. You might do OK, but then again, you might not.

Reminds me of the Olympic bike rider who decided to bike around the world. Met his demise in Baja California. IMHO, walk where it is safe, do the bus when it is not...and enjoy!

Haaaa...JJD, I'm doing my thumb exercises now as we speak...
I hitched and winged it in Patagonia, Chile and Argentina. Believe it or not, even managed to hitch on Route 40, with two lovely blokes from Dublin in a tiny hire car. They managed to hit a rock the size of a camel on a gravel road with no other rocks on it and 360 degree panorama, so we spent a butt clenching 8 hours driving with no spare on probably one of the most remote roads in S.A!! I seem to remember that they're reaction to this event was 'Ahh, don't worry. It'll be grand!!' Haa....(I love Irish people!) Rest of S.A, I agree craigt3365, probably too dodgy...
Wow, this has to be the best forum on TT. I LOVE older travellers! May we all continue doing what we're doing until we croak it, with worn out bodies and massive smiles on our faces!
A big smile and thankyou from me to you, folks. You're all an inspiration..

I haven't been in Latin America for 6 or 7 years but it used to be easy to get a ride in the back of a pickup truck, free or very very cheap. It was fun and I never encountered any problems.

When I was on my solo 3 month trip in West Africa - using public transport - I met an inspiring guy who had walked from Eritrea to Dakar!

That reminds me. I met a young French guy in Mongolia who hitched from France to Mongolia. He was a character. He did say he had a blast, but getting a ride at times was difficult. Many times, he was picked up by truck drivers.

...amongst many other road adventures, I've hitched in Australia from Melbourne to Cairns - that's only two States, but probably 4-5000 km. Also Istanbul to Marrakech to London in the 1960's - the Good Old Days...

Tomkat - I'm off to Istanbul en-route to Konya in three days' time. Last time in Istanbul I met Sami from the Pudding Shop (which he no longer owns and which has changed beyond belief).
I' going to meet up with him this time round and chat about 'old times.'

If you have a photo from those days (plus a recent one) I'd be delighted to show him.

I have PMed you with an email link. Anyone else like to forward a picture, or memories, I'l send you a link too.

go-2 ...it was in 1965 and cameras weren't invented yet....I did see the Puding Shop again last May during a month travelling Turkey...and yes ,like Turkey itself , it has changed (surprise!)
although Turkey is still good however I'm glad to say.
Answered your PM

I would agree with the person who said to go alone as not everyone is a good hitching/walking partner.
If you already have hitchhiked the you know what you are doing.
Go for it!
-Kent
http://thedromomaniac.com/

Hi Otabe...your website is great!! I too suffer from the same affliction, but never had a name for it before......haaaa

hi ethicalnomad, sapote hre. how goes the journey. mine is well. be in touch sometime.

For anyone else who remembers the Pudding Shop in Istanbul (in the 'old days' that is) I have bad news.
Suleman (not Sami - I'm sooo bad with names) died this year after an illness so I didn't get to see him after all. Yet another link with the old days gone. We're gettin' old!

go_2 , I'll wear my black arm band, as I did at the demise of the "Shoppe". We aren't getting older, the younger are changing the world around us. I'm still 27............................lol!

Dave

Just read your website Otabe - lots of great information, well presented. Our days of penny-pinching travel are over, but we've been there (in the mid 70's two of us lived in a Citroen 2CV for twelve months in Europe - budget of A$10 per day, A$6 of which was for petrol. Found this was cheaper than hitchhiking and staying in hostels, as could do all our own cooking, and only go to camping area once a week for showers and clothes washing etc).

go_2 - we visited the "old" Pudding Shop in 2008 (our last visit was in 1977 at the start of our overland -by public transport - back to Australia). The Pudding Shop may be recreated something like it was in the old days, but the surrounding area has changed dramatically - cobblestone streets, fancy restaurants etc etc. Certainly not how I remember the area.

The present restaurant that bears the name of 'the Pudding Shop' is nothing like the one I remember from 1969.

Sitki (who ran the restaurant in the back street behind the Pudding shop with very cheap prices and appalling food) died in the 1990s.
Does anyone remember the 'youth hostel' at the far end of the Hippodrome, which cost 6 lira a night for a bed, in the days when there were 42 lira to the £? I've never been able to locate it since.

Even though The Pudding Shop is nothing like its former self, everyone should go inside because in the back are some framed collages that give a hint of what it once was. I was there in May--have they taken them down since?

Thanks stillmoretravel!

oooo Pudding Shop people...sounds like my kind of place! I don't think travels the same now as it was; feel sorry for the younger crowd as things don't seem as 'exotic' now when you can log on anyway and text your mates..
Sapote, I am in Patagonia Chile; off to New Zealand on the 7th Feb..How's your trip going?? Are your legs aching..haaaa
Still looking for that elusive walking/hitching partner....but I'm patient..haa

ethicalnomad, hope to go to Chile one day too. sorry we couldnt meet up for that walk about. come to oregon :) trip going well. legs still attached. enjoyed the Philippines quite alot. back for last few weeks in Malaysia, bike east coast. hope NZ was great. enjoy :)