

Travel like they did in the old days: ie, travel for hackers and eccentrics - Ixiaus
http://www.roadjunky.com/guide/761/how-to-travel-for-free

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gambling8nt
After my freshman year of college I hitchhiked from Washington DC to San
Francisco, zig-zagging across the US. While I did not travel with absolutely
nothing (nor did I hitch the entire way; parts of it I went by bus), I wound
up spending between $2 and $5 a day on food, so I think my experience is
sufficiently similar to what was talked about in the OP to comment.

There were several important points missed by the OP. Hitchhiking across long
distances is slow and incredibly discouraging--especially in featureless areas
like the US Midwest. Heck knows how people on the Oregon trail managed it.
People almost universally insist on dropping you off in a town or a city, but
nobody picks up hitchhikers inside of a town or city (unless they're willing
to pay their way), so you have to walk back out into the middle of nowhere
before you'll have much of a chance of picking up a ride.

If you ever do find yourself hitchhiking, you want to immediately protect
yourself from the climate. (This ought to be obvious, but apparently isn't
based on my interactions with some people regarding this sort of thing.) In
places where it's cold, you want to be sure to be wearing something warm and
dry; in places where it's warm, you'll want to have bottles for water, and a
means to carry it (and I don't just mean the dinky kind you can usually get as
bottled water...by the end of my journey I was happily carrying two 2-liter
soda bottles and a 1-liter bottle someone had given me for water in the
backpack I had brought with me).

Speaking of items to have with you, a towel actually is useful--something
large enough to use as a blanket to cut down on heat loss due to wind,
something you can wet down and wrap around your head to cool off in high heat,
something to help clean yourself off when the opportunity presents itself.

Whatever you do, you should try to be aware of local laws and practices and
how they will affect you; for instance, while it is technically illegal to
walk along interstate roads in most of the US, it's not likely you'll attract
police attention unless you walk dangerously close to traffic, or appear to be
obviously armed and dangerous. The one time I was picked up for this, the cop
dropped me off at a nearby exit and gave me directions on how to efficiently
complete the next leg of my journey using only state and local roads.

This segues nicely into another general principle. Be nice to people you run
into. As long as it doesn't look like you have anything worth taking,
essentially every human interaction you have will be positive as long as you
act positively towards others--this is more true than usual, since, as a
hitchhiker, no one can really expect to get everything from you, so the only
people who will interact with you at all will be people who want to help you.
Such people can be easily discouraged if you don't appear friendly, or
grateful for their assistance.

There's a lot more to be said about the hitchhiking experience, but the most
important point to drive home is this: traveling long distances, mostly on
foot, is not to be undertaken lightly. It is grueling, unpredictable, and
often discouraging. It is not a good way to get from point A to point B, when
they are separated by large distances. But it will let you meet a variety of
interesting people in--and see a lot more of--the space in between.

~~~
Ixiaus
An awesome comment! My travels haven't been quite that rigorous, as traveling
through India by train was so cheap there was no reason not to do it.

Inspiring to say the least; one of my aspirations is to do exactly what you
have done in the US but in South America - I've met a few people who have done
it and you pretty much reflect what they've said on the subject (only
difference being in other countries with less development).

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phrotoma
I've given considerable thought lately to giving something like this a try.
Anyone tried soemthing like this and lived without turning into a hippy?

~~~
Ixiaus
The OP has.

I've also done budget/independent/backpacker travel.

Trust me, you won't turn into a hippie; you'll just get more cultured,
rougher, intelligent, and worldly. Oh, a lot of things stop scaring you too
(things like not having enough money, being alone, silly things IMHO).

You meet incredible people too. I admire many of the people we all
collectively tend to admire on Hacker News (PG and other hacker/smart people);
but the people you meet across the world are so intelligent it will blow your
mind - without ever having come across a computer in their entire life.

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shakedown
an interesting, possibly more efficient, and absolutely healthier way to
travel for cheaply is to travel via bicycle. research 'bicycle touring' and
you could be in for an adventure where you have the means to get yourself many
miles your own physical power, without relying on hitching rides.

