How To Safely Travel By Catching Rides

After traveling through the United States, Central America, and South America, I returned to Europe in the summer of 2012. Sitting alone in a bar in Berlin, I contemplated where my nose would take me next.

In the years previous, both my parents had passed, and I had subsequently quit two jobs and sold just about everything I owned to globetrot for as long as possible. Tolkien famously wrote, “Not all who wander are lost,” but at that moment, I had no idea where I was going.

Yet, as I drained my glass of cellar-temperature German beer, my course of action suddenly popped into my head, fully formed. I was going to hitchhike to India.

My last and only experience of this form of vagabond transit was circa 2007 when my then-girlfriend and I randomly hitched to a music festival and snuck in for free. Terrified of flying yet wanting to see the world, hitchhiking seemed like a viable course of action to cross continents. If you prefer to fly, Going.com is another.

Upon returning to the Generator Berlin Prenzlauer Hostel, I raided the dumpsters for a suitable piece of cardboard, borrowed a fat magic marker from reception, and wrote INDIA in large letters. The following morning, a little hungover and garnering bemused looks, I wandered out to the side of a road somewhere in the south of Berlin. Within the hour, I had secured a ride to Dresden, and the mission that would consume the next six years of my life was underway.

I traveled at a glacial pace, up as far as Estonia and down as far as Greece. I ventured through all of Eastern Europe, then into the likes of Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakstan, and Kyzgystan. China wouldn’t let me have a visa to cross a land border.

But for the most part, I hitchhiked the whole way. In the Czech Republic, I decided to start raising funds for Macmillan Cancer Support – the charity that assisted my parents in their twilight years.

I upgraded my INDIA sign, and I asked everyone who ever picked me up to sign the back of it. It now has pride of place on a wall at home.

In the end, I made it as far as Cambodia. Through over forty countries, across thousands of miles, in hundreds of different vehicles, with a truly eclectic range of interesting people.

I was…