Vagabond Journey Travel Newsletter 001

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Travel Newsletter 001

This is Vagabond Journey.com Travel Newsletter 001. This newsletter is full of travel tips, travel stories, photographs, interviews, and updates on my travels around the world. To subscribe to this free monthly newsletter and have it sent directly to your email please put your address in the box below.

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Vagabond Journey.com Travel Newsletter 001
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Contents of Newsletter 001
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Introduction
Monthly Travel Summary
Travel Tip #7- How to sleep outside for free
Photographs from the Open Road
Interview with the Traveler- Loren Everly

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Introduction
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Greetings to all of you fellow travelers and friends of the Open Road,

This is Wade from www.VagabondJourney.com and this is my first travel
newsletter. This is intended to act as a supplementation to the Song of
the Open Road Travel Blog http://www.openroadsong.com, the
Vagabond Journey.com website http://www.vagabondjourney.com, and
Photographs from the Open Road photo blog
http://www.travelerphotographs.com, as well as serving as a way for me
to better communicate with my friends and family in my effort to share
the spoils of a life spent wandering down the Open Road. If you have any
questions please do not hesitate to contact me at
vagabondsong@gmail.com

This newsletter was largely influenced by Andy of
http://www.HoboTraveler.com strategy of creating a successful travel
site: 1. Have a website, 2. Write a travel blog, 3. Send out travel
newsletters through email. I will not try to hide the fact that my
newsletters have been greatly influenced by Andy’s. It is my impression
that one should make use of the trails that have been blazed before them
and then venture out in their direction. Andy of Hobo Traveler.com is
the man who marked out the route up the mountain for me. I read his
travel blog daily, and I highly recommend it to anyone who may be
considering a life on the Open Road. http://www.hobotraveler.com

Inside of this newsletter you will find a summary of my recent travels,
brief excerpts from the Song of the Open Road Travel Blog, a Travel Tip,
an interview with a traveler, and links to travel photographs that I
have collected in my wanderings.

I hope you enjoy this!

Get out there!

Walk Slow,

Wade

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Recent Travel Summary- Morocco, Spain, Gibraltar, Portugal, France,
Morocco, USA
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Mira vomits rotten Moroccan sausages, a bicycle journey down the
Atlantic coast of Portugal, solace on the beaches of Milfontes,
interviews with graffiti artists in Lisbon, a walk through a Portuguese
ghetto, holidays with good friends in the South of France, and a return
to Morocco brings a different perspective.

Continue reading for the full travel summary.

After traveling around Morocco for a couple of months living off of
Snickers bars and tuna fish (it was the Ramadan season, you know), Mira
from Wanderjahr Jill met up with me in Casablanca. She got off the
plane, looked around a little at Morocco, puked, and then we took off to
Europe on a whim. Moroccan sausages do not agree with Mira, so we got
the crazy idea from somewhere that we should find a couple of beater
bicycles, throw together a makeshift gear hauling system, and travel
overland from the Atlantic Ocean to France.

By Bike from Lisbon to France:
http://www.openroadsong.com/2007/10/by-bike-from-lisbon-portugal-to-france.html

Song of the Open Road Morocco Posts:
http://www.openroadsong.com/search/label/Morocco

So Mira and I took a ferry across the Straight of Gibraltar from Tangier
to Algeciras, Spain, and made quick way up to Gibraltar for a cold night
of sleeping on the beach directly under the towering rock. We then
walked back to Spain and got on a direct bus to Lisbon. The cost of this
bus ticket was around $160 for the two of us. I was in complete shock.
Imagine that, one hundred and sixty US dollars for a 10 hour bus ride. I
was awe struck; never in my 8+ years of traveling have I ever paid this
much money for ground transport. Once in Lisbon we took dorm
accommodation at the Youth Hosteling International in Oerias, which is a
city just outside of Lisbon. This hostel proved to be a colossal rip-off
and I do not recommend it to anyone. But while in Oerias we were able to
pick up a couple of cheap, though new, bicycles at the Decathlon
sporting goods department store. Together, two brand new bicycles and
all of the gear hauling equipment (racks etc . . .) emptied our pockets
to the same extent as the aforementioned bus journey.

Decision to leave Morocco/ Ferry to Spain:
http://www.openroadsong.com/2007/10/ferry-from-tangier-to-algeciras.html

Up the Great Rock of Gibraltar:
http://www.openroadsong.com/2007/10/up-great-rock-of-gibraltar.html

To Portugal:
http://www.openroadsong.com/2007/10/to-portugal.html

Once our bicycles were properly outfitted with a gear rack, makeshift
panniers, and a milk crate basket, Mira and I headed off down the
beautiful Atlantic coast [read more about this journey]. It was an
awesome route: flat, coastal, and right next to the glistening sea.
Someday I will write more in depth about the roads that we took. It was
a seriously great path to traverse by bike. There were plenty of places
to camp on the sly [from Setubal to Milfontes] and the sky shown bright
blue above our heads.

Bike Journey from Lisbon to Setubal, Portugal:
http://www.openroadsong.com/2007/10/by-bicycle-from-lisbon-to-setubal.html

http://www.openroadsong.com/2007/11/by-bicycle-from-lisbon-to-setubal.html

The Joys of Traveling by Bicycle:
http://www.openroadsong.com/2007/11/joys-of-traveling-by-bicycle.html

Setubal to Vila Nova de Milfontes:
http://www.openroadsong.com/2007/11/setubal-to-vila-nova-de-milfontes-by.html

Mira and I soon rolled into the small coastal town of Vila Nova de
Milfontes with our only intention being to sit on the beach. We did not
think then that we would still be on that beach an entire month later.
Milfontes, which sits right at the apex of where the River Mira flows
into the Atlantic Ocean, proved to be an accommodating town, and we got
a good priced (15 Euro) room with a private bath at the Casa Amarela
Guesthouse. Here we found solace and comfort. It was just what I needed
after a couple of months in Morocco.

Vila Nove de Milfontes, Portugal:
http://www.openroadsong.com/2007/11/vila-nova-de-milfontes-portugal.html

We left Vila Nova de Milfontes with low slung faces, and we sold our
bicycles to the Casa Amarela Guesthouse (you can go there and ride
them!) trod on back north to Lisbon. Here, I met with and interviewed
the world renown graffiti artist, Odeith. We got on with each other as
if long lost brethren, and he took me into the ghetto of Cova Moura
which is his home. I was shocked by what I found here. It was an actual
ghetto packed full of drug addicts, African immigrants, demolished cars,
all stashed perilously on a hill overlooking Lisbon. Nothing in my
previous travels could have prepared me for such a rough neighborhood in
the heart of Western Europe. Before going in, Odeith told me that this
ghetto was on par with the ones in Rio de Janeiro. It seriously was.
Only this one did not come up on the radar of global consciousness. It
is not even forgotten, it is unacknowledged. I have realized that simply
not acknowledging social issues is the direst abuse a government can
issue.

Graffiti in Portugal Article:
http://www.openroadsong.com/2007/12/graffiti-in-portugal-other-side-of-wall.html

Interview with graffiti artist, Mr. Dheo:
http://www.openroadsong.com/2007/12/on-portuguese-graffiti-interview-with.html

Interview with graffiti artist, Eskema:
http://www.openroadsong.com/2007/12/i-nterview-with-portuguese-graffiti.html

From Lisbon, Mira and I took a train up to Porto and ran around the city
for a night before taking a cheap Ryan Air flight to France. Once in
Marseille, we met up with a couple of my old friends from Chile that I
met a few years before in Santiago [read more]. A few weeks later, we
are still here. Christmas was enjoyed, Mira learned to tattoo, my skin
was etched with a Tibetan Om and an apparition of Krishna. We then had a
New Year’s eve full of dancing and tequila- Chilean style. I thought
that the French threw their old furniture out of their windows and into
the streets below on mid-night of New Year’s Eve So I waited for a crazy
celebration of exuberance and destruction but the next morning only saw
dog poop smeared all over the streets. France is full of dog poop.

Ryan Air: The Penny Flight that Wasn't:
http://www.openroadsong.com/2007/11/ryan-air-or-penny-flight-that-wasnt.html

New Year's in France:
http://www.openroadsong.com/2008/01/new-years-eve-in-france.html

Mira and I then ran back to Morocco and sat out a few relaxing days in
Marrakesh. Mira got sick again. It is my impression that Mira only has
to look at Morocco to get diarrhea. She did not even eat the sausages
this time. So with an ill Mira, I walked through the Marrakesh souqs and
bazaars. I was wholly surprised by this heavily touristed city, as I was
able to walk through the streets unimpeded by touts, hustlers, and hotel
runners. I ate kebabs and just enjoyed watching people stroll around the
big squared trying not to be run down by horse drawn carriages.

Impressions of Marrakech:
http://www.openroadsong.com/2008/01/impressions-of-marrakech.html

But soon it was time to return to Casablanca and the USA. I am back now
with my family and am playing hockey with my nephew and learning how to
dance with my Chinese sister. This nice stay will be all to short
though, as Mira and I leave for San Jose, Costa Rica on Saturday.

Back in Casablanca:
http://www.openroadsong.com/2008/01/back-in-casablanca.html

The next Vagabond Journey.com travel newsletter should be coming out of
the depths of Nicaragua!

If you are traveling in Central America, get in touch!

Walk Slow,

Wade

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Travel Tip #7- How to Sleep Outside for Free
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Travel Tip #7- How to sleep outside for free

“An uncomfortable bed free is better than a comfortable bed unfree.”
-Jack Kerouac

In many circumstances, a traveler could find themself outside after
nightfall without a place to seek shelter and, in some cases, without
the monetary resources to rent a bed even if one was available. Or, if
you are traveling by bicycle, hitchhiking, or walking it would be
foolish to plan on entering into developed areas every night solely for
the purpose of finding shelter. In point, when on the tramp, it is often
necessary to sleep under the stars, and, in most instances, the formal
campground is not really an option- as I think they are a waste of
money. The way I see it, the entire world is one big campground ever
welcoming a clever traveler to set up a camp and stay a night- for free.
Parks, cemeteries, highway culverts, forests, strip mall roof tops,
agricultural fields, abandon beaches, the underside of bridges, and
caves usually have open vacancy for all travelers passing by. No
reservations are even required. But be careful, finding a place to camp
on the sly can be a slightly perilous pursuit, though always a true
adventure.

At the start of this travel tip I would like to say that camping on the
sly has limited use in some countries, and in others it is not really
necessary. For example, if you are traveling by public transport, which
generally jumps from population center to population center and are in a
cheap country, the need to camp out is greatly diminished. If you can
get a nearby room for between $2-$5 then it is an unnecessary risk to
sleep outside. Travelers get robbed in Latin America. Travelers
disappear in Africa. The same can be said of many other regions of the
world. I remember reading a post by Andy the Hobo Traveler.com where he
wrote about travelers who disappear while camping on the sly in Africa,
and I must say that it is true:

“- A person has to be a Fou, has to be a NUT, and has to want to die to
live in a tent and camp in West Africa. -

NOTE: Just because you never heard of a person, dying when they are
camping does not mean it does not happen A missing traveler is only
missed by his family and friends, they just vanish.”
Andy the Hobotraveler.com, from his blog post

I Was Once Lost But Now I Am Found:
http://www.hobotraveler.com/labels/Camping.html

I was traveling in the jungles of Peru in 2001, and I met a French girl
in Puculpa who was searching for her lost brother. Two years before they
were backpacking together in Peru, and one night her brother left the
hotel to go out and quickly grab something from a store. He never
returned. True story. He was never found. The girl went on with stories
about how she thinks that he may have ran off into the jungle and was
now living with some indigenous tribe; she showed me his photograph as
well as the area on a map that she figured he could be it. I did not
have the heart to say it, but I knew that her brother was probably dead.

So I must assert here that if you are traveling in a potentially
dangerous country where you can get a cheap room without too much
difficulty (Central and South America, Africa, parts of Asia), take it.
I feel that the risk to money ratio in these places directs one to err
on the side of safety. But if you are traveling an expensive country
like Europe, the USA, Canada, Japan, a somewhat benign country like
China; are riding a bike, walking, or hitch-hiking and cannot have
regular access to cheap accommodation, or you truly do not have any
money, I write this travel tip for you based off of my own experience.

Places to Sleep:

Under ordinary circumstances a traveler would want to find an
inconspicuous place to sleep where there is little chance of detection;
but be warned, if you happen to be found in such a remote location it
could mean trouble. The very discreet nature of camping on the sly means
that if you are perchance detected by a group of drunks, thieves, or
angry landowners there will probably be nobody to come to your aid. It
is both safer and more dangerous to sleep in remote locations. Be
careful, choose your camp wisely.

Good places where I usually try to camp:
1. Forests or woods near highways far away from any city or town.

2. In the bushes near expressway junctures or by on and off ramps.
Usually people, unless hitchhiking or weird, do not frequent areas near
major express ways.

3. Along hiking trails in the mountains or forests. This is just like
formal camping only without paying. It is a good move to prepare in
advance to sleep in such places, as sometimes it takes a little time to
find trail heads or get to the nature area.

4. Under bridges outside of the realm of urban influence. Get far away
from cities before sleeping under a bridge least you may have some
unexpected company.

5. Hotel parking lots if you have a vehicle. In adjacent fields if you
are on foot or bike. Hotels often own mowed fields with trees and bushes
for shelter.

6. If in Asia you can sleep in old shrines, monasteries, and temples.
These have long been the sleeping places for travelers in East Asia. Old
religious buildings provide for great nights of sleep.

7. On hills that overlook small villages. Often times hill tops around
small villages are left vacant. Climbing up during the day will allow
you to find a good place to camp.

8. On beaches. Be sure to get into a part of the beach that will
probably not be frequented by mid-night frolicers.

9. Universities. If you are young looking, you can usually pull off
being on university campuses late at night. Just act like you belong
there and find yourself a sleeping place in advance during the day light
hours. If you are accosted by a security guard just act offended and say
that you are a student. If you are in a foreign country just speak your
native tongue and try to brush off your

Bad places that I usually try to avoid camping:

1. In or anywhere near cities.

2. Parks, unless nature reserves, very, very large, or you find a really
good place to camp.

3. Highly trafficked areas. Sometimes even rural areas attract a large
amount of early morning traffic. Get away from roads or paths. Just
because a place seems deserted at night, does not mean that it will be
in the morning.

4. Abandon buildings. You never know what you may find inside.

Things to consider:

1. Is the location out of the zone of urban influence? Try to avoid
sleeping in cities or near them if you can help it. Large cities can
have a zone of influence of around 50 km; to camp on the sly within this
radius requires a good amount of diligence. Be careful, even if a
location outside of a city seems to be agricultural, it could still be
within the zone of urban influence. If you are hitchhiking, biking, or
walking as a means of traveling, think twice before entering into a
large urban area if you are not sure that you can get out before
nightfall.

2. Will you be hidden? Opt out of an area that people my frequent after
nightfall. If you are on a beach, get away from any area that may
attract people partying in the night. In point, find somewhere that is a
little difficult to get to.

3. Will you be detected as you get in and set up camp? If you have to
walk past populated areas to get to a possible place to camp, then you
may want to reconsider it. Try to find a place that people do not really
go.

4. Do you think the police patrol the area? The police are a traveler’s
biggest danger in any country. If caught by the police, be honest about
everything. Usually they will just tell you to be careful and let you
camp out the night.

5. What day of the week is it? Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights are
often blossom with drunks in many areas. Stay away from all potential
drinking areas- accessible beaches included.

When to go in and when to leave:

Get in late and get out early. This is a general rule for camping on the
sly. But in some more remote areas, especially if you have a bicycle and
real camping equipment, setting up camp before sundown could be a really
good idea, and it is sometimes nice to have a nice restful morning after
waking up in the middle of a beautiful forest.

I just always have a paranoia about people noticing me going into a
place that I would like to sleep in. I want to have a clear mind to
enjoy a beautiful night outside; I do not want to be thinking about who
saw me preparing my camp and if they are going to surprise me in the
night.

What to do if you are caught:

1. Act cool. I was once woken up by a crack addict in the middle of the
night once while sleeping in a hotel field near New York City. I acted
cool, and told the the guy where I thought he could buy some crack in
the hotel. I turned out to be right.

2. Act like a lunatic. Seriously, I believe that most people in this
world think that people who sleep outside are potentially nuts. Act
crazy. If you have been camping on the sly for a while then you probably
look a little disheveled anyway. Run with it.

3. Run. Just jump out of your sleeping bag and run away in your
underroos. I do not think that many people want to be chase naked people
around in the woods. Once the potential threat is gone you can go back
and collect whatever is left of your belongings.

4. Fight. If your intruders are hostile, and you think that you are in
danger no matter what you do, fight. It is my feeling that you will have
a better chance fighting than meeting aggression with passiveness. If
you found a good secluded place to camp, then there will probably not be
anybody to come to your aid or any witnesses. I sleep with a knife next
to me at all times, though I think I do this just for comfort, I do not
plan on ever using it. Running is usually always a better alternative
than fighting. You never know what may happen in the night.

5. Yell. Reprimand your potential assailant and act stronger than they
are.

6. Listen. The person waking you up may not always have negative
intentions. Gauge the situation before you decide on a course of action.
People still do nice things in this world; maybe someone is just worried
about you sleeping outside and wants to offer assistance. I have had
this happen repeatedly in Japan.

Equipment:

I tend to not carry much of anything with me while traveling. I just
have a mid-size rucksack that is only scarcely larger than a school
child’s back pack and sometimes a supplemental smaller bag. But I do
carry the following articles in case I ever need to quickly make camp:

A plastic tarp
A lighter or waterproof matches
A lightweight sleeping bag
A headlamp or flashlight
A Swiss Army Knife
Some sort of weapon

A plastic tarp, like the ones used on construction sites, is an
extremely useful addition to any traveler’s gear assemblage. They are
lightweight, durable, waterproof, and, on cold nights, even warm. These
tarps can be used for many different purposes while on the road.

It may seem a little odd for me to suggest carrying a weapon, but I
would not leave the front door of my parent’s farm without one. I carry
a one hand quick opening, preferably black bladed knife in my right hand
pocket, a sheathed hunting knife on the front of my belt (not the back
), and sometimes I have been known to travel with a large “walking”
stick. Up to now- 8 years- I have not had to use any of them. If I were
in a situation in which I needed to use any of these weapons it would
seriously need to be a life or death situation, and I honestly do not
know how I would fare. It would take a very dire situation to provoke me
to pull my knife, but I do know that if I ever have to do so, I had
better try my best to use it quickly. Because I know that if someone is
bold enough to threaten my life, they probably will not be intimidated
by my four inch hunting knife. I do believe that running away or
submitting to attacks is usually a better option than fighting back. In
eight years, I have been attacked three times- two times I fought back
just enough to get away, and once I completely submitted. I believe I
acted appropriately in each instance. My only advice here is to trust
your instincts and just do what you feel you need to.

In Conclusion:

If you are traveling by bicycle, walking, or hitchhiking, then you
should prepare to sleep outside often, but if you are generally
traveling by public transport between population centers then it is rare
that you cannot find a room (the problem is if you can afford to sleep
in it ). In Europe and Japan the cost of a cheap place to stay is far
beyond my means, and I find myself seeking free accommodation or the
woods almost every night- and I plan accordingly. But in Latin America,
the Indian subcontinent, and Southeast Asia I find that am rarely ever
financially required to seek refuge outside. I usually spend between
$5-$12 a day in these places including a decent bed, and I live like a
king- to sleep outside in these places would only be for the fun and
adventure of doing so, or to get to really remote areas.

In all, have fun while camping on the sly.

It requires you use all of your senses and intuition, is always exciting
and sometimes frightening.

In my opinion, this is what traveling is all about.

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Photographs from the Open Road
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Photos of Moroccan People:
http://www.travelerphotographs.com/2008/01/photographs-of-moroccan-people.html

Photographs from Marrakesh:
http://www.travelerphotographs.com/2008/01/photographs-from-marrakech.html

Photos from Morocco:
http://www.travelerphotographs.com/2007/11/photos-from-morocco.html

Photographs from Meknes, Morocco:
http://www.travelerphotographs.com/2007/10/photographs-from-meknes.html

Photos from Rabat, Casablanca, Chellah Ruins:
http://www.travelerphotographs.com/2007/09/morocco-rabat-casablanca-chellah-ruins.html

Photographs from Portugal:
http://www.travelerphotographs.com/search/label/Portugal-Photos

Photographs from France:
http://www.travelerphotographs.com/search/label/France

Photos of Rock Monkeys from Gibraltar:
http://www.travelerphotographs.com/2007/11/photographs-of-rock-monkeys-of.html

Photos from USA:
http://www.travelerphotographs.com/search/label/USA

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Interview with the Traveler, Loren Everly
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I first met Loren Everly http://www.loreneverly.org in the windswept,
desolate city of Ulanbaatar, Mongolia. We were both staying at the
Golden Gobi guesthouse and bonded when I offered him an orange (a real
delicacy in the non-fertile shrublands of the Gobi) and, out of sheer
courtesy, he refused to accept more than half of it. In this way, we
became fast friends and lazed around the comfortable couches of the
guesthouse for the next week. We both needed to rest, as Loren just
finished a hitch hiking journey across China and I had been traveling in
India and China for the previous eight months. The empty plains of
Mongolia seemed to be the perfect decompression center for the both of
us, and we passed day after day just idly chatting with other travelers,
lazily reading from books, and working on our websites. But soon this
easy life reach the end of its tether, and one morning Loren said to me,
“I am going to get a train ticket back to China, do you want me to pick
one up for you as well?”

I needed to ponder Loren’s offer for a few moments, as I was planning to
be in Mongolia for the next three months, and this was a proposition to
travel in the exact opposite direction. But Loren was full of glorious
talk about hitch-hiking back across China and making it down to a
beautiful lady in Suzhou. It seemed as if this journey would be a truly
romantic adventure in all regards, and I have a very difficult time
turning my back on such propositions. My choices were presented before
me: three months of the beautiful, yet somewhat lonely emptiness of
Mongolia or a mad hitch-hiking journey back across the Old Middle
Kingdom, so a knight of a traveler could scoop up his princess at the
end of the road. As Harry Franck once wrote, “Plans are quickly made in
the vagabond world,” and I actualized this sentiment as I had Loren pick
me up a train ticket.

During this hitch-hiking voyage across China, I realized that Loren
Everly is not an ordinary traveler: he is a wandering man displaced from
the old glory days of the vagabond, a tramp who ventures far beyond his
own time of tourism and phoney pay- per- adventure vanity. Loren is a
real traveler in the flesh, the kind of vagabond that you often read of
in books and only seldom meet in real life. After a couple days of being
with him, I realized that he was not man, but traveling machine.

First off, he has the makings of a photographic memory and can
permanently memorize maps, highway junctures, and landmarkless, barren
roads with only a brief glance. I remember the lax way that he consulted
an internet map before our China journey. He simple pulled up a really
awful illustration of China’s highway system, looked at it for a moment,
took a few brief notes on a yellow post-it note, and memorized the whole
thing. At this time, I thought to myself that there would be no way that
he could utilize that horrible internet cartoon map and his sketchy
notes, and that we would be standing out in the middle of some knotted,
Beijing highway cluster with no idea how to get anywhere. But I was
wrong. Loren navigated the Chinese highway system with a deft agility
that was beyond my comprehension. We would be standing on a ramp of a
busy highway with trucks and cars screaming by at top speed in all
directions, and Loren would just calmly point to a far off juncture in a
sea of overpasses, on ramps, off ramps, and Chinese road signs and be
like, “I think that is our road.” And he would be correct. I am still
bewildered by his astute navigational ability. If I am ever cast adrift
in the middle of a great ocean, I can only hope that Loren Everly is
sitting right there with me to find our way back to shore.

Secondly, he knows how to hold onto his bean money. I feel that this is
one of the greatest skills that a wanderer can have in his bag, as, “the
traveler who saves a dollar today, has a dollar to travel another day.”
Loren seems to know this little adage well, and is ingenious at coming
up with little ways of saving money while on the Road. He knows that
cheap can always be cheaper, and lets it show in all aspects of his
travels. At multiple junctures in our hitch hiking voyage we would be
picked up by people who wanted us to pay them for their transportation
service. Loren would not hear of such an impropriety, as Americans do
not pay to hitch-hike, and would promptly jump out of the vehicle
without shedding a dime. He also is not afraid to push the limits a
little, and give a crooked bus conductor the old “stone-face” to avoid
having to pay an inflated price. We were in a particularly rough stretch
of highway in the industrial wasteland that surrounds Beijing, so we
flagged down a bus just to get to a better location for hitching. The
conductor on this bus tried to charge us a ridiculous amount of money
for the short distance that we wished to travel, so Loren directed me to
sit in my seat and look out the window without saying anything. This
tactic proved to be a success, and we were able to ignore the
conductor’s banter until we jumped off the bus at the next highway
juncture without losing any money.

Loren Everly also seems able to go without many basic life necessities
while traveling, and is not afraid of uncomfortable circumstances. One
thing that really impressed me in this regard is that he doesn’t seem to
need much food while on the Road. I suppose the fact that being a life
long vegetarian and travelling in such a meat centric country as China
may have had something to do with this, but the fact still stands that
he was able to make the entire trip from Ulanbaatar to Shanghai on a
lump of cheese, an ice cream cone, and a bag of cookies. Loren is also
able to put general creature comforts and so-called basic necessities on
hold while on the Road, and is able to make the most of the conditions
that providence dishes up for him. If traveling calls for being thirsty,
Loren does not drink; if there is no food, Loren does not eat; if a
cheap bed is not available, Loren sleeps under a tree; if the cost of
public transport is too high Loren walks.

In point, Loren Everly is a traveller’s traveller. He is truly an
all-star shining out in this profession of survey vagabonds. I learned a
lot about living and traveling from Loren’s example.
But his steadfast astuteness proved to be a little too much for me as we
were standing on the highway outside of Tai Shan for five hours with
empty bellies and no evident prospect of getting a lift. My biological
needs were crying out to me to call it a day and go into the city for a
big dish of eggs and tomatoes with white rice and a bottle of beer. So I
bid farewell to Loren with a big hug, ran to the other side of the
highway, and flagged down a bus going into the city. This put a cap on
my travels with Loren Everly, but as I turned around and shot one last
look back at him stubbornly standing on the side of the highway with his
thumb defiantly stuck out at his side, I knew that I would someday walk
down the Open Road with him again.

I found out later that he got a ride around ten minutes after I left him
on that highway which took him all the way to his lady in Suzhou. So it
is written, Loren completed a hitch-hiking journey from Mongolia to
Shanghai on a lump of cheese, an ice cream cone, a bag of cookies, an
ingenious memory, and brilliant travel instincts. So being, he firmly
earned my respect.

Loren Everly is now 27 years old and has been on the Road since his late
teens. He grew up in Hawai’i and made his first jump up to Alaska while
still a university student. From here he has traveled and lived in
Iceland, Scandinavia, Western and Eastern Europe, Russia, Sub-Saharan
Africa, South Asia, Tibet, China, Korea, and Japan. I once asked him
what all of this travelling has taught him about global culture, and he
simply replied, “ This is what I have found. That there are differences
around the world, but they are more minor than they are made out to be.”
Wise words from an incredibly astute, seasoned traveler.

After traveling with Loren across China, it became apparent that he
possesses a large amount of hard earned, traveling knowledge.
Henceforth, I was provoked to conduct the following interview with him
to serve as the feature article for the first issue of Vagabond Song, as
Loren is a true vagabond in ever sense of the title.

The interview with Loren:

1.Can you give a brief descriptions of your travels up to now? What
countries have you been to? For how long?

I've been to a lot of countries, between seventy and eighty. So a list
of them would be a bit excessive. I've lived most of my life in Hawai'i
where I was born and raised, when I first moved away I went to Alaska.
This was for an exchange program during university, and I ended up
transferring there and spending two years in Alaska. Next I lived in
Quebec for five months, and for a university exchange program. After
that I used university again to go to South Africa where I lived for six
months. While not at university there I wandered about Southern Africa.
Going as far north as Malawi. After finishing my bachelors degree back
in Alaska I moved to Iceland. On and off I ended up spending two years
in Iceland. In Iceland I wanted to get a job teaching English but I
wasn't qualified. So I went to Hungary for a month to take a CELTA
course (Cambridge English Language Teaching Adults). While I was in
Iceland I started going to university again and to broaden my studies I
ended up taking a four month detour in Finland. Eventually the wider
world was calling and I left Europe for Asia, ending up in South Korea
for six months. There are other countries I have spent a decent amount
of time in, more than a month, sometimes a few months, but since I was
traveling the whole time, or staying with friends and family I don't
consider them places I've lived. These are Russia, China, India and
Japan.

2. Why did you first begin traveling?

I have had a significant interest in the wider world for as long as I
can remember. I started collecting coins when I was eight years old and
that helped to fuel a great interest in geography, and history. Also I
didn't have a lot of opportunity to travel while growing up. I come from
a rural island in Hawai'i and it may have contributed to permanent
feelings of cabin fever.

3. Before you set out on your journeys, did you ever think that you
would have spent this much time on the Road?

I didn't really expect to spend so much time traveling. It wasn't part
of a grand plan. It has become a lifestyle and I am always drawn down
the road, around the next bend and to the next city on a map, or a
beautiful waterfall someone tells me about. The roads are all connected
and you can never really come to the end of it.

4. How much money do you usually spend per day in various regions of the
world? (Example: Europe- how much?, East Asia- how much?, South Asia?
Africa? China? SE Asia? North America?)

It varies a lot. I tend to be very cheap, less so if I am traveling with
someone else. I am also quite bad at keeping track of exactly how much I
spend per day. Probably the two cheapest countries I have traveled
through are Bangladesh and India. The most expensive was easily North
Korea. Although that is a special circumstance. I will save money by
sleeping outside sometimes, although it is also a laziness, I don't like
to look for lodging after dark, and sometimes it just isn't convenient
to find it. The last year and a half I have used couchsurfing for free
lodging, and more importantly nice people to meet along the way and show
me around. I can't give concrete dollar figures to my daily expenses.
Generally I have found South Asia to be the cheapest part of the world,
followed by South East Asia, Africa and China, next is East Asia, then
Europe, Japan, and North America. Japan is far more expensive then
anywhere else in Asia.

5. How do you get money to travel with? Do you work on the Road?

I work. I take whatever job comes my way, generally I am not
particularly satisfied with it and I quit before too long. I tend to
live simply and I am usually able to save a lot of money. I don't feel
that I am working on the road, for me it feels like I set a series of
temporary bases to use as launching pads to explore the surrounding
region. So while I lived for a while in Iceland I made frequent trips
around Europe, South Africa was a base for the southern third of the
continent, and South Korea for most of Asia.

6. What is your usual mode of transport while travelling?

I like to travel overland (or oversea) as much as possible. It has
become rather an obsession. The root is that I feel a need to see what
is between any two places, and I don't feel I get that in the air. Once
I have traveled by surface between two points I am less opposed to air
travel. Also after months on the road a trip in the air is magical. It
is so quick and comfortable. Also air travel tends to be expensive and
the less I spend the more time I can stay on the road. I love trains and
ships, if those aren't an option then I will take buses, now and then I
like to hitchhike, it is a good change of pace. You meet interesting
people you wouldn't otherwise come across. Sometimes it is good to do a
walkabout, to ride a horse. This isn't really traveling transport
though, it is more side adventures.

7. What are your feelings about guidebooks?

I have mixed feelings about guidebooks. I think there inaccurate, heavy
and expensive. But they can be quite helpful at times as well. I used to
search more for the road less traveled exclusively. Now I am more mellow
about it. I have found that if a place is important in a Lonely Planet
book then it will be full of travelers. What I generally like to do now
is to travel out in the middle of nowhere for a while, and when I get
tired of not having anyone to talk to and the comforts of tourist
infrastructure then it is nice to go where the tourists are. I don't
generally travel with guidebooks myself, but I will often ask to take a
look at the guidebooks of others. So sometimes I use them, but I don't
trust them, and in using them I feel like I am cheating ;).

8. How do you think traveling has changed you as a person?

The short answer is not much. I feel I am the same person I always was.
Looking at my effect on others I think I have become more patient, and
resourceful.
How has travelling changed the way that you view the world?

Going to a place, even for a short time always gives me a greater depth
of feeling about it. It is very different to read about some country in
the news and remember what it is like to get a meal there, to find
somewhere to sleep or have a chat with a local. The general view is
always a stereotype. It has to be because you can not have depth in the
feeling of places you have never been, and least not in the way of a
walk in their streets gives you.

9. Why do you travel?

I travel because I am lazy and it is the easiest way to live.

10. After being on the Road for so long and travelling through so many
countries and cultures, what, in general, do you think about the present
state of the human species?

I think times are good, the world at the moment is probably easier to go
around in then at any time in history, the infrastructure is getting
better in most parts of the world and most societies and governments are
if not welcoming at least not closed. I think this is a calm before a
more chaotic period as problems with energy production, water supply and
environmental damage create a less stable world.

11. What advice do you have for someone who aspires to travel but
hesitates because of economic/ perceived conflicting responsibility/
fear of the future/ fear of the unknown factors?

Just get out there. It is easier than you think. I have never made much
money, and I spend a good deal of my time traveling the world. You don't
need so much stuff, and without it you are free. Most people in the
world are wonderful and will help you when you are looking for
something. You don't need to know the language. I fear the future too,
so get out there while it is easy and before times get tough.

12. Could you tell a me a story from your travels?

In the spring of 2001 I was a student at university in Alaska. Spring
break was coming up and I didn't have any money to head out of town.
This was early March and snow was still on the ground. I'd heard of a
nice hot springs down in British Columbia and decided to go and check it
out. My boss said it was crazy and my friends as well. I was not
prepared very well at all. I had no tent, borrowed a sleeping bag, had
no large backpack to throw it in and so I took a duffel bag.

The first day wasn't so bad. I got heaps of rides, long ones and short
ones. A lot of interesting folks, religious fundamentalists and hippies.
Old and young. My last ride came as night was coming on, it was a very
drunk Indian who dropped me off at a pull out. There was deep snow on
the ground and one of those signs telling about the landscape below.
This sign was a sort of box and I noticed there was a board missing from
the back. So with freezing hands and my leatherman I pried another one
off and crawled inside. It was very cold, but at least I was out of the
wind. It was a long night, too cold to sleep, and I was in too small a
space to lie down. At some point in the night I decided to light a fire
with a book I got from one of my religious fundamentalist rides. It made
my little din smoky and I almost burned my borrowed sleeping bag, but it
was much better. In the morning I caught a ride with a guy going all the
way to Seattle.

It was a nervous time for me at the Canadian border at Beaver Creek, the
guard took me inside to ask a few questions, but he was nice. Just
wanted to know if I had enough money and knew what I was doing hitching
to Canada.

There was the rest stop with coyotes. I remember their weary fear, them
devouring an apple I threw their way. I wouldn't want to spend a night
with them though.

Lunch in Whitehorse. Warmth. The Alcan is a beautiful road, you can be
on it for hours alone, it winds endlessly through the forests and
swamps, here and there they work on it. In all seasons, battling against
the permafrost that always opens holes, creates waves in the road. By
the time my ride was ready to sleep we were by Liard hot springs in
northern B.C. not quite at the place though. He slept in his car and I
curled up half under it. In the gravel by the roadside, a truck passing
now and then. It was warmer than Alaska at least. In the morning I was
at Liard. A park closed for the winter. Trudging through thick snow.
Board walks. Then warm pools, hot pools. All to myself. There were two
areas, one main one and another a little way away. Closed for some
reason. I spent the whole day in and out of the hot water, surrounded by
snow and forest.

At night I decided to sleep in a changing room to be out of the wind.
Late at night or in the early morning hours some group came through
drinking and loud. Fortunately they didn't need to change as I was too
tired to be social, and why was I sleeping in a changing room anyway?

So in the morning I decided to head back. I bought some water from a
shop across the street, and started walking. I went along for some hours
without any luck. Then a guy picked me up who was heading to Alaska from
Florida. I had my ride all the way back to Fairbanks He stopped for the
night in Haines Junction and let me sleep on the floor of his motel
room. So I had a luxury time going back. I was dropped at my door after
about 2100km and 4 nights out. My friends were happy to see me and
surprised I was back so soon after going to B.C. It was a lovely trip
and one of the stupidest things I've done. I don't recommend hitching in
March in Alaska and Northern Canada. You will meet some nice people, but
it is too cold to be a very wise thing to do.

13. Where are you planning on going next?

I will be teaching English in Saudi Arabia. On the way I will visit some
friends in New England and Ontario.

14. To close this interview, do you think that you will always be on the
Road, or do you have fantasies of settling down somewhere for the long
haul?

I don't plan to stay a vagabond forever. I do fantasize about a
permanent base. Somewhere I can relax, make cozy. I would like to try
traveling in a grander and more expensive style. To do that I will have
to work longer before quitting or get a better job. I suppose my ideal
is finding a well paying job that requires travel and allows for a lot
of side trips. I don't think I could ever completely settle now. But I
do want a base.

Loren Everly is a traveller and a writer. Please visit his website at
http://www.loreneverly.org to read his travel writings, travel blog, and
awesome collection of license plate and telephone booth photographs from
around the world. He is currently teaching in Saudi Arabia and is
planning on going on a hitch-hiking voyage to the south of the country
as well as a short trip back to India in the near future.

To read the travelogue posts about our Chinese hitch-hiking jourrney
please visit Hitching Across the Middle Kingdom:
http://canciondelvagabundo.blogspot.com/2007/05/hitching-accross-middle-kingdom.html

from my Song of the Open Road Travel Blog or Crossing the Tibetan
Plateau, and Leaving Mongolia:
http://loreneverly.org/blog/index.php?entry=entry070606-102749
and Hitching to Suzhou:
http://loreneverly.org/blog/index.php?entry=entry070606-133946
from Loren Everly's blog.

---------------------------------------------------------
In Conclusion
---------------------------------------------------------

So this is it, the first Vagabond Journey.com Travel Newsletter. Please
email me at dirtbagsan-@yahoo.com to tell me what you think or
to give me suggestions. I am still new at this internet publishing
fiasco, so I need all the help I can get hehehe.

Thank you for reading!

Walk Slow,

Wade

Song of the Open Road Travel Blog:
http://canciondelvagabundo.blogspot.com
Photographs from the Open Road:
http://www.travelerphotographs.com
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