Drunks Drop Money- Travel Tip# 15 This is a fact: large assemblages of drunk people, who are repeatedly reaching into their pockets and withdrawing money, oftentimes drop un-claimable bundles of cash upon the ground. Drunks drop money. A sharp-eyed vagabond can easily make up a few days of bean money by just strolling through the [...]
Drunks Drop Money- Travel Tip# 15
This is a fact: large assemblages of drunk people, who are repeatedly reaching into their pockets and withdrawing money, oftentimes drop un-claimable bundles of cash upon the ground.
Drunks drop money. A sharp-eyed vagabond can easily make up a few days of bean money by just strolling through the action of drunken fest with their head down.
This is Vagabond Journey.com travel tip number 15.
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in Brooklyn, New York City- October 22, 2008
Travelogue
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I needed to get out of New York City, so I hopped a train to Long Beach on Long Island to go to the ocean and sleep out on the beach. I needed some fresh air and to reacquaint myself with the stars and night-time sky. So I packed up a sleeping bag and took the Long Island Railroad to the end of the line. $7 was all that was needed for this escape.
There was an Irish festival going on in Long Beach when I arrived in the early evening, and the train platform was strewn with beer cans, bottles, and yelling drunks wearing green – I think they thought green would make them Irish or something.
I followed the parade of drunks from the train station to the town, and then set my own course for the beach. The day was just coming down and there was a breeze coming in from the sea.
I felt real life again: I smoked a pipe and watched night fall in bright orange blankets over the eastern sea.
As night hit, I went over to the Irish festival. The drunks in green were really drunk and they were, of course, yelling. I kept my eyes to the ground in search of dropped, un-claimable, bundles of cash. I looked in between feet, in front of beer store entrances, and near the bars themselves.
I found:
A wallet with money in it.
A digital camera.
These were not the spoils that I was looking for. I returned the wallet to the police station, and the cop promptly removed the money from its interior right in front of me (I highly doubt the money was ever relayed on to the proper person). I let the digital camera sit where I found it until morning, in hopes that its owner would return to claim it.
After sleeping out on the beach until a five AM shower woke me from my slumber, I walked back to where the camera was. It was still there, sitting out in the rain. I figured that if its owner abandoned it outside to be consumed in a rain shower, that it was not really a valued possession. I scooped it up and made it a gift to a friend.
Although I did not find what I was looking for at the drunken Irish fest – money – what I did find is testament enough to the fact that travel funds be picked off the ground like apples from a tree.
Drunks drop money; travel funds sometimes fall from the sky.
Keep your head down, travel on.
Related Pages:
Vagabond Journey Travel Tips
Debit Cards for Travel
Label Travel Funds
Long Beach New York Website
Irish Anniversary Festival
Links to previous travelogue entries:
- Travels New York City
- David Lida Interview
- One Week Two Laptops Broken
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About the Author: VBJ
I am the founder and editor of Vagabond Journey. I’ve been traveling the world since 1999, through 91 countries. I am the author of the book, Ghost Cities of China and have written for The Guardian, Forbes, Bloomberg, The Diplomat, the South China Morning Post, and other publications. VBJ has written 3723 posts on Vagabond Journey. Contact the author.
VBJ is currently in: New York City
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November 24, 2011, 7:49 pm
Love it. And I know it’s gotta be true. I think I’ve lost some that way myself – but not lately.
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