Wigge - How to travel the world for free: one man, 150 days, eleven countries, no money!

One Man, 150 Days,
Eleven Countries, No Money!

MICHAEL WIGGE

Skyhorse Publishing

Copyright 2013 by Michael Wigge

Photos copyright Michael Wigge

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Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

Wigge, Michael.

How to travel the world for free : one man, 150 days, eleven countries, no money! /

Michael Wigge.

pages cm

ISBN 978-1-62636-031-0 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Voyages around the world.

2. Travel--Economic aspects. I. Title.

G440.W69 2013

910.4'1--dc23

2013017653

Printed in the United States of America

The Equipment

M y life has been quite good so far. For the past ten years I have been visiting places and people I desperately wanted to see, and on the way, I ended up going hunting with the Yanomami Indian tribe deep in the Amazon forest; a year later I found myself arguing with the Palestinian vice leader about political issues in the West Bank just before I lost a dramatic sumo fight with a sumo wrestler in Tokyo. My strategy has been easy: go on a crazy adventure, film it, and sell it to pay for the next one.

After visiting so many cities and countries, I set my sights on going to Antarcticapretty much the most secluded and maybe the most beautiful place on Earth, and my dream to see for years. But the trip was too expensivethe flight, cruise ship, and additional expenses would easily add up to $15,000.

So there was only one way to fulfill this rather difficult dream without inviting a financial disaster: traveling for FREE!

It took me almost a full year to plan the route, set up contacts, develop ideas how to survive without money, and get free food, free travel, and accommodations. During that year, I learned about dumpster diving, using bartering to get what I needed, and everything there is to know about getting free rides on ships, trains, cars, and planes. I was really excited about this trip, but my family and friends definitely were not:

Neighbor: I always like helping you, but dont call me from Timbuktu to get you back!

Friend: I really appreciate your crazy antics, especially when you shook Angelina Jolies hand for several minutes without giving it back to her, but dont expect her to give you food during your trip!

Other friends: Youre weird.

Family: Why havent you turned out to be normal and just worked for the bank and wore a suit?

Is it really possible to travel from Berlin to Antarctica without a single cent in your pocket? Read on and find out!

I t is the 21st of June, which means it is officially the summer solstice, and the longest day of the year. I can actually feel this all over my body. For more than three hours, I have been standing at a freeway exit trying to continue my journey toward Cologne. Thinking of the 25,000 miles I still have yet to cover, its hard to imagine that five months from now I will actually set foot in Antarcticathe end of the world, as my friends saywithout having a single penny in my pocket.

It may be the longest day of the year, but it also feels like the hottest one, and that, plus the heavy bag on my back, make the sweat pour down my overheated body like a nasty waterfall. The sun is laughing at me; the cars that pass by also, somehow, snicker with amusementIm hitchhiking with a sign on my back that reads The End of the World! so that probably has something to do with it. But none of this bothers me since my mind is already far, far away in Antarctica.

At some point, what I count as the 2,420th car whooshes past me. You see, I have noted that eleven cars drive past me about every minute, which totals to 2,420 cars in exactly 220 minutesamazing how the mind can amuse itself in the heat. If one is optimistic enough to believe what Lonely Planet says about Germany being a hitchhiker-friendly country, then one will likely wait for as long as I have been waiting.

Discouraged and soaked with my own perspiration, my Antarctic visions completely dashed, I am just about to give up and call it a day when a red van pulls up. The drivers side window rolls down and a grumbling voice calls out, Need a ride?

Arndt and Marius are returning from a convention of Leftists in Berlin. I now sit in the backseat telling them about my crazy plan of reaching Antarctica without a single cent in my pocket. However, as I talk, I realize that I am in desperate need of reliefafter being in the sun all day, youd think that I would be severely dehydrated, not needing to relieve excess liquids, but my bladder is calling and Marius is kind enough to make a pit stop in my honor. I run as fast as I can to the public toilet, only to be blocked by a gate with a sign that reads: 50 cents.

Before starting this trip, I had thought of all the possible scenarios that might require money and how to get around them, but I have to admit that this is one I didnt take into consideration at all. Something like this should be free anyway, shouldnt it? Desperate, I try charming the toilet attendantnot as easy a task as it may sound. I tell her that I have no money, that this is an emergency, and if she could just find it in her heart to let me pass through just this once, just this one time, my appreciation would be boundless.

Get a job, is her response.

Knowing that there is no way to convince her, I instead find a few nice bushes around the corner. When I get back to the van, I tell Arndt and Marius about my little... situation. They are both fired up after that Leftist convention and promptly compare my problem to that of societys class struggles. You wouldnt find anything like this in socialism! rants Marius. Hes probably right, actually. Maybe socialism isnt so bad after all...

Finally, we reach the first stop on my trip: Cologne, the city in which I lived and worked for six years. From here, the plan is to travel to Belgium, where a container ship is waiting to take me across to Canada. Since the ship wont set sail for five days, I can make use of this time to visit some old friends. However, Im not completely without ulterior motives: Im hoping to have a free place to crash for the next few nights.

My friend Hardy lives with his girlfriend in a perfectly pleasant garden bungalow near the edge of the city, and when I ring his doorbell, I am greeted warmly and immediately offered a comfy couch to stay onan offer I swiftly accept. As I tell him about my first day, my stomach starts to audibly growl, but Hardys refrigerator is as empty as my stomach.