How did we come to the journey around the world
The end of the school is coming and we face a big lifetime decision. To look for a job? We think that there will be plenty of time for career in the future so we came up with the idea to travel the world. Or at first to travel to faraway Asian wilderness. Who knows, where we end up. We would like to reach India by hitchhiking. And then? Maybe we´ll come back home and maybe we´ll move on further for many more years!
How did we come to the journey around the world
The idea to hitchhike around the world did not just come to our mind from one day to the next. With Jurky, my best friend we already hitchhiked in the past (trip to Italy) and travelled (low-cost two-month roaming in the US) and volunteered (three weeks in hippie train station in Poland). We´ve met many interesting people, their ideas and opinions on the world – we would hardly get to know them if we stayed at home. Today it´s possible to travel with almost no money and we could see this with our own eyes when we met those people. And we took to this. During the school we started to save some money and before we realized it, we passed the finals.
How we quit our job and roamed across the USA (click here)
Jurky and Klochy hitchhiking across Europe
As Dale Carnegie mentions in one of his books, „The school system is set for a long time and is already outdated. If every high-school graduate was being taught a subject called „How to travel the world and even get paid for it“ two or three times a week for ten years, he would simply know how. But nobody nowadays knows why is the syllabus full of Math (Physics, Biology, Literature, Art lesson – add whichever subject you want) and includes quite that zero subjects about travelling and making a fortune. The need expressed by the title of this hypothetical subject is equally human as the need to count up the salary. Maybe sometimes even more essential. The title of this subject is chosen on the basis of reasons very often occurring in the structure of lifetime wishes, needs, aims and dreams of students (that is to travel a lot with minimum costs, even with an income). And at the beginning they are very much out of sort, when I´m telling them that it´s possible. I repeat – it is possible.“
Wandering across magical Moroccan streets
After travelling across Europe and North America we took a trip to Morocco, where we have fallen in love with completely different culture. For the first time we encountered something other than „western way of life“. None of latest fashion, no TV in every household, no tippling alcohol in every pub (even though I do not claim that I won´t miss this as well). Let me point out that we travelled there mainly through small villages, where thanks to couchsurfing and our friend Abdou we experienced authentic life of people from inside. That´s why we decided within our first long journey to be headed for south-eastern Asia, where we want to seek after yet unfashionable and immaculate spots of our diverse world. Although we realize that modern progress already forges ahead everywhere with immense speed. It´s high time to hit the road.
How are we going to travel?
Besides few stuff and clothes we carry the tent. The two of us can share its weight. We love camping, just like that – to find a place with the view of stunning nature, for us it´s one of the best ways how to enjoy life. And who knows how long I´ll be satisfied with this long-term discomfort. To travel in a dirty and punk way may not keep me lifelong. However – the longer the better, I hope so far.
Our free camping in desert wilderness of California
Afterwards we want to visit a couple of friends, mainly thanks to Erasmus where I´ve met amazing people and I want to see them at least one more time. Another great thing which changed my life is Couchsurfing. We will „surf the couches“ of various local people all over the world. Thanks to brilliant idea of sharing (and thanks to elaborated system of recommendations also safe) is the webpage of couchsurfing one of the best things of the modern time. At no cost we can sleep over at people who usually become our good friends. But first of all is not about the money, it´s about people. That they show us the life of a place from the point of view of local inhabitants, not from the point of view of tourists and hotel rooms. But sometimes we find also cheap rooming houses, hotels, hostels, caves… Another thing we would like to go on with whilst travelling is the volunteering, but we will talk about it later in detail.
Volunteering in alternative ecological and artistic centre in Poland
And why hitchhiking? One thing is that we save on sharing the ride. But most importantly because it´s a huge adventure and the feeling of not knowing which way, how, when and with whom are you going to get to unknown destination is truly freeing. It´s smashing feeling not to know what happens with our life within the next hour. Sometimes it could be boring, sometimes people confide to us as to their psychologist. It´s probably because of they might never ever meet us again in their life so often they are more open to us than to their closest relatives.
Maybe more eco-friendly? Whilst traveling we saw a lot of things therefore we try more and more to treat the nature with considerateness. We are aware of how we are polluting our miraculous planet. Progress´s still not the way we imagine, but we do take small steps. And right on such way we get the best opportunity to get to know ourselves better and to broaden our personal points of view and opinions (for example recycling, vegan way of life, zero waste). Once a friend of mine told me, that I cannot save the whole world by myself. So far the best answer is following short story:
A young girl was walking along a beach upon which thousands of starfish had been washed up during a terrible storm. When she came to each starfish, she would pick it up, and throw it back into the ocean. People watched her with amusement.
She had been doing this for some time when a man approached her and said, “Little girl, why are you doing this? Look at this beach! You can’t save all these starfish. You can’t begin to make a difference!”
The girl seemed crushed, suddenly deflated. But after a few moments, she bent down, picked up another starfish, and hurled it as far as she could into the ocean. Then she looked up at the man and replied, “Well, I made a difference to that one!”
However, we know that everything is still ahead of us. Maybe things will end up differently. This way of travelling is surely not suitable for everyone, everybody´s got his own way. Whether we speak about travelling or a way of life. We are going to fulfil our dreams, in our own way.
Hitting the road
It´s August 2016 and we are packing all of our stuff into one backpack. Our whole life. We believe that the less we possess the more freedom we gain. Less bound to the material things which often require taking care of them. That´s why when I tidy up at home, lots of clothes which gathers up during my life I donate to the charity. We are „planning“ to travel at least for 6 months, in the maximum of indefinitely. We will follow the summer, if the winter comes we will run away to the southern hemisphere and the other way round. Therefore we are enough with even less clothes and stuff. But besides that we do not have any more plans, we will let the unpredictable waves of life to carry us away spontaneously.
Whole life in 40L backpack
23. August 2016 saying goodbye to parents and grandparents at the train station in Vrútky heading to Stará Ľubovňa. Strange feeling, the longest time I´ve ever been gone so far is 4 months. Now I feel it´s going to be much longer. In the train the destiny brought me crazy compartment. Old ladies are asking me where I am going with so many things (I´m carrying also huge bag full of clothes for the charity). It turns out that tomorrow I´m hitchhiking to India and with a couple of ordered beers the debate develops to the meditations and astral projection. Already the first minutes of my journey begin superbly. They promise to keep their fingers crossed. In Ľubovňa I´m meeting some friends, we are handing out our new cool stickers (thanks Palkiz for the great job) and we hold a little goodbye party, which ends in the night on the ground next to the purple gas station tippling Black Johan. I´m staying overnight at Jurky´s and in the morning both of us packed move over to the television of Stará Ľubovňa to give an interview about our journey. We are filming a few shots, moving to the city exit next to Lidl where we shoot last details and dialogues and then Jurky´s parents drive us behind the city, where we start to hitchhike. This time it´s Jurky who´s saying goodbye to his parents and brother. Their car is leaving and suddenly we are alone. Just the two of us and the road.
Our adventure can begin…
The whole TV interview – Escape to wild Asia (click here)
Current info about our crazy trip around the world on Naked Nomad & Trouble Traveler
Or current photostories on nakednomad_troubletraveler
