My main reason for writing this blog is to encourage other women to travel solo by hitchhiking and hiking, to challenge the patriarchal voices in society that say that women shouldn’t travel alone because it’s too dangerous.
Another reason for writing this blog is to show that there’s so much goodness in the world. Travelling has helped me to regain a trust in humanity that capitalist culture stole from me over the years. Life on the road has also shown me how the most materially rich people can actually be the poorest in the world.
As a woman who grew up in England, I think that I needed to travel to open my eyes and see that our governments and media brainwash us.
Over the last couple of years I have started to become aware of the massive privilege that I have as a white European person travelling around the world.
I’ve also started to become aware of the impacts that I may have on the places that I visit. Although I think that hitchhiking and hiking are far less harmful than package tourism, I am still not immune from causing problems, especially as I am from a colonialist, rich country (Britain).
When I visited South East Asia in 2007, I was completely ignorant of the impacts that backpackers have on the communities that we pass through. Revisiting again a few years later, it was all too horrifyingly clear.
Therefore, when I travel I try to do so with my eyes wide open, to see how I might be affecting a place by my presence. I also attempt to learn about the destruction of nature and the repression of communities by corporations and governments. I try to ask myself how I can stand in solidarity with comrades struggling to keep their lands, and with the orangutans who are losing their forests.
I try to live a freegan lifestyle (there’s more to life than consume, consume, consume). If you want to know more about freeganism, this website has all the info you need.
For sleeping I either wild camp in my tent, or use the BeWelcome website. My money tends to go on food, though I also dumpster dive (see freegan link!), table dive and cook at hosts’ houses. I only do paid work when I really need to (also see the freegan link!!)
Having shaken off the western 9-5 lifestyle, and therefore shaken off western individualism and consumerism (and coldness towards strangers) i have become more open to meeting people. I am always humbled by the kindness of people i meet on the road.
I am an anarchist, believing that all beings are equal. I believe in a beautiful world where we can come to decisions by talking, a world of consensus, a world where no person has more authority than another, a world without hierarchies, a world where we collectively control our workplaces and houses without an owner or manager giving us orders. I believe that no-one has a right to “manage” other people. I believe in a world of smiling. A world where you chat to a stranger on the street. A world where we check whether each other are ok. I think a big attraction of travelling is that people in other countries are more collective, less individualistic. And strangers chat to each other on buses…
Oh, and I believe that all animals have an equal right to live on this planet – human and non-human alike – so I don’t want to contribute to them suffering. I don’t think any non-human animal should have to die for my taste buds.
If you want to contact me, you’re welcome to email me at anaimlesshitchhiker@riseup.net
…I hope to see you on the road!
Exploring Iran
The kids love suncream! Laos
Walking the Lycian Way in southern Turkey
Sapa, Vietnam
Dumpster diving bread in Berlin
On the beach in Turkey
Truck hitchhiking in Iran
Brunei
A local in Laos
Switzerland
Rainforest in Malaysia – beauuuutiful!
Our ‘guide’ who only spoke Farsi…He just pointed at things. I think we tipped him, anyway! Iran
Travelling in India with Tom
Robert, Mats and I with kebab shop workers in Kurdistan, Iraq
Hanoi, Vietnam
Philippines
Our bike repair man, Laos
Kreuzberg, Berlin
I met a freegan in Missoula, Montana and she let me watch her do a dive. It was great. I think the best part of travel is meeting new, wonderful people, natch. That and sleeping in piles of trash waiting for the lettuce to get dumped on you. Chomp. Chomp. Chomp. Your writing is good! Best of luck in your travels!
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Hi,
Would you be interested in trading guest blog post on our blog, http://onetravelbloggers.com/? We are a blog whose audience enjoys reading anything about travel (e.g. “Best spots in Philly”, “Top 10 beaches in Spain”, “How to travel around Tokyo on a budget”, etc). And, of course, you’ll receive a FOLLOWED link to your blog or page of your choice.
Please let me know if you’re interested. I think you’d be a great fit with our audience, and we’d also like to talk with you about other partnerships.
Talk to you soon
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Hi Trish, Yes, go ahead if you like x
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Really nice blog. I do a lot of dumpstering myself and would love to get to know others who share this, it is quite hard to find people with the same commitment. You have my email so please write back if you are interested in staying in touch.
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Hi, Dumpstranaut, yes, let’s stay in touch! it’s great, and important, to make contact with other likeminded people 🙂
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Do you dumpstere outside from Europe ? I mean, did you do it in countries such as Turkey or Iran ?
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Hi Tuk,
I dumpstered in Turkey because they have huge supermarkets, many of which are large corporations (the supermarket Kipa, for example, is owned by Tesco), and sometimes their bins are easy to get to. I also dumpstered in Iraqi Kurdistan, but I couldn’t find the bins at the big supermarkets, so dumpstered at closing time at the street markets. People thought I was crazy, but if you don’t mind everyone staring at you, it’s perfectly possible to get edible food 🙂
For some reason I didn’t even try to dumpster in Iran…I am not sure why! Maybe because there were no visible supermarkets….or maybe I thought that it might draw police attention to me. I am unsure!
I was just in Oslo, Norway, and was very disappointed by my dumpster finds: junk food that I would never put into my body in a million years! (OR maybe it’s a GOOD sign that change is happening: the healthy vegetables were nowhere to be seen, and the nasty junk was in the bin!)
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You’ve been nominated for the “I am Part of the WordPress Family Award” https://agirlandherthumb.wordpress.com/awards/i-am-part-of-the-wordpress-family/
Congrats! 🙂
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Nice thoughts! You are an idealist, too, dreaming to your utopian world..
…
How can we talk privately?
Soon I`ll hitch the road, I’m in a continuously wandering state, so you`d help me with some answers. Thanks, Miha
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Hi Miha,
thanks for commenting and reading 🙂
my email address is anaimlesshitchhiker@riseup.net
mail me if you want to talk privately…have fun on the road!
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man you still there?
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hi…Im Fereshteh from Iran..can i ask a question ?
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You go, girl! xo Much love and happiness your way
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thanks Olivia! x
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