What I Learned From Being Broke And Homeless In A Land Far, Far Away
Hitchhiking Is Surprisingly Fun
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If you’ve seen horror flick The Hitchhiker (or anything remotely like it), you’ll most likely find the prospect of hitchhiking a treacherous prospect, but if you have no choice, well, you have no choice.
When my friend and I first realised our funds were disappearing faster than an elephant at a David Copperfield show, we decided to, stick our thumbs out and embrace the open road. After crafting a sign with ‘English hitchhikers — will do the dishes’ written on it and poking our thumbs out, it wasn’t long before we were picked by a kind 60 something lady who was heading North. She gave us sandwiches, sweets (I have always been told to never take boiled sweets from a stranger, but my stomach was rumbling at the time), cranked up The Rolling Stones on the car stereo and entertained us with tall tales from her glory days — it was a real highlight.
Our kind-hearted chauffeur dropped us off stone’s throw from the ferry port and we were on our way to Wellington to find work and set ourselves up.
Lesson two: it’s much easier to hitchhike than you think — and a lot more fun (although you should always keep your wits about you and travel in pairs, if possible).
