Jaded and restless I decided to hit the road travelling, summer gone, Jack Kerouc style and what better road to hit then the coastal highway on the west coast of California. With the aim of meeting new people and meeting myself in a different light I chose California, a land of contrasts offering much more then the perceived beautiful people, Hollywood and Disneyland. Being a place of evolving thought and lifestyle with its rich history of the hippie era, radical student politics, communes, alternative lifestyles and breathtaking wilderness it seemed the ideal place to relax and reflect. A landscape where dreamers, poets, artists, writers and thinkers have always felt drawn to, giving Californians, especially Northern Californians, a certain grace and a genuine friendliness. I spent a total of three months out there and it was a deeply transforming experience.
The whole journey was planned around cheap youth hostels along the coast, of which there are plenty. Youth hostelling provided the precious opportunity to meet people, especially Americans and immerse oneself as much as possible in the local culture.
I'd planned to get a job whilst out there waiting tables or shovelling horse manure on farms along the way, having no work permit the latter was easier to obtain and more fun to do. Financially if the worst came to the worst then armed with my sub zero sleeping bag, the Big Sur with it's huge expanse of awe inspiring wilderness on the central coast beckoned freely. 2000 year old towering redwoods and flowing streams, the star studded sky as my canopy and the lull of the nearby surf to rock me to sleep I was looking forward to checking in. Indeed many people I met chose to camp out (for free) in the Big Sur.
Travelling cheaply wasn't just the preserve of the destitute, it was the way to travel and experience the culture. A far cry from the seclusion and sterile anonymity of hotels. The first two weeks there I had a itinerary, a rental car and a friend from home and we did the spectacular west coast drive. My interests were in seeking out people exploring sustainable and ethical alternative lifestyles. Whilst on the road I also met many remnants of the 60's hippie era, people who'd dropped out from middle America wanting a life rather then a lifestyle, the last of the true hippies still keeping the 60's spirit alive.
In San Diego we got invited to a full moon pagan festival on a secluded beach by the Rainbow family, a collective of people sharing an eclectic mix of philosophies. At the festival surrounding a huge campfire were around 200 people of all ages, shapes and colours, many students from UC San Diego, dancing to the trance like beat of tribal drumming. As the evening progressed and the full moon rose high in the sky many dancers slowly shed there clothing. The spectacle of naked bodies dancing rhythmically bathed in moonlight and the warm glow of a driftwood fire will probably remain etched in my mind for the rest of my life.
After the two weeks I was alone, no travelling companion, no rental car, no plans. I spent a week wandering along the Bay of San Francisco, staring out across the bay on to the Golden Gate Bridge. Strolling in the historical counter culture district of Haight Ashbury and lying in the Golden Gate Park watching the hippies drumming away. I was in the most beautiful city in the world but stripped of direction I felt like the loneliest person on the world. I savoured the feeling until I finally felt inspired to hit the road on the Greyhound ...in the two and half months that followed I experienced life and people as never before, eventually losing count of the number of people I met and making lifelong friends along the way.
The spirit of radical politics may have died decades ago in the student campuses of Berkley and Santa Cruz but encouragingly the protest banners screaming for change had turned inwards with student housing co-ops and collectives forming in an attempt at exploring sustainable low impact communal lifestyles and minimising commercial transactions through sharing. Embracing the ideology that could change the world, change the way you live. Such an ideology meshed well with my newly founded interest in hitch hiking and as a virgin hitch hiker I decided it was time to broaden one's horizons and thus in Santa Cruz I lost my hiker's virginity. Hitch hiking was to become the source of some interesting experiences, one of which was when me and Matt, a Canadian friend I made out there got a ride from two girls. 10 minutes into the ride they pulled out two snakes, a python and a constrictor and casually passed them over to us!
A word of warning, always get to know the area and talk to other hitch hikers first about where it's safe. Hitch hike anywhere near Los Angeles and you stand a good chance of dying. Los Angeles is a city for the criminally insane. Within its sprawling embrace it houses the full spectrum of life's fallen angels, think of it as their city and avoid it like hell.
I found the secret to travelling is research and spontaneity, sites such as www.hostels.com are valuable resources. The best guide book I found was the Let's Go series. Many of the best places were, as always, found by word of mouth from fellow travellers. Also search the web for volunteer opportunities where accommodation is thrown in. Offer to work at youth hostels in exchange for accommodation, The Banana Bungalow Hostel chain is best for this. Bear in mind some campgrounds charge as little as $3 per night for those without a car. Don't be afraid of travelling alone and of being alone, stripped of our comfortable social circle we're able to explore and redefine ourselves finding new friends along the way. Finally throw the itinerary out of the window .... don't worry if you don't get to see the Hollywood sign. The more you'll try to see the less you will. There's an itinerary inside of you waiting to be discovered. Find people on your travels, and share yourself with them. Seeing the Golden Gate Bridge won't change your life but meeting fellow like minded souls will.
The impact such an experience has on one's life is profound, but at the times it's difficult to appreciate the subtlety of the influence. Think of it as charting a ship across the seas, a few unnoticeable degrees off course and in time the direction of your life will have changed dramatically.
Bon voyage,
Sal
mellowmoose@hotmail.com
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