Travelling... Or Not!
First off -- if you're in a town or city that has resources and opportunity, you're able to get by without resorting to methods that can get you into trouble, you're not surrounded by or tempted by drugs, the weather is tolerable and you have identification -- it's likely best that you stay put. Vagabonds like myself spend weeks, months and sometimes years trying to find what you have right now. By all means read the post, but weigh heavily your odds of going somewhere else and finding what you already have.
For everyone else -- the folks stuck in a shitty one-horse town in BFE, or stuck in a dangerous city with zero resources or opportunity, or the person with no ID and your birth certificate is on the other side of the country -- this section is for you!
When I first returned from Asia back in 2013 I didn't have shit besides an expired passport and the clothes on my back. Fresh off a flight from Phnom Penh, Cambodia I was wearing a pair of shorts, a t-shirt, and flip-flops. The low in Los Angeles that December night was 35°F. I froze my dick off. Did a lot of walking. Stole tablecloths from the linen bin behind a restaurant. And got woken up by a boot belonging to a cop on a sidewalk in downtown L.A.
It was my first taste of being homeless in America and I certainly don't ever want to go back to that night.
It took a couple days before I jumped an Amtrak with no ticket down to San Diego where I had similar luck. Before too long, I said fuck it, took city busses as far East as I could (Viejas Indian Reservation), walked a few miles to I-8, and stuck out my thumb right on the on-ramp. It took all of 20 minutes to catch that first ride out of California.
The driver was a good guy. Drove a Porsche. Asked about my situation, gave me his jacket, bought me lunch, and threw me $25. At that moment, I knew my luck had changed. And it started a 5-year hitchhiking career.
What was my first destination? Miami Beach, Florida. Why? Because this dumb ass figured the weather would be warmer, I'd get a job on the beach, and it'd be easy to get on my feet. I couldn't have been more wrong.
Why? Because every homeless asshole east of the Missouri River decides to go to Miami (or even worse, Key West). Florida is saturated with homeless, services are overwhelmed, and cops there treat the homeless just as bad as they do in L.A. if not worse.
There is a point to this -- before travelling rule out any touristy, beachy, resort-oriented areas. They don't just sound great to you, they sound great to a gazillion other homeless. Just for reference, one quarter of all homeless Americans happen to be homeless in California. That's right, 25% of all homeless Americans are concentrated in one state. You can't panhandle, you can't find a safe spot to camp. The state is literally saturated with homeless. Let that idea sink in before making the mistake I made.
But my mistake wasn't in vein. Once I realized Miami Beach was no place to be homeless, I remembered about half a dozen other places I'd had really good luck in a long the way. Houston. Phoenix. El Paso. Biloxi. And a few small towns in between. At that point, I knew my new mission was to keep travelling until I found a place that worked for me.
Twelve years later, I still travel between 4 states. Texas, Colorado, Montana and Utah. North for Summer, South for Winter. Although I don't hitchhike near as much anymore. With the advent of gig work it's relatively easy to get money up for a cheap, red-eye flight to your city of choice. That being said, I still love hitchhiking Montana and Utah. Beautiful states in the summer with camping galore.
Now whether you're travelling to get your documents, chasing the weather, or getting yourself out of a bad spot -- you do have options.
Hitchhiking is not for everyone. I've been coast-to-coast and back at least 5 times, Texas to Colorado, Montana, Utah and back at least 10 times, and a few shorter trips in between. Met a lot of nice people. And also some crazies. There's a ton of information online (Hitchwiki, Reddit, etc). Know State laws about hitchhiking (Texas and New Mexico will let you hitch right on the interstate, but other states won't). Use highways when you have time. Use the interstate when you don't. Carry at least two 1-liter bottles of water and some food. Always hitchhike outside of city limits, and never hitchhike after 2 pm. You won't catch a ride, unless the driver is drunk or on drugs and that's no fun.
On the bright side -- I have had people give me money, I've been given hotel rooms, and a couple times even a bus ticket. But again, hitchhiking isn't for everyone. You will do a lot of walking. You will come across crazies. You will get dropped off in dangerous locations. It will be an adventure. Know before you go...
That being said, there are alternatives to hitchhiking.
Another option is to panhandle for bus money, city-to-city. As an example, you can take city and rural busses from San Diego to Barstow, CA (roughly 200 miles) for less than $15. Panhandle in Barstow for $25 and get on the Dirty Dog (Greyhound) to Las Vegas. In Florida, you can take city and rural busses from Miami all the way to Pensacola. Yeah, it'll take you a week. But it's safe. Then just Dirty Dog it from city to city, until you get to where you need to be.
And there's always cardboard. "NEED BUS TICKET TO ________" will get you there. I've done it twice, and have met several others who've done the same thing. The consensus is all the same, you'll get money quickly in the beginning. Then, just about the time you have the cash to go buy a ticket, somebody comes up and buys you one. Now you've got a bus ticket and a pocket full of money for when you get there.
Other than that, there are some cities & counties that have a "homeward bound" program. You'll need a relative or friend in your destination city with a phone number prefix that matches the local area code. It's a pain, it takes a few days, but if the other travelling options just don't work for you this will.
And for the intrepid out there, train hopping has its lures. Make no mistake, it is dangerous. But there are people that do it, and it is a practice well documented online. It's not something I could do. Jumping on a train bound for an unknown location sounds almost romantic, but dealing with the wind and elements for an unknown length of time can prove fatal. Plus there's reasonable room for injury jumping on and off a moving train. Train hoppers are a different breed. It's not something I would consider doing, but would urge a healthy amount of research to someone who was considering it.
I personally love travelling. Hitchhiking has some fantastic moments, and you get to see and camp in places you otherwise never would have seen. But always consider your options before leaving. Know the rule of thirds. One third of places out there will likely be worse than where you are now. One third will be about the same, and one third will be better. Which one you land in at the end of the day is a roll of the dice.
Next Up: Settling In. Do's and Don'ts.
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